NO WATER PROBLEMS FORESEEN ALONG RIVER

Despite earlier fears of navigational problems this winter due to low water the Mississippi River between St. Louis and Cairo, barge traffic is moving without difficulty to terminals in southeast Louisiana.

The National Weather Service said Thursday that forecasts indicate20the good water conditions will continue through January.

Richard Pearce, an administrative assistant for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's St. Louis District, said water conditions in the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers are now rated excellent.

Pearce said that's important to the hundreds of barges loaded with fall grain that are still waiting to be moved down river from St. Louis to ports between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Commander Jack Buri of the U.S. Coast Guard's Marine Safety Office at Paducah, Ky. said this winter's river conditions are welcome news.

"We're very pleased the way traffic is moving so far this winter," Buri said. "Last year, our people were involved in some flood operations on the Ohio and Cumberland rivers, and of course during the winter of 1989-90, our efforts were focused on keeping the river open between St. Louis and Cairo.

"This is the first time in 3 years our people are able to enjoy Christmas and New Years without interruption."

Late last summer and early this fall, it looked as if water levels in both rivers might return to the near-record-low levels of late 1989. In August, the Corps of Engineers ordered two dredges back to work on sharp bends in the river between Chester, Ill. and Cairo, and on the Ohio River.

The weather service also predicted the Mississippi here could drop to around five feet by early fall.

But unlike 1989, significant rain and snow in the upper Mississippi River watershed provided needed relief.

By mid-November, both dredges were released from their jobs in time for the crews to be home for Thanksgiving and the Christmas-New Year holidays.

The low water mark so far this year at Cape is 7.0 feet, set Sept. 10. The river state remained at 10 feet or below during much of September and October, but by mid-November it had climbed to 18.6 feet.

On Dec. 18, the river peaked at 22 feet, and Thursday was still at 20 feet and rising.

The weather service predicted the Mississippi here will begin a slow fall after Jan. 1, from 18 feet to 13.8 feet by Jan. 23.

The Ohio River at Cairo, which had been as high as 40 feet earlier this month, is predicted to drop from 23.7 feet to 19.6 feet.

River conditions this year are in sharp contrast to two years ago, when a prolonged, three-year drought followed by record-breaking cold in late December forced the Coast Guard to close a 200-mile stretch of the river between St. Louis and Cairo. The river was closed from mid-December 1989 to early January 1990.

From Nov. 1-15 in 1989, daily record low river stages were set at Cape Girardeau, and the Mississippi River at St. Louis Dec. 23 and 26 fell to minus 5.1 feet on the gauge.

At Cape Girardeau, the river dropped to 1.29 feet on Dec. 28, as ice gorges - created by the bitter cold air - backed up the river north of Cape, ripped away buoys, and made navigation through the narrow and shallow channel nearly impossible.

The record low river stage at Cape Girardeau is .6 feet, set Jan. 15, 1909.