Background on Arkansas-Red-White River Basin

The watershed drainage area ultimately discharges into:

1. the Red River, within and between the States of New Mexico, Texas and Louisiana;
2. the Arkansas River, within and between the States of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas;
3. the White River, within and between the States of Missouri and Arkansas.

Drainage is constrained by the Upper and Lower Mississippi Regions on the East, by the Rio Grande and the Upper Colorado Region on the West, by the Missouri Region to the North and by the Texas Gulf Region to the south. The regional watershed is comprised of 173 watersheds at the U.S. Geological Survey 8-digit Hydrologic Unit Code level. The major rivers in the regional drainage flow generally from west to east. The most important rivers are: the Arkansas and Red Rivers, Bear Creek, Beaver Creek, Big Cypress Creek, Canadian, North Canadian, Cimarron and the White River.

About 11.4 million people live in the Region. Major cities include Colorado Springs, CO., Oklahoma City and Tulsa, OK; Little Rock and Fayetteville, ARK; Shreveport, LA; Springfield, MO; Wichita, KS; and Lubbock, TX.

The most prevalent water quality problems in the hydrologic region are from nonpoint sources (NPS). The Arkansas-White-Red region makes up all of Oklahoma's major hydrologic region. The State identifies sediment and nutrients as the major causes of polluted runoff or nonpoint sources. The area is home to some of the largest poultry and swine operations in the U.S. Over the last several years, these operations have changed from traditional small family farms to large-scale operations. As such, the impacts have become more prevalent in the streams, rivers and lakes. Several of these lakes are major drinking water sources for large cities such as Tulsa, OK.