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Water board seeks $50 million for infrastructure, proposes loan fund and modernization
Summary
The Oklahoma Water Resources Board outlined four priorities tied to the comprehensive state water plan, including modernization of water-rights administration, expanded monitoring and hydranet work, dam safety, and a $50 million infrastructure package split between grants, a $25M revolving loan fund, and technical assistance.
Director Cunningham of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board outlined a multi-pronged budget request tied to the new statewide comprehensive water plan, asking lawmakers to fund modernization of water-rights administration, expand monitoring and real-time data (Oklahoma Hydranet), bolster dam safety and floodplain efforts, and approve a $50 million recurring infrastructure construction request.
Cunningham told the committee the board's top priorities reflect broad, long-term needs identified in a three-plus-year planning process. On administration, she said the water-rights program is understaffed and facing an influx of protested applications and emerging industries.
"Water rights administration is key... this program really needs to be bolstered," Cunningham said, explaining that modernization would address backlog and increase outreach and field responses. She described a recent jump in hearings: the board conducted 35 hearings this year compared with 5–10 per year previously.
On monitoring, Cunningham described statewide groundwater and stream gauges and said the agency is pursuing a partnership with Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma on the Oklahoma Hydranet, noting a proposed $450,000 pass-through to Oklahoma State to automate and share real-time gauge data.
Cunningham framed dam safety and floodplain management as urgent because many regulated upstream watershed dams are aging (average age cited as 62 years). To address infrastructure needs, the agency proposed a $50 million package broken down in a financial assistance flyer: $10 million for REAP grants, $25 million for a new low-interest revolving loan fund intended to be self-replenishing, $10 million for state infrastructure development grants to help communities complete pre-engineering work, and $5 million for technical assistance and capacity building.
Committee members asked for site-specific follow-up on a map-identified potential lake site and pressed the board on protest procedures and fees. Cunningham and staff said they are evaluating options to recover hearing costs and to tighten rules to screen frivolous protests; any fee would be assessed only after a protest is reviewed and a hearing is scheduled.
Cunningham also said the board requests roughly $907,000 to add four to five permit staff to reduce backlog and expedite processing, and that a pre-application meeting process may cut review time toward a 60-day goal.
The committee did not take a formal vote; the board will include a response to public comment and next steps in the January board packet.
