Storage requirements for Arkansas streams

The supply of good-quality surface water in Arkansas is abundant. owing to seasonal and annual variability of streamflow, however, storage must be provided to insure dependable year-round supplies in most of the State. Storage requirements for draft rates that are as much as 60 percent of the mean annual flow at 49 continuous-record gaging stations can be obtained from tabular data in this report.

Through regional analyses of streamflow data, the State was divided into three regions. Draft-storage diagrams for each region provide a means of estimating storage requirements for sites on streams where data are scant, provided the drainage area, the mean annual flow, and the low-flow index are known. These data are tabulated for 53 gaging stations used in the analyses and for 132 partial-record sites where only base-flow measurements have been made. Mean annual flow can be determined for any stream whose drainage lies within the State by using the runoff map in this report. Low-flow indices can be estimated by correlating base flows, determined from several discharge measurements, with concurrent flows at nearby continuous-record gaging stations, whose low-flow indices have been determined.