Water Availability and Quality in the Arkansas-White-Red Basins

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0 o CHAPTER 3 P4 ° EXISTENCE OF WATER Scope of tabulation - The tables of this chapter present the volumes W of surface water available at designated points in the Arkansas-White-Red ,d River Basins. In order that data be on a comparable basis, records are presented for a common period of time for each watershed. For many of the areas it was necessary to limit the period to the years 1938 -49, this being P4 the extent to which records were generally available. For those watersheds for which records or estimates of flow for a longer period were available, the average monthly discharge is also shown for the period 1938 -49 for comparative purposes. Brief descriptions of the major basins, as presented in the previous chapter, serve as a medium for reference to many of the existing projects and to some of the characteristics of water 4vailability that are properly discussed on an areal basis. The tables of this chapter are accompanied by brief descriptions of the pertinent details that identify and explain the source and nature of the figures submitted. Source of data Records of stream flow presented herein were com- piled in general from U. S. Geological Survey publications. Runoff esti- mates were obtained from the project files-of the Corps of Engineers, or were computed for the report by the Corps of Engineers, the U. S. Geolog- ical Survey, and the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation. Data were also furnished by other Federal and state agencies for the text of the report. Adequacy of data Adequate stream flow data are available for approximately a decade. A stream gaging program of a fairly comprehen- sive scope was initiated about 1938 and has been maintained on a rela- tively continuous basis. In general, the stream flow stations of that 'program were located at points that were of interest in regard to pro- spective dam sites or as key stations basic to a general network for the collection of hydrologic data. In some cases continuous or fragmentary records are available from the early part of the decade of 1920, but even these records are of too short duration to provide a reliable index of a long -term climatic cycle and related runoff at the station location. The period of available discharge record 1938 -49 is fairly representative for a general areal coverage. The mean for this period is included in all tables for the purpose of comparison of yield in respect to various stations where longer periods of record or estimates are available. Variations in precipitation, geology, and land use detract from the reliability of figures of runoff as estimated at some sites from 3 -1