Posted on October 21, 2024
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – For the third year in a row, the Mississippi River levels are low.
That means the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will need to continue dredging the river to keep traffic moving.
A spokesman for the U-S Army Corps of Engineers said dredging along the Mississippi began last summer, with the most recent work happening around here last week near Commerce in Scott County.
Operations Manager for the Mississippi River Project, Andy Schimpf said they needed to remove enough sediment from the bottom of the river to maintain a 9-foot navigation channel.
Schimpf said low water on the Mississippi can have a major economic impact if barges have trouble making their way up and down the river.
Here’s how he describes their plan of attack.
“We have two dredges working in our district right now. You know that are hitting them. One of them is. In the Saint Louis area and working South, and one of them is down near Cape Girardeau,” Schimpf said. “So we have regular conversations and at times like this, it can be once a day, but certainly, it’s once or twice a week in looking at that overall plan and rearranging those resources when necessary.”
He said some companies are already making adjustments to their barge loads.
According to Schimpf, the key for this system is the middle of the Mississippi so they’re hoping rainfall north of here can help bring river levels back up.
