Surface Water
The Middle Arkansas subbasin has three 
United States Geological Survey streamflow gages. They include Kinsley, Larned and Great Bend. The Kinsley streamflow gage began recording in 1945. Great Bend began measurements in 1941. The Larned gage began in 1999. Minimum Desirable Streamflow values were assigned to the Kinsley and Great Bend gages. The average streamflow at Kinsley was 123.15 cfs. Larned was 92.21 cfs. Great Bend was 250.30 cfs.
In 1984, the Kansas Legislature passed the Minimum Desirable Streamflow Act for some USGS streamflow gages including Great Bend and Kinsley.
|
Gage |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
June |
July |
Aug |
Sept |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
|
Great Bend |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
10 |
10 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
|
Kinsley |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
Baseflow
The Middle Arkansas Subbasin has nine manually measured streamflow gage sites. These sites are measured quarterly by Kansas Department of Agriculture - Division of Water Resources staff in the Stafford Field Office. In 2008, the staff measured the sites 3 times in February, April and October. The manual measurements record baseflow. Baseflow is the amount of natural flow in the stream under normal conditions. Normal conditions are times without precipitation. Precipitation events can have a big impact on streamflow. Staff waits three days after a rain event before measuring streamflow.
The furthest upstream United States Geological Survey gage is located in Edwards County near Kinsley. The second gage is in Pawnee County near Larned. The final is located in Barton County near Great Bend. The Great Bend gage is before the confluence of Walnut Creek and the Arkansas River. The USGS website posts all the data from the sites. The site also includes historic and real-time data from streamflow gage sites throughout the state.
The map shows measurements taken during the year and compared to determine if stream reaches are gaining, losing, dry or undetermined between gage sites. Red indicates a losing stretch of stream, blue a gaining stretch, brown a dry stretch and green a static stretch. An undetermined stretch of the stream indicates the flow was equal in conditions. Baseflow at each site is calculated in cubic feet per second. Each stretch is first evaluated based on the difference in discharge between each streamflow gage site. This shows the gaining and losing stretches for each measurement. When two consecutive sites have zero flow, it is considered a dry stretch because there are no discharge numbers to compare.
When a stretch is shown as losing or dry, it does not mean that the stream never flows there. In addition, some sites may have not been measured during the winter because of ice, beaver dams and other blockage and are represented as not applicable (N/A). All the measurements labeled N/A and are not considered dry, losing or gaining. The table shows discharge measurements during the previous year.
The seventh site (MA07) has not been measured since August 2007 because of site conditions. Staff completed all other measurements. Since MA07 has not been measured in awhile, the site has been dropped from the streamflow monitoring network. In 2008, the Middle Arkansas Subbasin had four gaining stretches, one dry, two static and one losing.
|
Site |
February |
Condition |
April |
Condition |
October |
Condition |
|
MA01 |
n/a |
|
0 |
|
0 |
|
|
MA02 |
n/a |
|
0 |
Dry |
0 |
Dry |
|
MA03 |
1.1 |
|
0.581 |
Gain |
0 |
Dry |
|
MA04 |
0 |
Loss |
0 |
Loss |
0 |
Dry |
|
MA05 |
1.2 |
Gain |
0.371 |
Gain |
0 |
Dry |
|
MA06 |
2.5 |
Gain |
0 |
Loss |
0 |
Dry |
|
MA08 |
6.5 |
Gain |
5.6 |
Gain |
0.6 |
Gain |
|
MA09 |
13 |
Gain |
23.3 |
Gain |
9.8 |
Gain |
|
MA10 |
58.3 |
Gain |
73.4 |
Gain |
36.3 |
Gain |