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Mail
P. O. Box 891
Tishomingo, OK 73460
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Plunk seeks interim study on water rights
Ray Carter 06/19/03
To offset the economic losses caused by a ban on the sale of groundwater in
southern Oklahoma, one state representative believes the state should consider
buying water rights in the affected area.Rep. Bob Plunk, D-Ada, has requested an
interim study to examine “ground water issues including the feasibility of the
state’s purchase of landowners’ ground water rights in the Arbuckle-Simpson
Aquifer.”
Plunk said he has no definite plan that would allow the state to buy groundwater
rights from landowners in southern Oklahoma.
“This is an outside thought of mine: Maybe the state could, through a bond issue
or something, purchase some of those water rights that are for sale and then
could regulate them through the (Oklahoma) Water Resources Board,” Plunk said.
Senate Bill 288, by Sen. Jay Paul Gumm, D-Durant, and Rep. Paul Roan,
D-Tishomingo, imposed a temporary moratorium on the sale of groundwater from the
Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer in southern Oklahoma to municipalities outside the 500
square miles above the aquifer.
The bill was signed into law June 3.
The moratorium does not apply to existing temporary water permits and does not
prevent municipal use of Arbuckle-Simpson water by towns lying above the
aquifer. Temporary water permits from the aquifer would also be allowed for
agricultural use and other uses outside the area covered by the basin.
The moratorium will be in effect until the completion of a study of the aquifer,
which officials believe will take five years and cost $5 million.
The main impact of the new law was to delay or derail a plan to pipe water from
Ada to the El Reno area.
The Central Oklahoma Water Resource Authority had contracted with PESA LLC to
build a $200 million, 88-mile pipeline from the Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer near
Ada into Canadian County. The authority would have paid for the pipeline by
buying the water for 20 years. At the end of the contract, the authority would
have owned the pipeline.
The Central Oklahoma Water Resource Authority included officials from Piedmont,
Yukon, Mustang, Okarche, Calumet, Union City, El Reno and Canadian County.
Officials said nearly 50 towns and cities had expressed an interest in the
project, which could have ultimately brought 60 million gallons per day to
central Oklahoma.
The project’s demise – even temporarily – is expected to have a significant
economic impact on landowners in southern Oklahoma who were planning to sell
water to PESA. Plunk said he wants to address that problem, if possible.
“There’s a number of ranchers and landowners who also own water rights under
their huge acreages,” Plunk said. “This is an economic thing with them.”
He noted that some of those landowners would have financially benefited from the
PESA project.
Opponents of Senate Bill 288 said it essentially authorized the government to
seize groundwater – now considered private property – without compensation to
the affected landowners.
But supporters said the sale of massive amounts of water from the aquifer could
drain the basin to the point that local streams would dry up, destroying the
value of property in the area.
Plunk said the interim study would give lawmakers a chance to “educate
themselves” on a wide range of water issues – such as how much water is
available in the state, the projected water needs of Oklahoma and the potential
economic value of water rights in the state.
Any proposal for state purchase of water rights could be fleshed out by
lawmakers in the interim study, he said. Plunk did not estimate the size of the
bond project that would be needed to buy water rights in the area, saying a
“fair market” value would have to be determined.
However, the price tag could be large. Opponents of Senate Bill 288 said the
last project comparable to the proposed PESA pipeline occurred in the 1980s when
the city of Enid purchased groundwater from property owners near Cleo Springs in
Major County. That purchase resulted in a $50 million water project and
landowners were paid about $500 an acre for groundwater.
The value of water may also be poised to increase dramatically due to new
arsenic standards imposed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Currently, water containing arsenic levels of up to 50 parts per billion, or
0.50 milligrams per liter, is permissible to drink. Beginning Jan. 23, 2006, the
accepted arsenic level will drop to 10 parts per billion.
The new standards will prevent municipal use of many existing sources of
drinking water in the state.
Monty Elder, spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality,
said the arsenic standards will affect 27 cities, towns and water districts in
Oklahoma. However, she said the impact will vary from one community to the next.
“There are options,” she said. “It doesn’t mean that those will all be shut
down.”
The affected towns include Edmond, Norman, Geary, Hinton, Cheyenne-Arapaho (Concho),
Piedmont, Yukon, Mustang, Noble, Moore, Geronimo, Weatherford, Fairmont,
Covington, Deer Creek, Tonkawa, Ames, Ringwood, Nichols Hills, Wynona, and rural
water districts in Grady and Caddo counties.
The water supply for the University of Oklahoma will also be affected, according
to the state Department of Environmental Quality.
Elder said many affected cities can take small steps to bring their drinking
water supplies into compliance with the new federal regulations. “Some of the
cities get their water, for example, from several wells,” Elder said. “And
perhaps one well has a high level (of arsenic) and others don’t. If they blend
their water before distribution then the finished water is under the standard,
and so then they can go ahead and use that.”
However, the impact on some communities will be severe. During legislative
debate on Senate Bill 288, opponents said the new EPA regulations will take away
50 percent of Yukon’s present water source. Mustang is expected to lose 48
percent of its water supply and Piedmont is expected to lose almost 100 percent
of its water supply.
The new EPA standards were a driving force behind the effort to pipe water from
the Arbuckle-Simpson to central Oklahoma.
With the supply of drinkable water shrinking in one of the state’s
fastest-growing regions, the growing demand for clean water could drive the
price up dramatically.
Plunk believes all those issues need further review by state legislators.
“There’s not been a whole lot of water studies going on through the legislative
process,” Plunk said. “Now, the Water Resources Board has done a great deal of
that and they know a lot more about it than I do. All I know is I live here and
my whole district is dependent upon Arbuckle-Simpson fresh water.”
House Speaker Larry Adair must approve Plunk’s interim study request before it
can proceed.