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/ o r"' .... N -..l W RED RIVER BASIN The Red River rises in eastern Nev Mexico and flow 1,300 miles in an easterly or southeasterly direction to the Mississippi River at Red River landing, Louisiana.. The total drainage area is 91,430 square miles vith a range in elevation of 4,500 feet. The head-water stream of the Red River is Prairie Dog TOwn Fork; the Red River is fonned by the junction of Prairie Dog TOwn Fork and North Fork, about 300 miles belov the source of Prairie Dog Town Fork. The upper Red River Basin is considered to be the area drained by the Red River above Denison Dam (Lake Texoma). The Prairie Dog Town Fork area is generally semi~rid in charac- tel', vi th large undeveloped areas. The average raic:f'all varies from about 17 inches near the Nev Mexico-'rexas State line to 26 inches at the mouth of North Fork. West of the Caprock Escarpment, which lies generally along the 101st meridian, the region is in the High Plains province. The High Plains are flat and almost level except near major stream sources. There are numerous shallow depressions that trap and hold much of the raic:f'all. The sands and gravels on or near the ground surface are permeable but are covered in most places by less permeable materials, so that ground-water recharge is not sub- stantial. However, large ground-water supplies, 01' fair to good quality, are used for a large irrigated acreage as vell as municipal supplies. The source of this water is largely :from storage in thick permeable deposits underlying the High Plains. Surface runoff from the High Plains is small, as much of the area is non-contributing. The runoN :from the 275 square miles 01' Red River Basin in New Mexico probably is extremely small. In this head-waters area as well as in western Texas, 'the tributaries are intermittent dry channels a.nd the main stream winds in a constantly shifting channel through a vide sand waste. Above Can;ron, Texas, are tvo small reservoirs (Umbarger Reservoir and Amarillo City Lake) that trap flood flow. The mean annual flov past Canyon for the period 1939-48 was 8,580 acre-feet, and the stream has been dry for as much as 12 months at a time. East o:f the Caprock Escarpment is an area of Permian redbeds vhich extend nearly to Terral, OklahollB. Rere the precipitation gradually increases to about 30 inches annually near Terral, and the topography becomes more rugged. The rock formations of the region are highly mineralized and runoff or stream flov that passes through the area becomes hishly contaminated vith dissolved salts, consist- ing 01' principally calcium sulphate and some chlorides. In scattered localities, salt springs discharge brine directly into the stream 1'lov. In general, however, average water quality improves dOVllstream as ic:f'lov of better quality occurs, although artificial pollution may be present in several areas. 2-9