Lake Hefner at record low water levels, when will city buy Canton water?

[Just the facts]

Besides,who cares what the hell Texas wants? That state can dry up and blow away for all I care. I can't stand texas and I would't pizz in a bottle and give it to them if they were on hand and knee.

After giving it some consideration - I would.

[Martin]

Natives have a reverance for the Creator's blessing and don't view it as an asset to exploit for profit.

[Midtowner]

Can tell from all the Alfred E Newman what me worry about Canton comments that people with a conscience feel bad about what OKC did to Canton. Don't fret, not talking about you Midtown. You'll all feel better with an apology to our fellow Okies in NW Ok, and an admission that the deed done not for need but esthetics for a movie shoot and pretty location shots during the NBA finals. The Spirit of Canton Lake no doubt tore Westbrook's meniscus.
Thank God the tribes have raparian rights long predating statehood, and now have the money to fight yet another resource grab, this time in the Kiamichi Watershed. For the sake of SE Ok pray for their success. It'll be a tragedy if the greedy hicks in OKC get their hands on Sardis.

It's riparian rights. And riparian rights don't mean because you have adjacent land you own all of the water. It simply means you can use the water for domestic purposes including things like drinking it in your household (not supplying drinking water to a metroplex) or irrigation up to 3 acres without a permit. All of the water in Oklahoma is subject to Oklahoma and federal law, not the invented legal theories some of these tribes are coming up with.

[Dubya61]

Natives have a reverance for the Creator's blessing and don't view it as an asset to exploit for profit.

Bull****. The natives of old might have and the natives of today MIGHT, but the tribes of today are nothing more than specialized businesses with special government perks and rights.

[Edgar]

prove the point- in order for there to be a lake resort, there has to be a lake. A casino is exploiting people's greed and magical thinking.

[Edgar]

It's riparian rights. And riparian rights don't mean because you have adjacent land you own all of the water. It simply means you can use the water for domestic purposes including things like drinking it in your household (not supplying drinking water to a metroplex) or irrigation up to 3 acres without a permit. All of the water in Oklahoma is subject to Oklahoma and federal law, not the invented legal theories some of these tribes are coming up with.

Right Midtown, the tribes have ferderal predating statehood on their side. Good for them and the people of SE Ok..

[Midtowner]

There is a serious case of prejection going on when the hicks in OKC accuse the tribes of only being in the fight for the money. Natives have a reverance for the Creator's blessing and don't view it as an asset to exploit for profit. The Kiamichi Watershed belongs to the people of SE Ok. They're not holding it for when OKC residents need to water 63rd St in August. OKC provoked this court case with their stong arm good ole boy network tactic, a complicit OWRB, and never returning the tribes phone calls on the issue. Kick dirt in their faces one more time. Pray for their success.

So you're fine with the tribes waiting until OKC had financed the Sardis project, a huge economic boon to SE Oklahoma and then trying to turn around and claim it belongs to the tribes? I hear what you're saying, but that only happens if the tribes are in it for the money. Where were the tribes when the lake was being built? The Kiamichi watershed belongs to all Oklahomans. SE Oklahoma residents depend on the oil and gas companies and tax paying citizens of OKC and Tulsa to fund most of their infrastructure. In return, OKC and Tulsa have to exploit rural assets to be able to survive. OKC's viability as a city requires Sardis and an additional pipeline within the next 50 years. Rural Oklahoma couldn't get by without OKC and Tulsa and vice versa.

As for returning phone calls, I don't return phone calls from folks with totally made up legal theories asking for absurd results, e.g., all of the water in 22 counties. Absurd.

[Bellaboo]

prove the point- in order for there to be a lake resort, there has to be a lake. A casino is exploiting people's greed and magical thinking.

Casinos are nothing more than a poor mans tax.......just like the lottery. Not one dang spiritual thing about it.

Like I said Edgar, come back when the gills are dry.....

[Midtowner]

Right Midtown, the tribes have ferderal predating statehood on their side. Good for them and the people of SE Ok..

Ferderal predating statehood?

Even if you go back to the straight up common law version of what riparian means, it means reasonable use, i.e., not a use which harms others. Of course the rest of the water is the property of the people of Oklahoma and is appropriated by the OWRB.

[RadicalModerate]

Casinos are nothing more than a poor mans tax.......just like the lottery. Not one dang spiritual thing about it.

I'll bet that there are quite a few gambling addicts and casino bosses who would disagree with that statement . . . =)
(one of the latter looks a lot like Alec Baldwin in "The Cooler")

[Mel]

Is Hefner coming back up? Have not been up that way in a bit.

[Bellaboo]

Is Hefner coming back up? Have not been up that way in a bit.

It's full.

[OKCRT]

It's full.

Hefner is full. Drove by today and I don't know if you could add another cup of water it's so full. Same with Overholser. I was told from a nearby resident that they were letting water out the other day and if they were doing that it must be full.

