U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

USGS Fact Sheet 037-99

August 1999

Oklahoma

Drought and Streamflow

Monitoring

Oklahoma has experienced several

periods of drought since statehood,

some lasting several years. Major

droughts in Oklahoma occurred in

1929–41, 1951–57, 1961–72, and

1975–82. A significant but more

localized drought occurred during

1984–86. The most recent short-term

droughts have occurred during 1995–

96 and 1998.

A severe drought began about April

1998 in southern and western areas of

Oklahoma. From April 1, 1998, to

January 10, 1999, southwestern

Oklahoma received only 55 percent

of the normal rainfall. Rains during

September 1998 helped many areas,

but several lakes in the south remained low into the winter. In

January 1999, southwestern Oklahoma continued in a moderate

drought; fifteen reservoirs still were

operating at less than full capacity.

Conditions improved in March and

early April, with above normal

rainfall for most of the State; however, storage in five reservoirs in the

State still were below full capacity;

storage in two reservoirs in the

southwest were only about 70 percent

of capacity in early April.

Oklahoma uses about 98 million

gallons of surface water per day for

irrigation and about 101 million

gallons per day of surface water to

water livestock, based on estimates in

1995. Officials have estimated that

the heat and drought in 1998 cost

State farmers and ranchers at least 2

billion dollars. The Agriculture

Department estimated that 30 percent

of farmers and livestock producers

could be driven out of business.

Aquifers receive less recharge during

drought, especially if the winter is

dry. Most of the aquifers in Oklahoma are recharged during the winter

when vegetation uses less water and

steady rainfall soaks the ground.

Water tables decline as recharge

decreases and as pumpage increases.

The declining water tables lead to

reduced ground-water discharge to

streams, thus reducing base flow in

the streams and causing some streams

to dry up completely.

Water quality can deteriorate during

drought. The smell and taste of water

supplies have been affected in some

areas because of algal blooms in lakes

as lake levels decline and chemical

conditions change. In addition there is

less dilution of wastewater discharges

during drought because of the reduced flow in the streams. State

regulations use the median 7-day low

flow, called the 7Q2, to estimate the

dilution potential of the receiving

stream and the acceptable quality of

the discharged waste. Accurate

monitoring of streamflow (fig. 1)

during drought is critical to determine

the effect of wastewater discharges on

streamwater quality and to provide

data used to calculate an accurate and

up-to-date 7Q2.

The ability to anticipate the availability of water from streams, reservoirs,

and aquifers during a drought is

critical to management of scarce and

dwindling resources. Accurate and

timely streamflow data also are

needed during a drought to

• manage releases from reservoirs,

• allow municipalities and industrial

waste dischargers (fig. 2) the

opportunity to remain in compliance by giving them time to

consider alternate methods of

waste disposal, such as land

application or storage,

Figure 1. Streamflow monitoring sites, water year 1999.

OKLAHOMA

KANSAS

TEXAS

NEW MEXICO

ARKANSAS MISSOURI
science for a changing world

• estimate the amount of water

rationing necessary and projected

amount of time that rationing will

be needed,

• estimate the total effects of drought

on water-related recreation,

• protect fisheries,

• plan for future droughts using

knowledge gained from the current

drought.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

operates a statewide network to

monitor streamflow. This network,

which benefits all Oklahomans, exists

because of the supportive partnerships between Federal, State, and

local governments. Streamflow data

are available online through the

USGS Oklahoma home page at http://

wwwok.cr.usgs.gov/index.html

Paddlefish in the Arkansas and

Cimarron Rivers

USGS scientists at the Oklahoma

Cooperative Fish and Wildlife

Research Unit assessed the population structure, habitat use, and

reproductive activity of native

paddlefish (fig. 3) in the Arkansas

and Cimarron River arms of Keystone Reservoir. The study was

conducted in partnership with the

Oklahoma Department of Wildlife

Conservation. Previous anecdotal

evidence suggested that paddlefish

populations in the two rivers had been

increasing since the construction of

Keystone Reservoir in 1964. USGS

scientists used mark-and-recapture

and ultrasonic tracking techniques to

measure population characteristics

and identify environmental factors

associated with spawning and seasonal movements. Spring and summer movement patterns were largely

governed by rates of water flow.

Paddlefish avoided the warmest and

most saline areas of the reservoir. The

paddlefish population appears to have

adapted successfully to the altered

water temperatures and fluctuating

flows brought about by the construction of Keystone Reservoir.

