138.00.16 Ark. Code R. 002
ARKANSAS-OKLAHOMA ARKANSAS RIVER COMPACT COMMISSION RULES, REGULATIONS AND MODES OF PROCEDURE
(As Amended September 25, 1985, September 25, 1991, September 24, 1993, September 27, 2012, and September 24, 2015)
THE COMMISSION
COMMISSION OFFICERS
If the two arbitrators fail to select a third within sixty (60) days following their selection, then the third arbitrator shall be chosen by the Chairman of the Commission.
No executive session may be held except on a vote, taken in public, by a majority of a quorum of the members present. Any motion or other decision considered or arrived at in executive session shall be voidable unless, following the executive session, the Commission reconvenes in public session and presents and votes on such motion or other decision.
COMMITTEES
ANNUAL REPORT
Unless determined and directed otherwise by the Commission, applications for Commission hearings shall be placed, for Commission review and consideration, on the agenda for the next regularly scheduled annual meeting of the Commission following the filing of the application. Applicant(s) shall be notified, in advance by the Chairman, of the date, time and place of the meeting at which the application will be considered and acted upon by the Commission.
If the Commission, or any other interested party, is unable to state the matters in detail at the time the notice is served, the initial notice may be limited to a statement of the issues. Thereafter, and upon application, a more definite and detailed statement shall be furnished.
PUBLICITY
POLLUTION
*As amended at the annual meeting, September 25, 1985.
**As amended at the annual meeting, September 25, 1991.
***As amended at the annual meeting, September 24, 1993.
****As amended at the annual meeting, September 27, 2012.
*****As amended at the annual meeting, September 24, 2015.
ARKANSAS RIVER BASIN COMPACT
Guidelines for the Computation of Annual Yields
September 24, 2015
This document describes methods developed and approved by the Arkansas River Basin Compact Commission to compute the annual yields for the Spavinaw Creek, Illinois River, Lee Creek, Poteau River and Arkansas River Sub-basins of the Oklahoma-Arkansas River Compact.
General Description of Computation of Annual Yields
To compute annual yields for the Sub-basins identified above, one must take the following steps:
Items 1 and 2 are explained in this document, as these involve interpretation of the Compact, data collection and application of appropriate methods for computation of runoff, accretions, and depletions. Items 3 to 5 are not included herein as these are self-explanatory.
*The Engineering Committee will compute runoff data_from the Sub-basins using the areas defined by the Compact in Article II. Active USGS streamflow gauges should be used to retrieve measured runoff as available. Since most gauges are not located on the Oklahoma-Arkansas state border, estimates of runoff should account for the ungauged flows generated in the drainage area above or below the selected gauge.
The Engineering Committee will adjust the runoff measured at the gauges for the Spavinaw Creek, Illinois River, Lee Creek,and Poteau River Sub-basins-using simple linear interpolation, as follows:
Where,
R= Actual runoff at the OK-ARK state line
Rm= Measured runoff at the gauge
AG= Contributing area at the gauge
AU= Area ungauged above or below gauge
At= Total area including ungauged portion. Because water from these Sub-basins originates
in the state of Arkansas, then:
*If gauge is located on the Oklahoma side: At = AG - Au
*If gauge is located on Arkansas side: AT = AG + AU
The annual yields report should include a brief description of the procedure used to compute actual runoff (R) in these Sub-basins, and should also include the measured ungauged drainage areas used for such computation.
The Engineering Committee will use the following formula to calculate runoff for the Arkansas River Sub-basin:
Where,
Qa= Total annual discharge originating from the Arkansas River Sub-basin.
QV= Total annual discharge of the Arkansas River immediately below the mouth of Lee Creek presently measured at the Van Buren gauging station.
Qm= Total annual discharge of the Arkansas River immediately below the mouth of the Grand Neosho River, presently measured at the Muskogee gauging station.
QW= Total annual discharge of the Canadian River at Eufaula Dam, presently measured at Whitefield gauging station.
Q2= Total annual outflow from the Illinois River Sub-basin.
Q3= Total annual outflow from the Lee Creek Sub-basin.
Q4= Total annual outflow from the Poteau River Sub-basin.
*The Engineering Committee will obtain data, as available, from the USGS website (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis) for the following gauges (Table 1):
Table 1. Current USGS gauges used for Computation of Runoff at Sub-basins in the Compact Area
Sub-basin | USGS Gauges Required | Drainage Area (mi2) |
Spavinaw Creek | 07191220 - Spavinaw Creek near Sycamore, OK | 133 |
07195855 - Flint Creek near West Siloam Springs, OK | 59.8 | |
Illinois River | 07195500 - Illinois River near Watts, OK | 635 |
07196900 - Baron Fork at Dutch Mills, AR | 41 | |
Lee Creek | 07249985 - Lee Creek near Short OK | 420 |
07247015 - Poteau River at Loving, OK | 269a | |
Poteau River | 07247250 - Black Fork below Big Creeknr Page, OK | 74.4b |
07247250 - James Fork near Hackett, AR | 147c | |
07194500 - Arkansas River near Muskogee, OK | 84,133 | |
Arkansas River | 07245000 - Canadian River near Whitefield, OK | 37,876 |
07250550 - AR River at J. W. Trimble L& D nr Van Buren, AR | 151,000d |
a Does not include 25.1 sq. miles of ungauged drainage.
b Does not include 13.0 sq. miles of ungauged drainage.
c Does not include 35.2 sq. miles of ungauged drainage.
d Includes 22,200 sq. miles of drainage area in Kansas that "probably is noncontributing".
