OCWP Update 95
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Overview of Water and Related Resources Part 1 History of Water Resource Development cute interest in water and water development began before statehood. The oldest right for the use A of stream water (a water right that is still valid) was issued to a farm family near Boise City in 1899. Their claim entitled them to a prior right of 52 acre-feet per year from Marcelus Canyon Creek, a tributary of the Cimarron River, for the irrigation of 26 acres of land. The water right is numbered 99-1, signifying the year 1899, permit number one. The oldest right to the use of groundwater is that of the City of Norman, claiming a prior right to 12 acre-feet of water per year from the Garber-Wellington Aquifer, based on municipal use dating back to 1894. In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law the Reclamation Act to aid arid western states, and the following year investigations were begun in Oklahoma Territory to determine how water supplies could be beneficially used. The Eighth Legislative Assembly of Oklahoma Territory enacted the first water law in 1905, outlining the procedure for acquiring water rights, regulating the use of water and creating the post of territorial engineer. With the coming of statehood, the office of territorial engineer became state engineer, responsibilities of that post were expanded and new water laws were enacted. Many of those original laws, which primarily spelled out water ownership and irrigation rights, remain in effect and have since been extended to include municipal and industrial water supply, streamflow regulation, water resource planning, water quali- ty regulation and data collection. Of course, as the population increased, so did the number of water users and problems related to water use. In the 1920s, the Conservation Commission was created to deal with the states expanding water issues. Also at that time, Oklahoma citizens were drinking water for the first time from new Lake Overholser and Tulsa had just completed its water supply, Spavinaw Lake. 15 As the seeds of the Great Depression ma A&M College, and soon after, Grand 60s. In Oklahoma, the first four years of were being sown, the attention of the River Dam Authority completed Grand the fifties produced four major reservoirs: nation turned to flooding on the Missis- Lake O the Cherokees on the Grand Heyburn in 1950, Hulah in 1951, and Ten- sippi River. The river mocked and devas- (Neosho) River in northeastern Oklaho- killer and Fort Gibson in 1953 -- all projects tated the people of its valley. Although ma. In addition, two Corps of Engineers of the Corps of Engineers. the Corps of Engineers built levees high- lakes authorized by the Flood Control Act, In 1955, House Joint Resolution 520 er and higher and invested $300 million Great Salt Plains and Fort Supply, were created a water study committee com- along the lower Mississippi between 1886 completed early in the 1940s. posed of legislators and citizens, and and 1926, they met with little success in The years of searing drought in the chaired by Dr. Lloyd E. Church, of Wil- controlling the river and its tributaries west and devastating floods in the east burton. The committee surveyed Okla- which again left their banks in the cata- outraged Oklahomans and called conser- homas water problems and recommend- strophic floods of the 1920s. Finally, a plan vationists, flood control advocates and ed the establishment of a separate water emerged to hold back floods by construct- navigation interests to march, but not authority with responsibilities in water ing upstream storage basins in the veins before the Arkansas River had again ram- rights administration, federal contracts pouring into the Mississippi -- a revolu- paged in 1943. Beginning May 7, rain fell negotiation and the development of state tionary strategy originating from similar for days on end; skies cleared only to suc- and local projects to assure the most ef- problems in Oklahoma City. cumb to faint and faraway rumbles of ficient use of all water resources. In 1957, The North Canadian River regularly thunder heralding still more storms. Nine- the Twenty-Sixth Oklahoma Legislature washed over the flat capital city in the ty percent of the crops over hundreds of authorized creation of the Oklahoma Wa- spring while, in late summer, streams dried square miles were destroyed. In some plac- ter Resources Board, a panel of seven up and water supplies diminished. In the es, 15 inches of rain fell in two days; Tulsa chaired by Guy H. James. In 1972, two 1923 record flood, the rampaging river had 16 inches of almost continual rain- at-large seats were added to the Board. broke the Lake Overholser municipal wa- fall. The Arkansas climbed to six feet over Most of the states major reservoir