Gavins Point Dam to increase releases, making room for spring runoff

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to increase water releases from Gavin' Point Dam in southeast South Dakota to make space in the reservoir for potential spring runoff.

On Tuesday, the Corps announced it will increase flow from 35,000 cubic feet per second (fps) to 41,000 fps later this week, conditions permitting.

The current flow rate is around twice the average for this time of year.

Officials say the plan is to remain "aggressive" in maintaining as much flood flood control storage space available as possible in anticipation of above normal runoff in 2020.

“This is keeping with our aggressive strategy to maintain as much flood control storage as possible for as long as possible," said John Remus, chief of the Corps’ Missouri River Basin Water Management Division, via a press release. "This will provide the greatest amount of flood risk reduction across the basin."

Remus said the releases are unlikely to contribute to downstream flooding.

Releases at Gavin's Point were

throughout much of 2019 due to high precipitation and flooding throughout the region.