Oklahoma Water Resources Board Holds Public Meetings on Statewide Water Plan

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Water Resources Board is hosting a series of in-person and virtual meetings with water industry professionals and the public on the development of the Oklahoma Comprehensive Water Plan (OCWP). The Plan focuses on securing and building water resilience for all Oklahomans for the next 50 years.     

The purpose of the meetings is to gather region-specific information from stakeholders to inform the team on prioritizing technical and policy needs for all the state’s water use sectors.     

State statutes direct the OWRB to forecast long term water needs through decennial updates to the OCWP to provide local planners and lawmakers with data critical for ensuring safe and reliable water. The planning team is currently conducting detailed assessments of physical and legal water availability to determine water supply and demand in each of the state’s 82 planning basins. To build on the findings of the last OCWP update (2012), the 2025 update is specifically focusing on water infrastructure with an emphasis on the need for water investment mechanisms.     

Planning strategies include traditional and non-traditional approaches to meeting water supply needs, such as expanding reclaimed water use, reservoir storage, and stormwater capture and use. In a related project, for the first time ever, the OWRB has developed a statewide flood plan.   

Focus group data and online surveys have provided planners with critical information from stakeholders thus far, but the OWRB is excited to offer all Oklahomans the chance to voice their concerns and ideas in person or via one of two virtual meetings. 

Several rounds of meetings will take place in various locations across the state: Ada (Aug. 16), Claremore (Aug. 17), Virtual (Aug. 18), Woodward (Aug. 29), Oklahoma City (Aug. 30), and Virtual (Aug. 31). The in-person sessions will have two parts: water professional sessions geared toward local officials, water utility suppliers, regulated industry, commercial agricultural producers, economic development entities, and representing organizations will be held from 2-4 p.m., and public sessions for the general public will be held from 5:30-7 p.m.   

Click here to attend a virtual session on Aug 18 from 9-11 a.m. and here to attend a virtual session on Aug 31, 1-3 p.m. Links to virtual sessions can also be found on the OWRB calendar at www.owrb.ok.gov. Click here for more information about the session topics. 

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For questions about the public meetings or more information on the OCWP, contact Owen Mills, OWRB Planning Director, at (405) 530-8800 or owen.mills@owrb.ok.gov.