The Boone and Roubidoux aquifers are located in northeastern Oklahoma and underlie about 3,100 square miles
and 4,600 square miles, respectively, in
Adair, Cherokee, Craig, Delaware, Haskell, Le Flore, Mayes, McIntosh, Muskogee, Nowata, Ottawa, Rogers,
Sequoyah, and Wagoner counties. The Boone aquifer
is considered a minor aquifer by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (having an average well yield of less than
50 gallons per minute) and supplies groundwater
for domestic purposes, with some agricultural, commercial, and public water uses. The Roubidoux aquifer is
considered a major aquifer by the Oklahoma Water
Resources Board (having an average well yield of at least 50 gallons per minute) and supplies groundwater for
public water uses, commerce, industry, and rural
water districts. The 1973 Oklahoma water law requires the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) to conduct
hydrologic investigations of the State’s aquifers
(termed “groundwater basins”), and to determine amounts of water that may be withdrawn by permitted water
users. At the present time (2018), the maximum annual
yield (MAY) has not been determined for the Boone and Roubidoux aquifers. The objective of the study is to
conduct an investigation of the hydrogeology of the
Boone and Roubidoux aquifers that will provide information to the Oklahoma Water Resources Board that will
enable that agency to determine maximum annual yield
of the aquifers based on different proposed management plans. For more information on the project,
please see: https://www.usgs.gov/centers/ok-water/science/boone-and-roubidoux-aquifers-study?
