KXII Coverage of Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer Meeting
August 18th, 2009
ADA -- The results of a multi-million dollar study that could determine how an essential aquifer is managed was presented to the public on Tuesday. The meeting was the culmination of a five year, $4.2 million study on the Arbuckle-Simpson aquifer.
Senate bill 288, spearheaded by state Senator Jay Paul Gumm, initiated the study and halted the large scale sale of water rights until in-depth research was conducted. Now Senator Gumm says the science proves what he feared all along.
Water flowing from the Arbuckle-Simpson aquifer provides tap water for more than 39,000 people in southern Oklahoma. But what if it stopped flowing?
"Large scale transfers of water out of the Arbuckle-Simpson basin would be devastating to the economy and the future of south-central and south-eastern Oklahoma,” Sen. Gumm stated.
Sen. Gumm has been very outspoken about the necessity of protecting the sensitive, sole-source aquifer, co-authoring a bill preventing the large scale sale of the aquifer's water after a number of local ranchers tried to sell the water rights on their land.
"My right to swing my fist stops at your nose. We did not want to allow the rights of one group to sell the water to impinge on the rights of the remaining communities around here,” Sen. Gumm explained.
Tuesday's Arbuckle-Simpson aquifer public forum drew a packed auditorium. The Oklahoma Water Resource Board explained the findings from their five-year, $4.2 million study, ultimately coming to the conclusion that no more than 25% of spring’s water could be pumped out and theoretically sold to other parts.
"In other words if you decrease the groundwater flow to the stream by 25% that is an acceptable impact on the stream,” OWRB Executive Director Duane Smith said.
Sen. Gumm says he's not completely against the transfer of water from the Aquifer. But he along with members of a grass roots protection group simply want to protect the aquifer for future generations in southern Oklahoma.
"Ultimately if the aquifer fails it's going to fail us all,” Amy Ford, the president of the Citizens for the Protection of the Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer, said.
"It’s going to continue to be a struggle to make sure we manage this resource and we do things that are in the best interest of all the people - land owners, communities, and the families that depend on this water,” Sen. Gumm added.
The issue is not going to going away. Sen. Gumm says now that they have the science and the research detailing how much water from the Arbuckle-Simpson aquifer can be shared, discussions about how to manage the aquifer can begin and good policies can be made.
Reported by Shelby Levins - KXII First News