Abstract by W. Venable

According to the July 4 U.S. Drought Monitor, moderate to exceptional drought covered 22.6 percent of the United States, about the same as the previous week. Drought or abnormal dryness expanded or intensified across parts of the Pacific Northwest, Southern Plains, Upper Mississippi Valley and Missouri to eastern Kansas.  Extremely dry soils mean that occasional storms are not enough to recharge water tables or replenish rivers.

Above St. Louis in the Upper Mississippi, low water has been mitigated by dams and last winter’s heavy snowfalls. But heavy snowmelt and spring floods caused silt to shoal in the Upper Mississippi. 

American Commercial Barge Line announced July 12 that due to river predictions, there is now a 10 percent reduction in St. Louis loading drafts and a 5 percent reduction on the Illinois River and Mid-Mississippi loading drafts. ACBL had already implemented a 20 percent draft reduction for loadings in the Gulf to Cairo, Ill., and a 15 percent draft reduction from Cairo to the Gulf. River levels have been steadily falling in New Orleans since mid-April.

Full story athttps://www.waterwaysjournal.net/2023/07/14/low-water-returns-to-river-systems/