PIERRE, (KCCR) — A wetter-than-normal September did little to recharge the Missouri River reservoir system. September runoff was 82-percent of average at one-million acre feet or 500-thousand acre feet more than forecast by the U-S Army Corps of Engineers. The calendar-year runoff forecast now sits at 16-point-three million acre feet, or 63-percent of average; which is point-nine million acre feet more than the forecast last month. The total water volume currently stored in the reservoir system is 46-point-one million acre feet; which is 10-million acre feet below the system’s flood control zone. The Corps expects system storage to continue to decline through the fall with storage expected to start the 2027 runoff season at 44-point-seven million acre feet or nearly 11-point-five million acre feet below the bottom of the flood control zone. If forecasts are realized, 2026 could have the 14th lowest runoff since record keeping started. The Corps will host a public meeting on the river’s runoff on October 27th at nine a-m Central time at the Casey Tibbs South Dakota Rodeo Center in Fort Pierre.
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