Future plans in the Pittsburgh office of the Army Corps of Engineers involve trying to keep everything afloat in a huge waterway system -- with fewer personnel.

Yesterday, about 50 employees received layoff notices as part of a reduction in force in the local division that has been in the planning stages since spring.

Karen Auer, corps spokeswoman, said the local office is being reduced from a high of 790 employees in fiscal 2002 to about 560 employees.

Auer said the employees who received notices yesterday will be out of work Nov. 19 unless other job openings become available because of unexpected transfers or retirements.

Even though this is the reduction in force that everyone has been dreading, she said, the numbers still aren't final, because every time one person shifts into another position, "it creates a ripple effect."

"The good news is that we didn't have to go forward with the worst-case scenario, a reduction to 520 employees," said Auer.

Since the corps began restructuring in March, she said, 170 employees have taken early or regular retirements, transferred to another government agency or left for jobs in the private sector.

The Pittsburgh district, one of seven under the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division headquartered in Cincinnati, operates 23 locks and dams and 16 reservoirs in the region. It also provides designs on national and international navigation systems, flood protection, construction of locks and dams, and planning. Pittsburgh is the second-busiest inland river port in the country.

Auer said there will be fewer employees across the board but that the corps will not be closing any public facilities. She said the planning and engineering division will be smaller and some of its work may be transferred to other districts.

Officials from unions that represent affected workers could not be reached for comment yesterday.