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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Allen" data-source="post: 479414" data-attributes="member: 389">Not that I am aware of, but in the grand scheme of things I suppose it can.The Missouri River has flow requirements in and out of ND.  People who fish Sak are worried about the water levels up there, but people who drink water worry about their water intakes, including Mandan and Washburn.  I believe Washburn's intake has issues below 10,000 cfs, Mandan's might be similar.  So, even in winter, one can't really conserve water for Sakakawea by cutting discharge much lower than it already is right now.  And, to top it all off, power generation is a major part of Garrison Dam's operation.  Not many probably noticed it, but the recent cold weather saw releases out of Garrison swing pretty wildly, and I am going to guess that was related to Garrison's role in generating electricity to meet the peak demand.  One great thing hydro-power has going for it is that it's very quick to ramp up power generation (mere minutes) compared to a gas or coal fired power plant. Here's the data on discharge from the dam and its power generation:<a href="https://www.nwd-mr.usace.army.mil/rcc/programs/data/GARR" target="_blank">https://www.nwd-mr.usace.army.mil/rcc/programs/data/GARR</a>As much as we who use Lake Sakakawea for our hobbies hate to admit it, Garrison Dam wasn't built for us.  It was built to harness the water for multiple reasons, and fishing was probably the farthest thing from their minds when it came time to design and talk the taxpayers into paying for it.</blockquote>

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