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Water Resources Board asks for modernization funds, outlines aquifer studies and monitoring plan amid permitting questions
Summary
Director Julie Cunningham and staff asked the committee for funds to modernize water-rights administration, expand real-time monitoring, and increase small-community grants; staff described ongoing USGS-led aquifer studies and reiterated statutory limits on prioritizing uses while answering questions about permits and PFAS monitoring.
Director Julie Cunningham of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board told the Subcommittee that the board's mission is long-term water-supply planning, equitable apportionment, permitting, dam safety and water-infrastructure financing. The board seeks several appropriations, including a request for $1.7 million to support water-rights administration modernization, expanded monitoring/IT to pair state gauges with academic networks and the Mesonet, and $8 million for small-community REAP grants plus $1 million for technical assistance.
Cunningham noted the board manages dam safety for approximately 4,700 dams and prepares a comprehensive water plan every 10 years; the current plan is slated for finalization in 2025. She described nearly $464 million in ARPA funding the board has flowed to water projects and said the state's estimated water-infrastructure need is on the order of $24 billion across basins.
In detailed questioning, Chris Neil, division chief for Water Rights Administration, described the Antlers Aquifer study being conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey. He said the board is completing part one (hydrologic framework) and that the modeling phase—if undertaken—would take two to three additional years. Neil cited a previously established maximum annual yield for the aquifer of about 2.1 acre-feet per acre and explained that where a formal yield has not been set, the default statutory allocation is generally two acre-feet per acre.
A committee member asked why permits have been issued in areas with heavy poultry and horticultural development; Neil responded that the board does not evaluate immigration status, that water rights are allocated by land ownership and that retroactive changes to ownership-based rights are limited. On PFAS (forever chemicals), Cunningham and water-quality staff said monitoring typically falls to the Department of Environmental Quality for point-source discharges, that PFAS sampling is expensive and that detection would require careful public communication.
The board asked the committee to consider funding to modernize permitting systems, expand telemetered gauges and support small towns' infrastructure needs; members thanked staff and the hearing closed.