Statewide Digital Data

Partnership

The Oklahoma GIS Council, USGS,

Natural Resources Conservation

Service, and Farm Services Agency

are working in cooperation to produce digital data products for Oklahoma. Digital orthophoto quadrangle

images are precisely rectified, highly

accurate digital aerial photographic

images. Digital elevation model

datasets are sets of regularly spaced

elevations. There are literally hundreds of geographic information

system (GIS) applications for which

these digital products could be used

to benefit the citizens of Oklahoma

such as

• urban change and rural development,

• mitigation and response to disasters,

• environmental and natural resources management,

• watershed and streamflow modeling.

Delineation of the OklahomaTexas Border

The south bank of the Red River is

the border between Oklahoma and

Texas. For about 60 miles of this

border, the nature of the Red River

streambed and seasonal fluctuations

in water level cause the river to

change course, making it difficult to

delineate an exact boundary between

the States and causing decades-old

land-ownership, tax-assessment, and

jurisdictional problems. The Red

River Boundary Commission was

established by the U.S. Congress to

determine a way to define the boundary permanently.

The Oklahoma members of the

Commission propose to use USGS

digital orthophoto quadrangles,

digital elevation models, and global

positioning system (GPS) technology

to help determine the boundary.

Instead of measuring the fluctuating

south bank of the river, the plan

would delineate “fast land” as the

boundary between the States. Fast

land is defined as the land adjacent to

a stream that was created by the

depositional processes of the stream

and that is no longer inundated by the

waters of the stream, except during

major floods. The proposed plan

would use the digital data for the Red

River, along with field surveys using

Figure 2. Water from municipal and

industrial waste-water plants is discharged after treatment directly to

streams, such as at this site on the

Canadian River. Design of the treatment plants and management of their

discharge in order to protect streams

from degradation relies on historic

streamflow data.

Figure 3. The paddlefish is identifiable

by its broad, flat, bill-like snout.
Oklahoma

GPS and other techniques, to determine the fast land boundary and then

to erect permanent markers delineating the boundary. The use of digital

data should dramatically improve the

speed and accuracy with which this

and other such projects can be

completed.

Mapping Watersheds Using

Digital Maps

The upper Washita River watershed in

Oklahoma is the subject of a cooperative project between the USGS and

the U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) designed to develop a

method for rapid and accurate delineation of watershed boundaries that

can be applied nationwide. An

improved version of digital elevation

data, termed the National Elevation

Dataset, is being used in combination

with the National Hydrography

Dataset of streams and waterbodies

and electronically scanned maps to

delineate watershed areas more

precisely. A detailed delineation of

watershed areas is required for many

types of environmental studies, such

as determining the effect of land use

on water quality and availability and

for modeling flood-frequency.

Natural Gas in the Anadarko

Basin

The USGS, as part of the National Oil

and Gas Assessment Project, is

determining the amount of natural gas

in the Anadarko Basin, one of eighteen priority provinces in the United

States estimated to contain 90 - 95

percent of the known and undiscovered natural gas resources. Undiscovered natural gas resources, including

conventional and continuous resources, will be assessed. The petroleum geology of the basin will be

studied, including source rock

characterization, hydrocarbon movement, timing of movement and

structural evolution, sequence stratigraphy, and gas quality.

Radium Associated with Oil

Production

Naturally occurring radioactive

material (NORM) occurs as dissolved

radium in oilfield-produced waters

and in scale and sludge on oilfield

equipment. NORM forms when

minerals, particularly barite, precipitate from water produced during

drilling as the temperature and

pressure drop. At some sites, NORM

may occur in soils as a result of spills

of produced water, scale, and sludge.

The EPA estimates that about 30

percent of the producing oilfields in

the United States have enough

NORM to warrant health and environmental concerns. The main health

risks for humans are direct gamma

radiation from NORM-bearing soils

and equipment, breathing of NORMbearing dust, or breathing indoor

radon in structures built on NORMaffected soils. Several States are

regulating NORM in oilfield operations. Oklahoma has proposed

regulations that would limit radium

activity in soils at NORM-affected

sites to 30 pCi/g (picocuries per

gram) and radioactivity in equipment

to 50 microR/hr (microrems per

hour). The EPA is gathering information about NORM in several different

mining, mineral processing, and

energy industries in preparation for

proposing regulations.

NORM is found in some areas of

Oklahoma. In a 1989 American

Petroleum Institute survey of radioactivity in gas processing and oil

production equipment, elevated levels

of NORM in oil-production equipment were found most often in

counties in eastern and northeastern

Oklahoma. Studies by the USGS in

Osage and Lincoln Counties show

that NORM occurs in the bottoms of

produced-water tanks, (fig. 4) in

stacks of scaled, corroded pipe left on

older production sites, in tank sludges

placed on soils or spilled on roads, in

material removed from a wellbore

during injection well workovers, and

in pipe recycled for use in cattle

guards. Most of the NORM-affected

soils contain 5–30 pCi/g of radium.

