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A backhoe removes chunks of limestone from the navigation channel on the Mississippi River near Thebes, Ill., Dec. 17, 2012. Some shippers of grain, coal and steel have worried parts of the river will close to navigation due to low water.HANDOUT/Reuters

The drought-drained Mississippi River has enough water for barges to maintain shipments of billions of dollars worth of commodities, and the White House will consider "any option" to keep it open for commerce, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said on Monday.

Mr. Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said the outlook for the nation's busiest waterway was positive after touring a shallow stretch for nearly an hour by boat.

Shippers have been worried for months that the river will close due to historically low water levels following the worst drought in more than half a century. Industry groups, The Waterways Council and American Waterways Operators predict an effective halt to commerce later this month.

Mr. Durbin and other officials took to the water near Thebes, Ill., where workers have been removing river-bottom rocks to aid transportation after the drought drained the Mississippi River and the rivers that feed into it.

"They are making good progress in clearing that section of the river, which presents the biggest challenge," Mr. Durbin said in a phone interview. "The pool of water is sufficient to move all of the barge traffic that they need."

Should the river be shut to traffic, more than 8,000 jobs would be affected, worth $54-million (U.S.) in wages and benefits, according to the shipping groups. It would halt the movement of 7.2 million tons of commodities worth $2.8-billion, they said.

The threat has attracted attention from the highest levels, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the second time in a month briefed Mr. Durbin in Illinois on the potential for a river shutdown. Mr. Durbin, a Democrat from the state, receives regular updates on the situation via telephone and in Washington, D.C., a spokeswoman said.

The Corps gave "a very positive briefing," he said, noting that melting ice and snow from recent storms should help feed the river, which is used to transport grains from the Midwest farm belt to the U.S. Gulf Coast for exports, and shipping imports to various parts of the Untied States.

Mr. Durbin said the White House monitors the situation weekly and has said "any option is on the table" to keep the river open to commerce if water levels drop too low.

Shipping groups have called on U.S. President Barack Obama to release water from the Missouri River to boost water levels on the Mississippi River.

"So far we haven't had to press that case," Mr. Durbin said about the shippers' request. "If it reaches an emergency situation, everything will be considered."

The Army Corps said last week that navigation would continue. A spokesman could not immediately be reached on Monday.

The Corps is removing the most threatening rock pinnacles near the Illinois towns of Grand Tower and Thebes, hoping to deepen the shipping channel about half a metre by mid-January, just before the river is forecast to hit critically low levels.

The Corps has also been dredging various soft-bottom sections of the river nearly round-the-clock for six months to maintain a deep enough shipping channel. The majority of commercial vessels need a depth, or draft, of at least 2.7 metres so shippers are closely monitoring river gauges and forecasts.

Still, shippers are nervous and "looking for that certainty" that the river will stay open beyond the end of the month, said Ann McCulloch, director of public affairs and communications for the American Waterways Operators.

The Mississippi River gauge at Thebes rose to 1.23 metres on Monday from 1.19 metres on Friday. It was forecast to slip to 1.04 metres by next week, the lowest level there since 1988 and the second lowest on record.

Gauge readings do not reflect the actual depth of the river at a certain location because the gauges are fixed and the river's bottom is steadily changing with the current. They aid navigation as a shorter term reference point.

The Army Corps has said once the Thebes gauge reads 0.61 metres, boats with a 1.74-metre draft, or distance between the water's surface and the lowest point of the vessel, would be at risk of hitting rock pinnacles there.

Despite the positive outlook for the river, Mr. Durbin said after his tour that it was hard to believe how far water levels have fallen.

"You can see things on the river banks of the Mississippi that haven't been seen for decades – old piers and things that have been long gone," he said.

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