Stream Monitoring and Educational Program in the Red River Basin
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Stream Monitoring and Educational U.S. Department of the Interior Program in the Red River Basin, U.S. Geological Survey Texas, 1996–97 100 o 101 o 5 AMARILLO NORTH FORK 102 o RED RIVER 103 o A S LT 35o F ORK RED R IV ER 1 4 2 PRAIRIE DOG TOWN PEASE 3 99 o WICHITA FORK RED RIVER 7 FALLS CHARLIE 6 RIVE R o o 34 W 8 98 9 I R o LAKE CHIT 21 ED 97 A . TEXOMA o VE o 10 11 R 25 96 RI R 95 16 19 18 20 DENISON 17 28 14 15 23 24 27 29 22 26 30 12,13 LAKE PARIS KEMP LAKE LAKE KICKAPOO ARROWHEAD TEXARKANA EXPLANATION 0 40 80 120 MILES Reach 1—Lower Red River (mainstem) Basin Red River Basin in Texas Reach 2—Wichita River Basin NEW OKLAHOMA Reach 3—Pease River Basin MEXICO ARKANSAS Reach 4—Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River Basin Reach 5—North Fork and Salt Fork Red River TEXAS Basins 12 LOUISIANA USGS streamflow-gaging and water-quality station and reference number (table 1) 22 USGS streamflow-gaging station and reference number (table 1) Figure 1. Location of Red River Basin, Texas, and stream-monitoring stations. This fact sheet presents the 1996–97 Texas Panhandle, and becomes the Texas- 200,000 acre-feet are in the basin (fig. 1): stream monitoring and outreach activities Oklahoma boundary. It then flows Lake Kemp, Lake Kickapoo, Lake of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), through southwestern Arkansas and into Arrowhead, and Lake Texoma. the Red River Authority of Texas, the Louisiana, where it joins the Atchafalaya U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the City River. Amarillo is the largest city in the Texas of Wichita Falls, the Wichita County The land-surface features of the Red part of the basin, with an estimated 1997 Water Improvement District No. 2, and River Basin in Texas vary from the nearly population of about 174,000 (Texas A&M the Texas Water Development Board. The level prairie and farmland west of Ama- University, 1997). Wichita Falls is the fact sheet was prepared by the USGS in rillo, to rugged canyons and ridges east of second largest, with an estimated 1997 cooperation with the Red River Authority Amarillo, to rolling plains and prairie in population of about 102,000. The next of Texas. the Wichita Falls area and, finally, to the largest Texas cities—Burkburnett, The Red River Basin comprises parts gently rolling, wooded hills in northeast Canyon, Denison, Hereford, Paris, of five states: New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas. Rainfall increases appreciably Sherman, and Vernon—all have estimated Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. The across the basin from an average of about basin covers about 94,500 square miles, 15 inches near the Texas-New Mexico 1997 populations in the 10,000-to-40,000 of which approximately 24,500 square border to about 48 inches near the Texas- range. The major industries in the region miles are in Texas (fig. 1). The river flows Arkansas border. Four major reservoirs are oil and gas production, agriculture, from eastern New Mexico, across the with impoundment capacities greater than ranching, manufacturing, and tourism. Table 1. Active stream-monitoring stations, Red River Basin, Texas, 1996–97 Drainage Period of record Reference USGS Continuous area number station Station name 2-parameter (square Streamflow Water quality (fig. 1) number monitors1 miles) 1 07297910 Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River near Wayside, Tex. 4,211 1967–97 2 07299540 Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River near Childress, Tex. 7,725 X 1964–97 1994–97 3 07299670 Groesbeck Creek at State Highway 6 near Quanah, Tex. 303 1961–97 4 07300000 Salt Fork Red River near Wellington, Tex. 1,222 1952–97 5 07301410 Sweetwater Creek near Kelton, Tex. 287 1961–97 1969–85 6 07307800 Pease River near Childress, Tex. 2,754 X 1959–62 1968–82 1967–97 7 07308200 Pease River near Vernon, Tex. 3,488 1959–82 1967–81 1992–97 8 07308500 Red River near Burkburnett, Tex. 20,570 X 1959–97 1968–81 1994–97 9 07311600 North Wichita River near Paducah, Tex. 540 X 1961–82 1994–97 1994–97 10 07311630 Middle Wichita River near Guthrie, Tex. 50 X 1994–97 1994–97 11 07311700 North Wichita River near Truscott, Tex. 937 X 1959–97 1954–59 1968–92 1994–97 12 07311782 South Wichita River at Low Flow Dam near Guthrie, Tex. 223 X 1984–85 1984–97 1987–97 