Logan Layden is a native of McAlester, Oklahoma. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2009 and spent three years as a state capitol reporter and local host of All Things Considered for NPR member station KGOU in Norman.
Oklahoma’s state water authorities want to move from population-based to regional water planning.
The change was outlined in the most recent update of the state’s Comprehensive Water Plan,and is the framework for a bill making its way through the legislature.
Senate Bill 965 would change the composition of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, giving less-populated areas of the state an equal say in how Oklahoma’s water is used.
Every two years, the Oklahoma Municipal League surveys hundreds of its member cities and towns about their water rates.
StateImpact got an early look at the 2012 data, and found Fort Towson, just across the Red River in Choctaw County, has the highest residential water rate of any community that responded to the OML survey.
In many ways, the history of Oklahoma is a story of water. Our geography is drawn by rivers and streams. And our cultural legacy is informed by drought.
History, money and consumption have shaped Oklahoma water policy. Here’s a look at the role each part plays in the plan policymakers are writing to protect what former governor and U.S. senator Robert S. Kerr called, the state’s “most blessed resource.”
New state water rules could affect limestone, sand and gravel operations like this Martin Marietta mine above the Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer near Mill Creek, Okla.
Right now, Oklahoma law requires permits for the removal and use of both ground and surface water. But the water removed by the companies during the limestone and sand mining process fell outside of the rules — until now.
