Control of Natural Chloride, Arkansas-Red Rivers

Natural mineral pollution si rendering water unusable in portions of the Arkansas and Red River Basins. Stream flows are high in chloride because of brine springs and seeps emitting directly into major tributaries of the two rivers. Two large reservoirs on the streams are polluted by chlorides to the extent that stored water is unfit for municipal and industrial use. The Corps of Engineers has proposed structural controls for the two river systems. The Great Salt Plains, Oklahoma on the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River, presents an unusual ground-water problem as related to structural measures for control of natural chlorides. Geographical explorations have shown that source of the pollution is in the bedrock. Artesian conditions force the higher concentrated salt brine into the reservoir and the alluvium. The brine has formed a broad expanse of salt flats at the reservoir perimeter of some 30 sq miles. An average of 1,440 tons per day of chloride ions enter the stream through the geological formations and the ground-water system in the area.