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GAO-15-558R 1 (2015-06-09)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaaiza0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GAOU.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 June 9, 2015 The Honorable James M. Inhofe Chairman The Honorable Barbara Boxer Ranking Member Committee on Environment and Public Works United States Senate The Honorable Bill Shuster Chairman The Honorable Peter A. DeFazio Ranking Member Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure House of Representatives Missouri River Basin: Agencies' Progress Improving Water Monitoring Is Limited The Missouri River is a critical national resource, stretching 2,341 miles from western Montana to its mouth near St. Louis, Missouri, and flowing through or forming a border for seven states (see fig. 1). Between 1933 and 1964, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) built six dams and reservoirs on the mainstem1 of the Missouri River. The Corps manages these dams and reservoirs for eight authorized purposes, including flood control.2 In 2011, large amounts of snow and extreme rains along the Missouri River led to the greatest volume of runoff3 since 1898, when recordkeeping began. That prompted the Corps to release a record volume of water from the dams to prevent the dams from being overtopped, which otherwise could have caused catastrophic dam failure. The high runoff levels and large water releases caused significant flooding and damage along the river from Montana to Missouri that affected farms, homes, businesses, industries, public infrastructure, and transportation networks. 1 The mainstem is the primary downstream segment of a river, as contrasted to its tributaries. 2 The eight authorized purposes for which the Corps manages the dams and reservoirs are: navigation, flood control, irrigation, hydropower, municipal and industrial water supply, water quality, recreation, and fish and wildlife habitat. See Flood Control Act of 1944, Pub. L. No. 78-534, § 9, 58 Stat. 887 (1944); H. R. Doc. No. 475, 78th Cong., 2d Sess. 28-29 (1944); S. Doc. No. 191, 78th Cong., 2d Sess. (1944); S. Doc. No. 247, 78th Cong., 2d Sess. 2-5 (1944); South Dakota v. Ubbelohde, 330 F.3d 1014, 1019-20 (8th Cir. 2003). 3 Runoff flows over the land surface, going downhill into rivers and streams. Runoff into the mainstem reservoirs along the Missouri River generally comes from three sources: snowfall in the mountains of Montana and Wyoming; snowfall in plains states, including Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska; and rainfall throughout the Missouri River basin. GAO-1 5-558R Missouri River Basin Page 1

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