Nov 19 - McClatchy-Tribune Business News Formerly Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Bill Graham The Kansas City Star, Mo.

If the drought-lowered Missouri River drops a few more inches at Kansas City, utilities that use the river may have to turn on emergency equipment to get enough water.

"We're about a quarter of a foot away from that point," said Tom Schrempp, production manager for Johnson County Water District No. 1.

Record low levels at the district's water intake on the Missouri River have the district monitoring flows daily, Schrempp said.

Officials at other utilities say they're in the same boat, as another winter of low water conditions looms because of unprecedented, long-term drought in the upper reaches of the river. Water storage in the upstream reservoirs is at an all-time low, and some lake levels are 26 to 30 feet below normal.

Customers should have plenty of water and electricity, officials say, thanks to added water pumps and other emergency equipment.

But the extra equipment and energy use increases operating costs, which will eventually be passed on to customers.

"It's a whole new territory for us," Schrempp said.

The district spent $2 million in recent years to add pumps for low river conditions. Besides extra operating costs, low water is also adding to treatment costs.

"We are seeing a lot more taste and odor in the water with it low," Schrempp said, "and we're having to add more powdered activated carbon to clean it up."

Exactly how the low water affects water and electric rates remains to be seen, officials said.

But there's nothing in long-range weather forecasts for the Missouri River basin to signal a return to ample water supplies.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is releasing just enough water from upstream reservoirs to keep utility intakes in the Kansas City area beneath the river's surface, said Paul Johnston, a Corps spokesman.

Missouri River stage levels at Kansas City on Monday were a half foot away from record low levels set in December, when winter weather froze tributary inflows, said hydrologist Tom Harris of the U.S. Geological Survey.

The river is 5 to 7 feet below normal for November, exposing numerous sand bars.

Officials at the Kansas City, Kan., Board of Public Utilities may have to soon use a $23 million cooling tower that was completed this year at the Nearman Power Plant. It was built specifically for emergency use during low water conditions such as those in recent winters, said Susan Allen, a BPU spokeswoman.

The Corps shut down water releases for navigation early this fall to conserve water. That, coupled with dry conditions and low tributary stream flows, has dropped the river more quickly than usual.

"We're installing our auxiliary pumps that we usually don't install until after Thanksgiving," said John Reddy, treatment plant manager for the Kansas City Water Services Department.

The river is only about a half foot above the level where the auxiliary pumps will need to be turned on, Reddy said. But managers hope the Corps will keep enough water flowing that they won't need them.

Kansas City has wells to augment water intakes in the river. But the wells don't have enough capacity to supply the region's water needs, Reddy said.

"Consumers hopefully will not be affected," he said. "But there are added costs that eventually get passed along."

Also, the bottom of the river channel at Kansas City has been scoured lower in recent decades, adding to problems. But drought has left no extra water for adjustments.

If the drought doesn't ease, Johnston said, there could be no navigation season in 2008, leading to low water conditions in summer as well as winter. That could pose problems for utilities regarding water temperatures, as well as quantity.

Weather forecasts are not hopeful.

The long-term forecasts for this winter show a good chance for higher-than-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation in the Rocky Mountain and Great Plains headwaters of the Missouri River, said Brian Fuchs, climatologist for the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Neb.

That means that low winter water levels, and a running battle between Missouri and upstream states over control of river flows, are likely to continue.

"I think that battle is going to be maintained and just get worse," Fuchs said, "as this system just doesn't look like it's going to improve anytime soon."

 

To reach Bill Graham, call (816) 234-5906 or send e-mail to bgraham@kcstar.com.