Boise River levels drop to lowest height in months, Army Corps says it won't last long

BOISE, Idaho (KBOI) — Boise River levels have been dropping all day Wednesday. At about 4 p.m., the river dropped below 8,000 cubic feet per second for the first time in more than two months, which is below 11 feet.

The US Army Corps of Engineers decided to drop the levels this morning and were going to continue to drop them this week. However, just this afternoon water managers changed their mind.

US Army Corps hydrologist Stephen Hall says Tuesday morning his team flew over the basin to analyze the snow pack.

The area covered in snow had decreased by about 7 percent since their last measure two weeks ago so they were comfortable dropping the levels by 500 cfs Wednesday morning.

However, because the forecast is now calling for rain, at about 2 p.m. the US Army Corps decided to add the 500 cfs back. They can't risk an increase of inflow with the reservoirs as full as they are now.

So, now they predict the water will raise back up to about 8,200 cfs by Thursday and will stay at that level for a while.

Hall says weather will play a big factor in their decisions to change the river level.

It's important to know that even when the Army Corps does decide they can consistently decrease the river level, they say it will have to be done gradually because they are worried about river bank erosion.

But for now, the US Army Corps does not know when they will be able to start significantly lowering the level again.

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