VICKSBURG, Miss. (WJTV) – The water level of the Mississippi River is expected to drop under five-feet this year.

Officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Vicksburg District said the water level is at nine-feet as of Friday, August 30, 2024. It’s expected to fall to almost one-foot by the end of September 2024.

Leah DeYoung, the Dredging Unit Chief at the USACE Vicksburg District, said anyone who’s out on the water should wear a life jacket and follow safety protocols.

“We plan for this every year. We have our dredges out on the Mississippi River. We have… The Vicksburg District has one pan dredge, and Memphis has another. And St. Louis has one. And they all work to make sure that the river stays open. So, we ensure that the towboats going up and down the river have a 12-foot depth and a 500-foot width all throughout the Mississippi River. And so with our dredging needs, we provide that for the mariners,” DeYoung explained.

She encouraged those on the water to turn their depth finders on and to travel slowly because the water is shallow.