WSP05631

• File Number: 8407.500
• Description: Platte River Basin - River Basin General Publications - Missouri River
• State: CO
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 1/14/1988
• Author: MBSA
• Title: A Review of the Missouri River Main Stem System Operation
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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The river ~~.!'tem i~ an important is"ufO for all of you
in the rOOm today. It'" an important i!'sufO to mfO I)('r.
sonally. and I certainly hopt' that with the CllngrfOss,
man's stimulation we can, in fact, get to knuw each

othl>r, talk to each other, and li"t"n to one another.
\\'ith that I think I ha\"€' ..aid enough. and I give you
Congr€'ssman ,Jim Lightfoot.

WELCOME

Hon. ,Jim Hm.s Lightfoot,
u..s. l/O!l.~1' IIf Repr{'.q>nt(l(ll"f',~

Thank ~'ou ,Jim llnd good morning l'~'l'ryone, I ap-
preciate thi!' nice !Urn out for thi>.l'\'t'nt and also would
like to thank the :\1is!'ouri Basin States :\!'sol'iatiot\
for th('ir input and their {'ffllrt in organizing this met'I'
inl!:. I particularly want to thank :\IHS:\ Execlltiw
Director Don Ohnstad, who really put yeomen's work
into making this meeting a reality.

You are in the district I represent. To those of ~'Oll
from out of ;;tllle, wekom€' to Iowa, we art' glad to he\'('
you her('. \\"e are trying to g{'t the weather to warm
up just 11 bit today ;;inn- you are hert' in the hanana
Iwlt of Iowa. If you go (urtl-wr north, of cour"e, It get...
Ii lilt I€' colder. \\'e hope that you will enjoy your da~'
hen- in Council Hluffs find lell\"t" with a bt'tler under.
standing of what wt' are all ('olU"Nned with and want
to s€'€' function and work well.

If you go back in history, we ha\'e bt>en monkeying
with the :\Iis;;ouri River ;;ince ahout 191:2 in term" of
doing different thing!'> to it. That ......a" the period in
time whl"'n Congre;;;; authorized tht' ;;ix.foot dl'ep na\'.
igation channel from Kansas City down to the mouth.
I don't know what they were tloating that only needed
six feet of draft. but it r€'ally is nOlhinf';: that we ha\"l'"
today, IltUe;;" mayb€' it was somehody'" duck hoat. But
since th(,1l we haw built ;;ix main stt'm dam", we\'{-
rerouted the rivt"T in many places, straight€'ning ht>nd"
out of it. we'w dredged channels, built diwr;;ion proj.
ects, and a numht>r of hank stabilization "tructure;;,
as .....ell.

101l'a 5th Vistrict

I think the re:<ult of the whole thing ha;; hel'n that
......e ha\'e reall~' brought the riHr under a :<omewhat
mllnagNlbll' condition. I was rai"ed in southwe:<t Iowa
in Fremont ('ounty. I can rt'll1emlwr had in the mid.
,~Os ......hl"n one spring the river reached from bluff to
bluff. It was perhaps th'e milb wide in plac€'s. That
doesn't hapP,'n anymort'. Basically it's a r€';;uh of all
the work and the r(";;("areh and the study and tht' eflint
that's lll.'{-n put in to taming the river.

Hut as ,Jim mentioned, the thlllg that General Hyan
deals with i" \1other ~ature and ;;he is "till pretty
unpredictable, You all should he \"l"'r~', wry thankful
that all the fl.'dt'ful go\'ernnwnt does i::;. fort'cast the
weather, that wt' don't control it. Because it would he
screwed up a lot wors{- than \lother :\ature t'wr did
il,l'll ~'1l<1f1lntt"t' you, Tht" gOHrnment's the only thing
in the world that could take a lead pellcil find de;;ign
on(' from snatch that would cost .,:2;).00 and wouldn't
work. So I think our !,:oal at thi;; point is in the fore'
ca"ting vein and we hope that it sta~'s there,

The unpredictability of the .....eather create" a lot of
prohll"'ms for the nHlIla!,:emf'nt of the ri\'er system. As
a rt'sult, the Corps is in a position of trying to balance
the n€'eds and de"ires of both the UP';! ream and do......n.
,;tream U,;f'rs.. The~' haw responsibility to tho;;{- who
use water from the dams for hydroelt'ctric power, ,,:.('d.
iment control. and al~ the n8vii!ational interests dur-
ing thfO nu\'igation s€'f!;:on, The !ish and thfO wildlife
p€'ople are also im'olwd in thl'" whol€' thing, and tho,;e

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