Radium in some of these tank sludges

and scales exceeded 2,000 pCi/g.

Erosion of spilled material tends to

disperse and dilute the NORMbearing solids to lower levels over

distances of a few to several meters

downslope. The radium bearing barite

in the sludges does not easily dissolve

in water, therefore, not much radium

is being released to water that comes

into contact with sludge.

Biodegradation of Pollutants in

Soils

Substances dissolved and suspended

in ground water are partly dependent

on reactions between the water and

rock or sediment. Studies of an

abandoned landfill near Norman are

an example of how USGS scientists

study the manner in which these

reactions change water quality. Sand

and clay deposited by the Canadian

River react with contaminants

dissolved from waste buried in the

landfill (fig. 5). Some of these

reactions actually decrease the

toxicity of the water by decreasing a

contaminant concentration or altering

the potentially toxic substances. For

example, USGS scientists determined

Figure 4. Abandoned tanks and pipes

may contain radium in scale and

sludge.
Printed on recycled paper

USGS State Representative

The USGS has 55 employees 

in Oklahoma

Oklahoma City

Tulsa

Stillwater

Woodward

Ada

USGS office locations

202 N.W. 66 St., Building 7

Oklahoma City, OK 73116

(405) 810-4400

Fax: (405) 843-7712

USGS Home Page

http://www.usgs.gov

Reports and products

1-888-ASK-USGS

that sodium, potassium, and ammonia

in contaminated ground water from

the landfill are exchanged with

calcium and magnesium on clays.

This exchange decreases the amount

of sodium and ammonium in the

water and, therefore, diminishes the

toxic effects of these elements.

Some reactions between water-borne

contaminants and soils and rocks are

indirect and result from bacteria in

the sediment. USGS scientists are

working with microbiologists at the

University of Oklahoma to understand these changes. Bacteria in the

sediment use organic compounds in

water for food. Because some of

these compounds are toxic, the

bacteria actually clean the water.

Studies of the sediment detected the

sources of important compounds that

the bacteria need to be able to process

the organic substances in the water.

One group of bacteria at the landfill

needs sulfate to use the dissolved

organic compounds. USGS scientists

detected barite in sand as a possible

sulfate source. Based on these

observations, University of Oklahoma

microbiologists conducted experiments that demonstrated the potential

of barite to supply sulfate to bacteria

and increase the rate at which bacteria

alter organic compounds. This

knowledge could be applied to an

economical reduction of environmental risk from natural and humancaused toxins.

Nesting Success and Survival of

Eastern Wild Turkeys

Eastern wild turkey populations have

declined in southeastern Oklahoma

during the past decade. USGS

scientists at the Oklahoma Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit,

in cooperation with the Oklahoma

Department of Wildlife Conservation,

recently completed a 3-year investigation of turkey nesting success and

adult survival to identify factors

responsible for the population declines. More than 130 female turkeys

were radio collared and monitored to

identify patterns of habitat use and to

locate nests. About four of every five

nests failed due to predation of turkey

eggs or chicks. Annual survival of

females was relatively low, ranging

from 48 to 60 percent. The study

concluded that predation by bobcats,

raccoons, and coyotes may be responsible for the low populations of

turkeys; these predators have increased in numbers, perhaps because

fewer are killed.

Changes in Breeding Habitat of

Lesser Prairie Chickens

USGS scientists at the Oklahoma

Cooperative Fish and Wildlife

Research Unit are studying the effects

of natural and human-caused changes

to lesser prairie chicken breeding

habitat in Oklahoma, Texas, and New

Mexico (fig. 6). Rangewide population declines of this rare species

prompted a recent petition for its

listing under the Endangered Species

Act. Scientists are assessing habitat

change at 16 breeding sites by

analyzing more than 400 historical

aerial photographs. Scientists are

using geographic information system

software to correlate temporal

changes in prairie chicken habitat

with population trends at different

traditional and nontraditional breeding areas. Preliminary results suggest

that population declines in some areas

may be partially offset by newly

established breeding sites on Conservation Reserve Program and agricultural lands.

Figure 5 . Electron microscope study

of the sand and clay was used to

identify naturally occurring minerals,

including barite, that react to

decrease landfill contamination.

5μm

FeS2

Quartz

Barite

Figure 6. The Conservation Reserve

Program may be providing new

breeding sites for the prairie chicken.