MIDWEST- With unusually dry conditions as the backdrop, the Army Corps of Engineers is hosting its annual fall meetings this week on the management of the Missouri River.

The meetings are being held from Montana to Missouri. Earlier in the week, meetings were held in Sioux City, Iowa as well as Nebraska City.

By regulating releases from six dams on the upper river, the corps influences how much water is held in those reservoirs as well as river levels downstream. Those levels affect farming, aquatic life and habitat, power generation, flood control, and drought mitigation.

Upper basin runoff (upstream of Sioux City) in September was 67% of normal, according to the corps. The upper basin is on pace to see its 10th-driest year out of 123 years on record.

Winter releases will be set at 12,000 cubic feet per second.

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