WSP02985

• File Number: 8112.600
• Description: Arkansas White Red Basins Interagency Committee - AWRBIAC
• Basin: Arkansas
• Water Division: 2
• Date: 3/1/1982
• Title: Arkansas-White-Red Basins Water Resources Activities Report --- Part 1 of 2 -- Cover Page - Page 141
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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Corps of Engineers
Revised July 1984

55, Arkansas River, Great Bend, KS, to Tulsa, OK
STATUS: The Arkansas River and Tributaries Study, Great Bend, Kansas, to
Tulsa, Oklahoma, was authorized by resolutions adopted 21 June 1944 and 3 July
1945 by the House Committee on Flood Control, resolution adopted 6 November
1944 by the Senate Committee on Commerce, resolution adopted 16 October 1951
by the House Committee on Public Works, Section 208 of the flood Control Act
of 1965, and resolution adopted 5 May 1966 by the House Committee on Public
Works.

This portion of the Arkansas River Basin including the Cimarron River has a
drainage area of about 38,600 square miles and includes approximately 890,000
acres of flood prone land. Annual rainfall varies from about 25 inches near
Great Bend, Kansas, to about 35 inches near Keystone Lake, Oklahoma. Major
floods occur on an average of about once in 3 years in the upper area and
about once in 7 years in the lower area, inundating rural and urban areas.
The quality of water on the main stem of both streams is poor because of natural
and manmade chloride pollution, but most tributary streams have good-quality
water. The study will formulate and develop an integrated water resources plan
of improvement that will best meet the short-and long-range water needs of the
basin including the economic feasibility of extending navigation from the
McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System into Kansas. Water resources
development is particularly urgent because of the magnitude of the basin's un-
satisfied needs, which is attributed to the fact that few civil works projects
have been constructed. The basin study is scheduled for completion in 1991,
if funding continues.

DESCRIPTION: Navigation studies to extend navigation from Catoosa, Oklahoma,
to Wichita, Kansas, have been completed and were not found to be economically
justified. Bank stabilization studies between Wichita and Hutchinson, Kansas
have been completed. The stabilization project was found to be technically
feasible but not economically justified. The Halstead Local Protection Feasi-
bility Report has been completed and is in the review process. Cow Creek
Watershed Project has been suspended because of lack of local support. The
final survey report for the Upper Little Arkansas River Watershed has been com-
pleted and is in the review process. Studies are nearing completion on the
possibility of adding hydropower to the existing Kaw Lake project in Oklahoma,
and studies are being made on the possibility of raising the levees around the
city of Arkansas City, Kansas.

SPONSOR: City of Halstead, Upper Little Arkansas River Watershed Joint District
No. 95, City of Arkansas City, States of Kansas and Oklahoma.

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