Tagged: mississippi river

Regional news from the KBIA newsroom, including:

• Low levels of the Mississippi River to affect commerce
• Gov. Nixon aims to make government more efficient
• Elected teacher battles school board for leave of absence

The Mississippi River's water level is dropping again and barge industry trade groups warn that river commerce could essentially come to a halt by mid-January. Ice on the northern section of the Mississippi is reducing flow more than expected.

The Coast Guard remains confident that the nation's largest waterway will remain open despite the worst drought in decades.

But even if the Mississippi remains technically open, Deborah Colbert of the Waterways Council, a barge industry trade group, says further load limits will make shipping unviable by mid-January.

The first phase of restoration work has been completed on a Mississippi River levee that was intentionally breached in 2011 during record flooding.

Amid strong concerns about the declining level of the already low Mississippi River, the Army Corps of Engineers is releasing water from an Illinois lake to add to the flow of the Mississippi.