Aug 28, 2006 - 02:12:04 CDT
MINOT (AP) - The Mouse River is showing signs of the drought that has plagued the larger Missouri River this summer."We're not getting any water in right now from Canada," said Ted Gutzke, manager of the Souris Basin Refuge Complex. "There's less than four cubic feet per second crossing the border at Sherwood. We lose that through evaporation."
The Mouse enters the United States west of Sherwood, loops through Minot and then crosses the Canadian border again north of Westhope.
Lake Darling, a lake on the river that averages about 13 feet of depth, is about a foot lower than its normal elevation this time of year.
Officials at Souris Valley Golf Course in Minot stopped watering fairways for four weeks this summer because of the low river levels. The Minot Country Club also cut back on its watering.
Gutzke said water was recently released from a pool below Lake Darling Dam, boosting the river level in Minot.
However, "The only reason was to do construction on that dam in the next month or two," he said. "We're in a drought situation right now."
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