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Video by Brigida Sanchez

Boise River Flows

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Walla Walla District

May 15, 2017 | 4:02

Record snowfalls have made 2017 a year for severe flood risk. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, explains how it works with its partner agencies to manage flows in Idaho's Treasure Valley.

The Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation operate three dams on the Boise River as a system to manage flood control and irrigation storage needs — Lucky Peak Dam, Arrowrock Dam and Anderson Ranch Dam. Storage capacity provided by Reclamation’s Arrowrock and Anderson Ranch dams, and the Corps’ Lucky Peak Dam, combined with well-planned water releases, help manage Boise River flows through Ada and Canyon counties.

Take a look at what is commonly called a "teacup" diagram of the Boise River system to see current reservoir levels, inflows and discharge rates of flow from the dams https://www.usbr.gov/pn/hydromet/boipaytea.html

For flood-risk management purposes, river flows through the greater-Boise area are measured at the Glenwood Bridge gage https://www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/river/station/flowplot/flowplot.cgi?lid=BIGI1 or https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=13206000. The rate of flow at this gage is often different than the rate of discharge flows from Lucky Peak Dam, because of upstream irrigation diversions.

You can keep an eye on what the weather's doing at http://www.weather.gov/boi/ and https://www.facebook.com/NWSBoise/

Be sure to sign up for alerts from your local emergency management agency, so you can stay up to date on changes in reservoir management and river flows through the greater-Boise area. http://www.adacounty.id.gov/flood and https://www.facebook.com/adacountyem/