After a three-year-long evaluation, Col. Kimberly A. Peeples, commander of the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division, signed a congressionally approved and updated water control manual for the Mahoning River Basin.
The water control manual allows U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District personnel to manage and control the Mahoning River Basin’s water levels. The Mahoning River Basin encompasses several district-managed reservoirs in northeastern Ohio, including Michael J. Kirwan Dam and Reservoir, Berlin Lake and Mosquito Creek Lake.
Water control manuals are documents required by federal law to help the corps decide how to operate the reservoir properly. Megan Gottlieb, Pittsburgh District’s water management unit lead, shared more about water control manuals’ purpose.
“They provide winter and summer lake elevations, outflow gate schedules, downstream flow targets and other necessary rules to operate the reservoir properly,” said Gottlieb. “They also contain important information on the watershed and history of the reservoir that is vital for their operation.”
Each reservoir has a congressionally mandated purpose. The manuals assist corps personnel in balancing those purposes such as the basin’s recreational needs, flood-control requirements, water quality, and water supply. A reservoir’s water control manual is updated every 10 years after a multi-year evaluation to determine how to best update the control manual.
“The signing of this water control manual brings a multi-year process of evaluating our water management practices within the Mahoning River Basin utilizing a holistic watershed approach to a successful closure,” said Col. Adam Czekanski, commander of the Pittsburgh District. “The timely signing of the manuals allows us to implement the revised water management practices this summer.”
For more information about the Mahoning River Basin water control manual and other water management information, visit our website at: https://go.usa.gov/xJSps