OKC lakes are looking good at this time.

[law]

Except Canton.

[seethescott]

^

[OKCisOK4me]

"and an admission that the deed done not for need but esthetics for a movie shoot and pretty location shots during the NBA finals."

Are you a moron? If you aren't then provide a link that proves both of these situations to be true. Get a life.

[SOONER8693]

Except Canton.

I doubt there are over 10 people in this state that gives a crap about Canton reservoir.

[RadicalModerate]

I doubt there are over 10 people in this state that gives a crap about Canton reservoir.

Go back to the very first post on this thread. Study the photographs. Now take a little trip forward to a future August . . . and wonder where the refill water will be coming from. At that point I think the estimated number of those who care about Canton reservoir will probably have to be adjusted upward. Especially in the vicinity of OKC.

[Edgar]

So you're fine with the tribes waiting until OKC had financed the Sardis project, a huge economic boon to SE Oklahoma and then trying to turn around and claim it belongs to the tribes? I hear what you're saying, but that only happens if the tribes are in it for the money. Where were the tribes when the lake was being built? The Kiamichi watershed belongs to all Oklahomans. SE Oklahoma residents depend on the oil and gas companies and tax paying citizens of OKC and Tulsa to fund most of their infrastructure. In return, OKC and Tulsa have to exploit rural assets to be able to survive. OKC's viability as a city requires Sardis and an additional pipeline within the next 50 years. Rural Oklahoma couldn't get by without OKC and Tulsa and vice versa.

As for returning phone calls, I don't return phone calls from folks with totally made up legal theories asking for absurd results, e.g., all of the water in 22 counties. Absurd.

No one in OKC cared about Sardis back in the '80s, or had any intent about paying the bill owed to the feds. The tribes did indeed try to help pay the debt and were rebuffed because the greedy bullies in OKC want it all. read this and get some perspective, and compassion perhaps.Small-town residents and local tribes battle the big city for Oklahoma's Lake Sardis - Los Angeles Times

[Just the facts]

Hefner is full. Drove by today and I don't know if you could add another cup of water it's so full. Same with Overholser. I was told from a nearby resident that they were letting water out the other day and if they were doing that it must be full.

OKC lakes are looking good at this time.

Except Canton.

^

I think the jest is that OKC has 4 lakes holding drinking water - Hefner, Overholser, Drapper, AND Canton. Canton is plan B and it is almost dry, and we are coming up to a time of year when plan A doesn't work so well. I have no idea what plan C is (although I remember a Simpsons episode where plan C was to move the entire town of Springfield 5 miles down the road).

[Bellaboo]

No one in OKC cared about Sardis back in the '80s, or had any intent about paying the bill owed to the feds. The tribes did indeed try to help pay the debt and were rebuffed because the greedy bullies in OKC want it all. read this and get some perspective, and compassion perhaps.Small-town residents and local tribes battle the big city for Oklahoma's Lake Sardis - Los Angeles Times

Sounds like to me that if those little towns around Sardis don't like it, they should have ponied up and bought the lake water rights themselves, or a portion there of...like OKC did...

Also, Sardis does NOT sit on the Choctaw or Chickasaw tribal lands, according to the article.....

[Midtowner]

Reading some of these apoplectic blogs from a couple months ago is pretty good fun. Atoka (where we pump from SE OK already) was down quite a bit. Bring on the Spring rains...


(capacity is 590 feet, we're at 588)

The folks referring to Atoka as "mud hole" back in 2011 seem to be exaggerating or were just unaware that the entire state was in a drought. Hefner and all of our local lakes were down too.

We seem to be at the tail end of any drought. Rainfall in most of Oklahoma has been better than normal or better in the last 30 days and if the current trend continues, give us a good tropical storm or something like that and we'll be more worried about flood control than dry lakes.



So Canton's low... hindsight being 20/20, we shouldn't have drained it. If we'd had a Summer like we did in 2012, we'd all be talking about how smart that was today. That said, it's primary purpose is to serve the water needs of the OKC metro. Everything else is secondary. It and Sardis are man made lakes made for flood control and water storage. That's the only reason they exist and OKC owns 'em.

[ljbab728]

I think the jest is that OKC has 4 lakes holding drinking water - Hefner, Overholser, Drapper, AND Canton. Canton is plan B and it is almost dry, and we are coming up to a time of year when plan A doesn't work so well. I have no idea what plan C is (although I remember a Simpsons episode where plan C was to move the entire town of Springfield 5 miles down the road).

The sky is falling. The sky is falling.
Whoops, no. That's flooding rains instead.

[Plutonic Panda]

The sky is falling. The sky is falling.
Whoops, no. That's flooding rains instead.

Went from record low to record high in half a year? lol

[ljbab728]

Went from record low to record high in half a year? lol

Well, plupan, I have no doubt that we will have some dry spells this summer. I just don't buy into the fear mongering of some posters.