Oklahoma City Water Future
sub-titled:
You’re Up a Creek Without a Paddle
Oklahoma City: What were you thinking? You grew in population from 243,504 in 1950 to a population of 579,999 in 2010. You planned and laid out utilities as necessary for an expanding population. The metro area grew with you to now total over 1,252,987 in population. You added 14 additional communities and water districts to your water supply. And now W-Day is upon you. Did you really think you could rely on a water supply from a semi-arid water basin such as the North Canadian River watershed? What are you going to do this summer when you are out of water and Canton Lake is empty?
Here are some facts that need documented to correct OKC utility Director Marsha Slaughter’s revisionist talking points. Canton Lake was the brainchild of Frank Raab and others from northwest Oklahoma. After a devastating flood in 1928, planning and lobbying began, and in 1938 Congress authorized the Canton Lake project for flood control. The project started in 1940, was delayed by the war, and then completed in late 1948. The Flood Control Acts of 1946 and 1948 authorized irrigation and water storage to Enid, Oklahoma. When Enid did not access their water rights, in 1955 Oklahoma City began a series of 5 year contracts with the federal government to utilize some of Canton’s water storage. In 1990, without public revelation to northwest Oklahomans affected by the consequences, Oklahoma City successfully changed the agreement by convincing Congress to reassign Canton Lake water to the Oklahoma City by Section 102 of the Water Resource Development Act of 1990. (See Title I, Water Resource Projects, Section 102: Project Modifications)
Oklahoma City has an average annual rainfall of 36 inches. To give Oklahoma City water planners a hint, southeast Oklahoma receives 56 inches. Moving to the northwest and the North Canadian River watershed area these totals change drastically. Canton annual average is 29 inches, Beaver is 21 inches, Hardesty is 19 inches, and Des Moines, New Mexico, where the North Canadian originates is 18 inches. Much of the watershed area for the North Canadian River is over the Ogallala Aquifer. Since the time of completion of Canton Lake, the Ogallala Aquifer has dropped some 10 feet in areas proximal to Canton, to as much as 40 feet in area of far western Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Panhandle. In northeast New Mexico, the originating point of the North Canadian River, there is no longer a measurable saturated thickness of the Ogallala Aquifer. The cause and effect comes down to this. Dry springs, dry creeks, and a dry Beaver River result in drastically reduced water flow into Canton Lake. Northwest Oklahoma is a semi-arid climate. Why would Oklahoma City ever think the semi-arid North Canadian River watershed basin would provide them with water as they grew in number, and the watershed receded in water flow?
Oklahoma City, your greatest challenge will be what you will do for water this summer. You have probably killed Canton Lake for years to come. Your second biggest challenge, and one you must address and settle immediately, is procurement of water from Sardis Lake. You were right in paying off the $27 million dollar debt on Sardis Lake, and getting approval from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board for 90 percent of those water rights. Without that plentiful and renewable source from Sardis Lake, Oklahoma City will be in the same boat as you have put Northwest Oklahoma and Canton Lake, up a creek without a paddle.
Signed: John Sprunger
www.solarpumps.com
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