ST. LOUIS — During the 2022-23 drought, the Army Corps of Engineers' St. Louis District removed approximately 9 million cubic yards of sediment from 70 locations on the Mississippi River to maintain navigation during periods of severe low water levels.

The Army Corps of Engineers maintains a navigation corridor on the Mississippi River under a congressional mandate. This includes a channel 300 feet wide and 9 feet deep along roughly 300 miles from Saverton, Missouri, to Cairo, Illinois. The Mississippi River system transports an estimated 655 million tons of American products annually and supports over 1.5 million jobs across the United States. Barges move more than $600 billion in American goods on the river each year, and roughly 60% of American grain exports annually pass through the system.

The Army Corps of Engineers dredges the Mississippi River when water levels are too low to maintain the required depth. In a typical year, the St. Louis District dredges between 3 million and 4 million cubic yards of river bottom. Since the 1930s, the Corps has maintained a series of locks and dams above St. Louis to support commercial navigation. Operators adjust gates on these locks and dams when pool levels are too high or too low, and low water levels require towboat operators to load barges with lighter cargo.

Joan Stemler, chief of water control for the Army Corps of Engineers' St. Louis District, said, "Water management, it's like, in your blood. That's what you do. That's the way you know." She added, "During low water, it's a lot more work because we go to 24-hour ops and stuff to constantly monitor and make changes as needed." Stemler also said, "The last few years we've done everything in our power to keep enough water in the river." Andy Schimpf, chief of operations for the district, said, "When they know they're going to have enough water, they can load these barges – you're talking about 20 or 30% more commodity for the same crew."