Data obtained from the eleven (11) above listed gauges is sufficient to accurately compute actual runoff from the Sub-basins, but different gauges could be used for the computation of runoff.
Review of the Poteau River Sub-basin indicates that there are large portions of runoff that originate in Arkansas but are not included in the gauging. Calculations should be completed to estimate the runoff for these areas using the following equation.
Where,
RU= Calculated runoff at the OK-AR state line from ungauged contributing streams
Rm= Measured runoff at the gauge
AG= Contributing area at the gauge
AU= Area contributing runoff for ungauged streams
*Actual runoff should be computed on an annual basis, and monthly values should be included in the annual yields report as appendices, instead of the daily time series that has been included in previous reports. Units should be consistent, preferably in acre-feet (AF). Flows originating from outside the Compact area should not be included in the computation of actual runoff, unless specified in the Compact. Article II of the Compact defines the drainage areas for each Sub-basin as waters originating in the Compact area. In previous reports, return flows from the White River Basin have been removed from the flow originating in the Arkansas River Basin since the water is being transferred in from another basin. The return flow data is obtained from the water departments of the cities of Fayetteville, Rogers, and Springdale, AR.
The total annual depletion in each Sub-basin will be the sum of the following:
Diversions from the Oklahoma side of the Compact, i.e. the Arkansas Sub-basin and the Oklahoma portion of the Lee Creek Sub-basin, should be estimated using information from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB). Likewise, diversions from the Arkansas side of the Compact should be obtained from the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC). These agencies manage the surface water rights in their respective states, and can provide information on the type of uses, allocated amounts, annual reported use, and estimates of return flows. Values of annual diversions for each sub-basin should be included in the report, along with a brief description of the methods and assumptions used in the calculation of return flows.
The Compact defines depletion as the difference between the inflow and outflow, using the following equation:
in which
I - O= Depletion in the reservoir.
P = Precipitation on reservoir surface.
p= Runoff that would have occurred from area covered by reservoir, computed by a derived rainfall-runoff factor c times P, or cP.
[]S= Change in storage volume at beginning and end of period E = Evaporation from reservoir surface.
D=Direct diversions from reservoir storage, not included in outflow; seepage from reservoir may also be a factor, and if not included in measured outflow as at gauging station below dam, should be estimated.
The Engineering Committee will obtain monthly_data for the reservoirs of the Compact area from the USACE web page, at http://www.swt-wc.usace.army.mil/. Available data includes reservoir contents, as well as evaporation and precipitation measured over the reservoir surface.
* Precipitation on reservoir surface (P)
The Engineering Committee will obtain monthly values of precipitation data measured over the lakes from the USACE webpage.
* Runoff (p)
This component should be estimated as the product of precipitation (P) and a runoff coefficient. A runoff coefficient of 0.18 has been used since 1974 to determine the runoff quantity. It has been noted that the runoff coefficient value can vary depending on publications and that there is no way to know what existed in the area before the reservoirs were built. For these reasons it is agreed upon by the Engineering Committee to continue the use of 0.18 as the runoff coefficient since this is the value that has been used in all of the previous reports.
* Change in Storage (AS)
Change in storage is defined in the compact as the "Change in the storage volume at the beginning and end of a period", which for the water year would be computed as the difference between the contents at the end of the period (September 30th) minus the contents at the beginning of the period (October 1, previous calendar year).
Evaporation from reservoir surface (E)
The Engineering Committee will obtain monthly values of evaporation strictly measured over the lakes from the USACE webpage. Pan evaporation is used to estimate the evaporation from lakes. There is a correlation between lake evaporation and pan evaporation. Evaporation from a natural body of water is usually at a lower rate because the body of water does not have metal sides that get hot with the sun, and while light penetration in a pan is essentially uniform, light penetration in natural bodies of water will decrease as depth increases. Pan coefficients can vary depending on a number of different variables, including ground cover, levels of relative humidity, and 24 hour wind speed. Previous reports have used a pan coefficient of 0.70 for correlation between reservoir evaporation and pan evaporation.
Further discussion as to the coefficient value that should be used is required by the engineering committee.
* Direct Diversions from reservoir surface (D)
Direct diversions from reservoir storage, not included in the outflow, should be computed using information from the OWRB water rights database. Previous reports only used data from the USACE, but did not include details such as the type of use, the year of the data, and if any return flows had been included in the computation.
This item has not been addressed in previous reports. The Compact states that "Evaporation from small lakes, such as those not designed for water supply, including flood-detentions structures, farm ponds, and recreation lakes, may be estimated on basis of average water surface area and appropriate data from evaporation-pan records."
Further discussion about the data sources and feasibility of including this item in the computation of depletions needs to be discussed by the Engineering Committee. Inclusion of this item in the computation of depletions will be determined by the Engineering Committee.
This item has not been included in previous reports. The Compact states that Pumpage from stream alluviums may cause appreciable depletions in the stream flow. This is not believed to be a factor at the present (1969) time, but could conceivably be in the future for some stream reaches" (Appendix I, Item 2, page 119).
Inclusion of this item in the computation of depletions will be determined by the Engineering Committee.
Figure 1. Map of the Oklahoma-Arkansas River Compact Area
138.00.16 Ark. Code R. 002