13 07311783 South Wichita River below Low Flow Dam near Guthrie, Tex. 223 1985–97 1987–89 14 07311800 South Wichita River near Benjamin, Tex. 584 X 1952–57 1967–97 1959–97 15 07311900 Wichita River near Seymour, Tex. 937 X 1960–79 1969–92 1997 1997 16 07312100 Wichita River near Mabelle, Tex. 2,086 X 1959–97 1968–97 17 07312110 South Side Canal near Dundee, Tex. 2,194 1971–97 18 07312130 Wichita River at State Highway 25 near Kamay, Tex. 2246 X 1996–97 1996–97 19 07312200 Beaver Creek near Electra, Tex. 652 X 1960–97 1968–70 1996–97 20 07312500 Wichita River at Wichita Falls, Tex. 3,140 X 1938–97 1981–89 1996–97 21 07312700 Wichita River near Charlie, Tex. 3,439 X 1967–97 1967–81 1996–97 22 07314500 Little Wichita River near Archer City, Tex. 481 1932–56 1966–97 23 07314900 Little Wichita River above Henrietta, Tex. 1,037 1953–97 1952–56 1959–66 1968–85 24 07315200 East Fork Little Wichita River near Henrietta, Tex. 178 1963–97 25 07315500 Red River near Terral, Okla. 28,723 1938–97 1967–97 26 07316000 Red River near Gainesville, Tex. 30,782 X 1936–97 1994–97 27 07331600 Red River below Denison Dam, Tex. 39,720 X 1997 1997 28 07335500 Red River at Arthur City, Tex. 44,531 1905–11 1936–97 29 07336820 Red River near De Kalb, Tex. 47,348 1967–97 1968–97 30 07337000 Red River at Index, Ark. 48,030 1936–97 1997 1 Specific conductance and temperature recorded hourly. Several tributaries to the Red Salinity is the greatest limitation on In 1957, when Congress directed the River appear fairly turbid and generally water use in the Red River Basin and is improvement of water quality in the Red have visible suspended-sediment largely the result of naturally occurring River Basin, the U.S. Army Corps of concentrations during low flow, as can be salt springs in parts of the upper reaches Engineers began studying the problem of seen at the stream-monitoring station of the basin (Keller and others, 1988). salt removal from 10 salt-spring areas in Wichita River near Charlie, Tex. (photo The salt sources contribute water with the Red River Basin. Eight of these source A). Water in the mainstem of the Red large (relative to potable water) concen- River reflects the River’s namesake trations of dissolved solids, principally areas were selected by the Corps of Engi- (photo B). During low flow the Red River chloride. At certain times and locations, neers to have structural controls installed appears fairly turbid, as can be seen at the the salinity of streams in the basin to reduce salt loads reaching the main- stream-monitoring station Red River near exceeds that of seawater (Keller and stem of the Red River (Keller and others, Burkburnett, Tex. (photo B). others, 1988). 1988) (fig. 2). 2 100o 101o procedure (Brazos River Authority, writ- ten commun., 1995)), the total number of o No 102 rt domestic and industrial discharges in the h 99o rk of Fo R reach, and the total volume of effluent ed Elk discharged in the reach. The schedule for R iv E er P lm focused monitoring (high-intensity r C a S r i a r lt e o ie Re e sampling during 1 of the 5 years and low- 35 Texas Fork d Oklahoma LAKE k AREA VI Fork ALTUS intensity sampling during the other 4 D og River Creek years) reflects the ranking of the five T o wn reaches: r e t F ork Red AREA XIV t k River AREA XIII O ee Year 1 (fiscal years 1996–97)—Reach 2 Cr iver ed R le R Wichita River Basin Tu L ittle AREA V R ed Year 2 (fiscal years 1997–98)—Reach 1 N orth Pease Lower Red River (mainstem) Basin AREA IX Pe R P ase ive eas r e r e iddle iv Year 3 (fiscal years 1998–99)—Reach 4 M R se Pea Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red 34o AREA VII F C o eaver ree rk B k River Basin uth So rth N o ork r AREA X F iv e Year 4 (fiscal years 1999–2000)—Reach M R idd le ita ich W 3 Pease River Basin South Fork LAKE KEMP AREA VIII Year 5 (fiscal years 2000–2001)—Reach 5 North Fork and Salt Fork of the Red 0 20 40 60 MILES River Basins Figure 2. Location of salt-spring areas in the Red River Basin, Texas and The monitoring plan for the reaches Oklahoma (Keller and others, 1988). in the Red River Basin includes the com- The Water Resources Development Basinwide Monitoring Plan putation of salt loading for the major Act of 1974 provided funding for the con- tributaries to identify sources of salinity struction of water-control structures in The Clean Waters Act of 1991 (Texas and to determine to what extent these Area VIII in the Wichita River Basin.