Prepared in cooperation with the Osage Tribal Council, U.S. Department of Energy, and Bureau of Indian Affairs Surface-Water Characteristics and Quality on the Osage Reservation, Osage County, Oklahoma, 1999 Water-Resources Investigations Report 02–4060 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Abbott, M.M. and Tortorelli, R.L.—Surface-Water Characteristics and Quality on the Osage Reservation, Osage County, Oklahoma, 19999—USGS/WRIR 02–4060 Printed on recycled paper Surface-Water Characteristics and Quality on the Osage Reservation, Osage County, Oklahoma, 1999 By Marvin M. Abbott and Robert L. Tortorelli Prepared in cooperation with the Osage Tribal Council, U.S. Department of Energy, and Bureau of Indian Affairs Water-Resources Investigations Report 02–4060 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior Gale A. Norton, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey Charles G. Groat, Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2002 For sale by U.S. Geological Survey, Information Services Box 25286, Denver Federal Center Denver, CO 80225 District Chief U.S. Geological Survey 202 NW 66 St., Bldg. 7 Oklahoma City, OK 73116 For more information about the USGS and its products: Telephone: 1-888-ASK-USGS World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov/ Information about water resources in Oklahoma is available on the World Wide Web at http://ok.water.usgs.gov Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this report is in the public domain, it contains copyrighted materials that are noted in the text. Permission to reproduce those items must be secured from the individual copyright owners. UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: OKLAHOMA CITY 2002 iii Contents Abstract . 1 Introduction . 1 Purpose and scope . 3 Description of the study area . 3 Acknowledgments . 3 Streamflow characteristics . 3 Drainage basins . 7 Water quality . 13 Historical water-quality data . 13 Summary statistics of surface-water quality . 13 Comparison of surface-water-quality and ground-water-quality data . .18 Comparison of surface-water quality and oil well data . 18 Summary . 21 Selected references . 22 Supplemental information . 24 Delineation of basin boundaries . 25 Oil-industry well data . 25 Water-quality sampling procedures . 25 Water-quality analyses . 25 Quality-control sampling . 28 Illustrations Figures 1-2. Maps showing: 1. Oil and gas well locations on the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma. .2 2. Surface drainage basins, surface-water-quality sites, type of samples collected, and streamflow gages on the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma. 4 3. Graph showing monthly streamflows, as a percent of mean annual discharge, based on water year (October 1–September 30) for selected continuous record streamflow-gaging stations in and near the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma. .5 Figures 4-5. Maps showing: 4. Surface drainages and incremental basins from digital-elevation model of the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma. 26 5. Digital-elevation model of the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma. 27 Figures 6-8. Graphs showing: 6. a) Incremental basin areas grouped by major drainage basins in the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma; b) the number of oil wells in incremental basins grouped by major drainage basins; and c) the number of oil wells per square mile in incremental basins grouped by major drainage basins. 12 7. Dissolved chloride concentrations at two surface-water sites, historical and current water- quality data on the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma. 14 8. Stream discharge measurements at the time of sampling, grouped by major drainage basins; b) dissolved chloride concentration, grouped by major drainage basins; c) chloride load, iv grouped by major drainage basins; and d) chloride yield, grouped by major drainage basins. 17 Figure 9. Map showing surface-water sample sites where estimated chloride yield is greater than 0.07 ton per day per square mile on the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma. 19 Figure 10. Graphs showing a) Dissolved chloride concentrations; b) dissolved solids concentration; c) dissolved sulfate concentration; and d) dissolved nitrite plus nitrate as nitrogen concentration in associated surface- and ground-water samples in the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma. 20 Tables 1. Mean annual flow and annual low flow frequency estimates for selected continuous record streamflow-gaging stations with at least 10 years of streamflow data from unregulated and regulated basins on and near the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma . 6 2. Documented extreme peak discharges and flood frequency estimates for selected streamflow- gaging stations with at least eight years of annual peak-discharge data from unregulated and regulated basins on and near the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma . .8 3. Lake data for major reservoirs in the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma . 9 4. Summary statistics for the incremental basin areas on the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma . 10 5. Summary statistics for the number of oil wells per incremental basin on the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma, 1900-1998 . 10 6. Summary statistics for the number of oil wells per square mile per incremental basin on the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma . 11 7. Summary statistics of stream discharge measurements on the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma, 1999 15 8. Summary statistics of dissolved chloride concentrations in the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma, 1999 15 9. Summary statistics of chloride load in the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma, 1999 . 16 10. Summary statistics of chloride yield on the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma, 1999 . 16 11. Analytical methods used at the U.S. Geological Survey, Quality of Water Service Unit Laboratory, Ocala, Florida, and the National Water Quality Laboratory, Denver, Colorado . 30 12. Surface-water quality sites, basin areas, and associated oil wells on the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma . 31 13. Specific conductance and chloride analyses of surface-water samples on the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma, 1999 . 38 14. Chemical analyses of 20 surface-water samples for water properties, major cations and anions, trace elements, and nutrients on the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma,1999 . 44 15a. Chemical analyses of quality-control samples for chloride from surface water on the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma, 1999 . 49 15b. Chemical analyses of quality-control samples for water properties, major cations and anions, trace elements, and nutrients from surface water on the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma, 1999 . 50 16. Comparison of surface-water and nearby ground-water samples on the Osage Reservation, Oklahoma . ..