ter dam and washed out nearly every wag- flood stage at Muskogee and, in a 500- construction has occurred since 1959, on and railroad bridge in the central part mile swath of reckless anger, the river with that year seeing completion of Fort of the state. This made a powerful case for rolled on, plunging fertile farms to the Cobb, followed by Foss Reservoir in holding more water in upstream reservoirs. bottom of a deep, mud-stained lake. 1961; Oologahs initial phase in 1963; In the flood of 1927, water levels on the Three years later, a comprehensive Keystone, Eufaula, and Hudson in 1964; Arkansas River were the highest in 99 years. plan of development for the Arkansas Riv- Thunderbird in 1965; Lake of the Arbuck- The entire Mississippi Valley was an enor- er -- uniting advocates of soil and water les in 1967; Pine Creek in 1969; and Bro- mous muddy reservoir a thousand miles conservation, hydropower, flood control ken Bow in 1970. The seventies brought long and 50 to 150 miles wide. and navigation -- was authorized by Con- to completion Robert S. Kerr and Web- By the early 1930s, rural Oklahoma gress through the River and Harbor Act. bers Falls Reservoirs in 1970; Hugo in farm families, burned out by drought and While eastern Oklahoma was water- 1974; Tom Steed in 1975; Kaw in 1976; hot, dry winds, retreated from their tor- logged with repeated floods, the arid west Waurika and Birch in 1977; and Optima tured lands to regroup farther west. Mean- had focused on developing a reservoir in 1978. Prior to 1990, five more reser- while, dry fields piled up in high sand for irrigation, with the added benefits of voirs had been completed: Sardis in dunes while lighter silt rose in dust clouds, flood control and water supply. The W.C. 1982; Copan in 1983; Skiatook in 1984; some five miles high, and swept east to Austin Project (Lugert-Altus Reservoir), a Arcadia in 1986; and McGee Creek in the Atlantic in black blizzards. During a project of the Bureau of Reclamation, was 1987. Although construction of Candy single day in 1934, it is estimated that completed in 1948. Lake, in Osage County, was partially com- some 300 million tons of soil were swept Spurred by a Congressional appropri- plete in 1990, a dispute concerning pe- from the Great Plains. Armies of Civilian ation in 1949, the U.S. Army Corps of En- troleum/mineral rights at the site forced Conservation Corps (CCC) and Soil Con- gineers began construction in Oklahoma abandonment of the project. servation Service (SCS) workers moved on the largest civil works project it had Seven lakes authorized for federal con- over the land, healing it with plantings of ever undertaken. Completed in 1971, struction, but not yet funded, could add to grass and shelter belts, filling in deep gul- some 63 years after the last of the river Oklahomas future surface water supply. lies and coaching farmers in conserva- steamers had climbed the Arkansas River They are Candy (still authorized); Lukfata, tion practices. from Fort Smith to Muskogee, the McClel- on the Glover River in McCurtain County; In response to widespread water prob- lan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation Boswell, on Boggy Creek in Choctaw Coun- lems, the Oklahoma Legislature created System was named in tribute to two ty; Sand, on Sand Creek in Osage County; the State Planning and Resources Board far-sighted statesmen who had la- Shidler, on Salt Creek in Osage County; Tus- in 1935 and included in its jurisdiction bored to see the vast inland water- kahoma, on the Kiamichi River in Pushma- parks, forestry and water resources. In way project become a reality. taha County; and Parker, on Muddy Boggy 1937, Lake Murray was completed in Mur- One of these water boomers, Sena- Creek in Coal County. ray County as a project of the state while tor Robert S. Kerr -- elected governor in the CCC and Works Progress Administra- 1943, U.S. Senator in 1948, then appoint- Water Resources tion continued to work on bank stabiliza- ed to the powerful Public Works Commit- tion and other water-related tasks. Lake tee -- was also instrumental in setting in Oklahoma is blessed with abundant Carl Blackwell, a project of the SCS, was motion an enormous program of water water resources, both on the surface and completed as a water supply for Oklaho- development throughout the 1950s and underground, that provide ample supply 16 for various uses. The amount of water the Pleistocene Epoch, a time character- the Cherokees. By surface area, the larg- withdrawn from groundwater sources ized by significant erosion. The Red River est lake is Eufaula, covering approxi- slightly exceeds that of surface water; drains the southern one-third of the state mately 105,500 acres, followed by Tex- however, on an annual basis, use of the while the Arkansas River drains the re- oma and Grand Lake.