Plan to Sell Eufaula Lake Water Is Not Popular With Residents

A plan that would tap into Lake Eufaula to supply water to several western Oklahoma counties has nearby residents and the town's mayor outraged.<br><br>The lake was designed as a water supply reservoir

Sunday, March 14th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

A plan that would tap into Lake Eufaula to supply water to several western Oklahoma counties has nearby residents and the town's mayor outraged.

The lake was designed as a water supply reservoir but because of frequently low levels residents say there already isn't enough water to go around.

The News on Six's Heather Johnson spoke to long-time Eufaula businessman Bob Edgmon who says when the lake level drops it has a ripple effect on nearby restaurants, marinas and ultimately the entire town.

He says it's already a struggle to supply residents with water year round. Last July the town had to dip into a lower level of reserves for the first time in 20 years.

Now the Oklahoma Water Resources board has approved a permit allocating a nearly 50 year water supply to a company that will contract it out to much of Western Oklahoma.

Residents say the state is giving away water that isn't there.

"We know they haven't done their homework we know the studies haven't been done."

Officials with the water board and the army corps of engineers say the lake is a managed resource.

They say a certain amount is allocated based on the standard lake level and that the recent permit falls into that amount... with millions of gallons to spare.

Because of recent heavy rain Lake Eufaula is currently a few feet above the normal level, but residents here say that will be short lived they say historically lake levels plummet in the summer
They are afraid that with another permit drawing upon this water supply, landowners and the city of Eufaula will be left high and dry.

Residents complain that the permit was granted based on lake level data from 40 years ago, state officials maintain it's a man-made lake with a controlled inflow and those figures haven't changed.

But residents counter that extreme siltation has changed the lake floor so that even if the surface appears the same, underneath there just isn't as much water.

Stream water in Oklahoma is public property.

State officials will grant a permit to sell it if the applicant has a need, a beneficial use and if it's established that the desired water is available. They say in this case those needs were met.

The permit holders have two years to set up contracts with clients, if they don't the water stays in the lake.