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Boise River flows to decrease by Friday

Posted at 4:26 PM, Jun 25, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-26 04:27:02-04

BOISE — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to reduce flows of the Boise River by 600 cubic feet per second on Wednesday, June 26, reaching approximately 2,750 cfs by late-morning.

They will follow that by decreasing flows by 600 cfs on Thursday and 600 cfs on Friday, reaching 1,550 cfs at the Glenwood gauge on Friday morning.

Currently, Boise River flows through town are approximately 3,350 cfs, as measured at the Glenwood Bridge gauge.

The decrease in flows from Lucky Peak Dam and Lake is in response to recently-reduced inflows, according to a news release from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “The flow decrease is necessary to help balance reservoir-refill as the system transitions to summer operations in the coming weeks,” it said.

Ada County Parks and Waterways will release information later this week on Facebook when the Boise River float season begins.

Currently, the Boise River reservoirs are at about 96% of capacity. As of June 25, the Boise River system of reservoirs has about 35,677 acre-feet of available storage space. A full supply of irrigation water is anticipated this summer, officials said.

The Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation operate three dams on the Boise River as a system to manage flood control and irrigation storage needs -- Lucky Peak Dam, Arrowrock Dam and Anderson Ranch Dam. Storage capacity provided by the three dams, combined with well-planned water releases, help manage Boise River flows through the City of Boise.