The river was not there. Sometime overnight, one of the six 65,000-pound gates on the Brum Dam, located just west of S. Walker Avenue, fell. Subsequently, almost all of the water in the basin flowed downstream. Old tires, a strangely upright shopping cart and other debris sat in the semi-dry riverbed that had been reduced […]
water
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Quality control
Lake Thunderbird Credit: Mark Hancock Up to $10,000 a day in penalties eventually could be assessed on watershed cities if a 75 percent reduction of pollution in Little River and Hog Creek is not achieved, according to state Department of Environmental Quality officials. At a public meeting in Norman last month, DEQ representatives said that […]
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Water wait
Gov. Mary Fallin Shannon Cornman The slick print ads and television commercials that have been a hallmark of the fight will cease, at least for a time, Oklahoma Gazette has learned. Amid a pending federal lawsuit, the tribes have inundated the airwaves with commercials and infomercials revolving around their dispute with the city of Oklahoma […]
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Water war
Sardis Lake is at the center of the water rights battle. Chickasaw Nation The irony of a downpour was undoubtedly appreciated by those attending the Oklahoma Academy’s forum on water. The April 11 gathering placed in the same room two entities currently duking it out over water: tribal officials and state leaders. Tens of millions […]
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Wild about ‘Hogs’
I’m appalled by the numbers from the Gaillardia addition. As the owner of a home with a small in-ground pool (11,000 gallons), I found that the largest user dumped the equivalent of an entire pool once every 30 hours for a year. Must be good to be rich. —Carl O. Owen III MooreOklahoma Gazette provides […]
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Water hogs
This summer, the city implemented mandatory rationing after water pressure levels dropped, and a nearly statewide drought also has caused some of the reservoirs to drop. On Oct. 11, the city announced that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was releasing 30,000 acre-feet of water from Canton Lake into the North Canadian River to increase […]
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Scary faucet
Water is on the minds of most everyone in OKC now. In your favorite search engine, search for “disappearing groundwater,” “groundwater depletion” or something similar. Then search for “water in agriculture.” Then search for “water footprint.” You will find out that groundwater is disappearing in many parts of the globe. And you will find that […]
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Green lawns or drinking water?
Recently, I was in Vici in western Oklahoma, and they have had less than one-fourth-inch of rain in the past year. Pastures appear dead, crops are nonexistent and cattle are being sold because of drought. This is not a “what-if” scenario; this is the new reality. Farmers are selling their pond water and well water […]
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‘Water solution’
First, diversion of Oklahoma freshwater from its flow to the Red River would increase the salinity of the Red River, already saline from flow of the Salt Fork, near the boundary of Oklahoma with Texas. Deliberate increase of the salinity of the Red River is forbidden by the Red River Compact (RRC), to which Oklahoma, […]
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H 2 NO
So perhaps it should come as no surprise that the Oklahoma Water Resources Board’s comprehensive water plan became contentious before it was even released. A draft version of the plan in April covers a variety of water-related issues in the state and provides both technical and policy recommendations affecting the reliable water supply up to […]