Officials plan pollution study on lake

Wednesday, November 15th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ A yearlong study planned by federal, state and local authorities will determine whether waste from poultry farms and residue from unplugged oil wells is polluting Oologah Lake.

The lake is an alternative water source for Tulsa and Claremore, but tests have rated the lake's water quality as only average. Officials have expressed concern that old wells are leaking and waste from nearby chicken farms is seeping into the water.

Researchers will test the more than 4,000 square-miles of watershed around the lake in Nowata and Rogers counties. Gauges at three sites will record water temperature, acidity and other data.

Officials said they occasionally will monitor water flow at the lake's major tributaries, the Verdigris River and Big Creek.

The Tulsa Metropolitan Utility Board and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will split the cost of the $200,000 study, officials said. The Oklahoma Water Resources Board approved agreements with the two agencies on Tuesday.

The state Corporation Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency already have begun trying to plug some 5,000 abandoned oil wells on the northeast shore of the lake.

Thousands of wells were on the land when it flooded 30 years ago to create Oologah Lake, said Mike Schmidt, deputy director of the Corporation Commission's Oil and Gas Division. About 12,000 of the wells already have been capped.

Many of the wells' operators are no longer in business.

Officials estimate it will cost $1,100 to plug each of the wells, which are shallow by industry standards. The wells are 400 to 700 feet deep.