Surface Water

The Middle Arkansas subbasin has two active  United States Geological Survey streamflow gages, Larned and Great Bend. The Kinsley streamflow gage began recording in 1945, but ended September 30, 2009 due to budget and site issues. 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. Over the periods of record, the average streamflow at Kinsley was 117.4 cfs, Larned was 84.6 cfs, and Great Bend was 245.7 cfs.

In 1984, the Kansas Legislature passed the Minimum Desirable Streamflow Act for some USGS streamflow gages including Great Bend and Kinsley.

Baseflow

The Middle Arkansas Subbasin has ten 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 2010, the staff measured the sites twice in April and September. 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 first USGS gage is in Pawnee County near Larned. The other 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 a gaining stream, a losing stream, dry or undetermined between gage sites. Red indicates a losing stretch of stream, blue a gaining stretch, brown a dry stretch and green an undetermined 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 2010.

The seventh site (MA07) was dropped from the streamflow monitoring network because it had not been measured since August 2007 due to site conditions. However, MA07 was measurable in August 2009, April 2010, and September 2010.  Therefore, all sites were measured twice in 2010.  The first six stretches were dry.  The stretches MA07-MA08 and MA09-MA10 were gaining, but MA08-MA09 was losing in 2010.  Note: The Dundee diversion is near site MA09 and may impact flows.