Water conservation will be the focus of the Army Corps of Engineers' 2008 operating plan for the Missouri River reservoirs.

"While there has been some improvement in storage, the drought does not appear to be over, so we will continue to restrict releases from the reservoirs in 2008," said Larry Cieslik, chief of the corps' water management office in Omaha, Neb.

The corps, which will release its 2008 operating plan later this month, said it anticipates releasing only enough water to provide minimum navigation flows below Sioux City, Iowa, and that the navigation season will be shortened by 17 to 60 days. The season length will be determined by the amount of water in storage on July 1, 2008.

As a result of reduced discharges, electric production in 2008 will be about 65 percent of normal, the corps said. Hydroelectric production for 2007 is forecast at 4.9 billion kilowatt hours, a record low and far below the average of 10 billion kilowatt hours.

The amount of water stored in the six reservoirs at the end of November was 2.8 million acre feet higher than a year ago. Runoff for 2007 is expected to be 85 percent of normal.