PHOTO GALLERY: States face off over Missouri River water

By The Associated Press

December 6, 2012 | 6:22 p.m. CST

Sen. John Hoeven, right, and Sen. Roy Blunt represent North Dakota and Missouri, two states entrenched in the water wars raging over downstream drought-stricken states competing for the increasingly scarce upstream water of the Missouri River.

North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven, right, and Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, whose states have long battled over water management, tour the Garrison Dam spillway on the Missouri River on May 29 in Bismarck, N.D. The water wars are raging again, with downstream drought-stricken states competing for the increasingly scarce upstream water of the Missouri River. | File Photo/The Associated Press

Bich Nguyen catches a smallmouth bass on June 13 at Gavins Point Dam on the Missouri River near Yankton, S.D. North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana, which in the past have fought to reduce water being released from dams to boost recreation, are once again battling downstream states facing drought. | Jay Pickthorn/The Associated Press

A tow switching barges pulls an empty barge alongside one filled with soybeans on Nov. 28 at an Archer Daniels Midland Company grain river terminal along the Mississippi River in Sauget, Ill. Officials from across the country have written to President Barack Obama in a dispute about whether water from the Missouri River’s upstream reservoirs should be released. | Jeff Roberson/The Associated Press