USACE Kansas City District announces likely cancellation of fall water release from Rathbun Lake

Unless conditions improve by the end of the first week of October, the fall water release previously announced by the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will be cancelled.

In July USACE announced tentative plans to perform the fall water release at Rathbun Lake. Currently conditions do not favor the water release as the pool elevation is near the multipurpose level of 904.0 feet.

The pool elevation needs to be a minimum of 905.6 feet or higher to have sufficient water in storage to support the fall water release. That release would benefit state and privately managed conservation and recreational areas below Rathbun Dam along the Chariton River.  

Inflows into the lake for June through August were significantly lower than average. For the months of June, July and August, inflow volume into the lake were 62%, 8%, and 11% of average inflow volume. The release has been set to the minimum release level of 11 cubic feet per second since June 21, 2022. At that time, the pool elevation was 905.2 feet, which allowed a buffer for evaporation as well as storage space available for the next rain event.