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I 00159~ THE STATE ~ OF KA"lSAS WATER RESOURCES BOARD 1l34-S STATE OFFICE BUILDING Phone CE 5'.0011, Exten5ion 695' TOPEKA. KANSAS 66612 , . .. To Those Receiving Technical Report Number 6B: This report is another in the continuing series of technical reports prepared as part of the cooperative analytical program of the Kansas Water Resources Board and the Surface Water Branch of the U.S. Geological Survey. A future part will provide information on recession rates and other characteristics of base flow. Technical Report 6A dealt with the basic data phase of the base flow investigation. Base flow is that part of total streamflow remaining if storm runoff were extracted and precipitation continued to supply the usual accre- tions of flow via the ground. Typical of streams in the mid-continent areas, the total streamflow in Kansas is essentially that of base flow during 40 to 80 percent of the days. Since base flow is largely derived from ground-water sources, knowledge of the quantity of base flow is an indication of the ground-water potential. Extensive ground-water development can extract a significant portion of the base-flow component. Therefore, knowledge of base flow will be helpful in future studies to evaluate the effect extensive pumpage may have on downstream development works. Likewise, the firm supply of a stream is better represented by base flow which will indicate the probability of meeting a given demand. The distribution of base-flow supplies in Kansas was studied, both on an areal and probability basis. On an areal basis, maps illustrate how annual and seasonal base flow varies across Kansas and how base flow compares with total streamflow, ground-water availability, .and direct runoff. On a probability basis, comparisons are made with flow-dura- tion curves and low-flow frequency curves of total flow. A major part of the report presents graphs for 84 gaging stations showing selected percentages of probability of base flow reaching various magnitudes for each month of the year. As the probable magnitude of base flow is likely to be needed at other locations in Kansas, an extensive analysis was made to select those basin characteristics which would most closely define the various probabilities of monthly and yearly rates of base flow.