Intensive Survey of Sulphur River Segment 0303: August 13-17, 1984 Page: 3
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Segment 0303 consists of the Sulphur and South Sulphur Rivers from the
headwaters of Lake Wright Patman in extreme northeast Texas to the head-
waters of the South Sulphur River in Fannin County. The drainage area
consists of approximately 7,500 square kilometers and includes parts of 11
counties. The area is mostly rural with ranching and dairy farming being the
principal industries. Some oil production, notably the Talco Oil Fields, also
takes place within the watershed.
The Sulphur River and tributary flood plains are subject to frequent floods
which may occur at any season of the year. Portions of the South Sulphur,
North Sulphur, Middle Sulphur Rivers and Brushy and Cuthand Creeks have
been channelized and leveed to provide partial protection to agricultural flood
plain areas since the early 1900's (USCE, 1977). Silt and debris have
accumulated in the older channels, altering the channel bottom gradient and
obstructing flow. The result is elongnated pools of shallow standing water
during low flow conditions.
A multi-purpose reservoir impounding the South Sulphur and Middle Sulphur
Rivers was proposed in 1950. Construction was scheduled to began in the
1970's, however environmental concerns and budget deficiencies have caused
extensive delays. The reservoir will inundate approximately 78.1 Km2
(19,305) acres of land in Delta County and back water about 33.8 kilometers
(21 miles) up the South Sulphur River from the dam site southeast of Cooper.
Major urban centers in the Sulphur River Basin include cities of Commerce,
1980 population 8,136; Cooper, 2,338; Sulphur Springs, 12,804; Mount
Vernon, 2,025 and Clarksville, 4,917. The City of Commerce wastewater
treatment plant is the only direct point source of wastewater to the segment.
The cities of Sulphur Springs and Mount Vernon discharge wastewater into
White Oak Creek which merges with the Sulphur River near the headwaters of
Lake Wright Patman. The cities of Cooper and Clarksville discharge their
wastewater into Doctors Creek and Cuthand Creek, respectively. Other
communities in the watershed operate small treatment plants which discharge
into tributaries to the segment. Most of the tributaries are intermittent in
nature and the relatively small discharges have little impact on the Sulphur
River. Texas Power and Light Company pumps water from the Sulphur River
to an off channel cooling pond located near Talco. Water is circulated
through their plant back to the pond. Excess water is discharged to the
river, however, discharges are made infrequently.
The Texas Department of Water Resources has developed specific numerical
criteria for selected parameters in all state waters (TVWC, 1985). Water uses
deemed desirable in Segment 0303 and water quality criteria considered
appropriate to meet these uses are presented in Table 2. The segment is
classified as water quality limited primarily due to recurrent violations of the
dissolved oxygen criterion of 5.0 mg/L (TDWR, 1984).3
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Ottmers, Donald D. Intensive Survey of Sulphur River Segment 0303: August 13-17, 1984, report, June 1986; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1623263/m1/13/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.