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I'Ll" ':/'') v .~ ',) KANSAS STREAMFLOW CHARACTERISTICS PART 4 STORAGE REQUIREMENTS TO SUSTAIN GROSS RESERVOIR OUTFLOW by L. W. Furness ABSTRACT Storage requirement curves have been developed from streamflow records at 113 gaging stations in Kansas and adjoining areas. These curves show for selected chance of deficiency how much gross yield can be sustained in Kansas rivers with varying size of storage reservoirs. Such information will help Kansas to obtain the optimum benefit from its water resources. The storage requirement curves show the need for storing natural stream- flow for release in time of drought. Storage requirements and outflow rates are defined for chances of failure of the yearly supply ranging fro m 2 to 50 per- cent. For a selected chance of deficiency, the gross outflow or yield may be defined for a selected reservoir capacity, or conversely the reservoir capacity may be defined for a desired gross outflow. Gross outflow includes water re- leases plus all natural losses from storage. The storage requirement curves show, for example, that storage of 100 acre-feet per square mile of drainage area would provide sustained gross outflow of 0.20 cfs per square mile on South Fork Ninnescah River near Mur- dock (Station 96) with 2 percent chance that the storage would be insufficient, while on Cow Creek near Lyons (Station 91), only 50 miles away, the compar- able outflow would be only 0.032 cfs per square mile, The storage requirement curves are based on the frequency of low flow for periods as long as eight consecutive years. Although such long periods permi t an investigation of the adequacy of the larger reservoirs, their devel- opment involves rather complicated procedures for making the results for periods of different length consistent with each other. As in preceding studies of Kansas streamflow characteristics, streamflow records of six years or more in length have been extended by correlation wi th long-term records so that outflow- storage requirement relations at each of 113 sites reflect regional rather than local experience in the 37-year base period 1920-56. On most Kansas streams draining more than 3,000 square miles, outflow- storage requirement relations generally can be interpolated between gaging stations. For streams draining 100 to 3,000 square miles, procedures are presented for estimating outflow - storage relations using only short-term gaging station records or low-flow current-meter measurements. A fair correlation was found between outflow-storage relations and the factors of mean flow and slope of the flow-duration curve, 1