“I think we have an ethical, moral responsibility to the places we take the water from ... that we're being good stewards of the water when it gets here,” he said.
He also called on the city to consider committing a small portion of water bond revenues, currently obligated to drinking water and infrastructure development, to preserve recreational use of water at Lake Hefner and elsewhere.
At 1,182 feet above sea level, city officials report the water level at Lake Hefner is 17 feet below the reservoir's maximum capacity and 2 feet lower than the previous record set in October. Persistent drought has sunk the Lake Hefner water level to the lowest in its 66-year history, leaving boats and docks high and dry.
Hefner, a primary source of drinking water, is usually at its lowest during the hottest months. A lack of rain and snow last fall and this winter left the lake unreplenished.
In addition to conservation efforts, city officials have reported they are considering drawing as much as 30,000 acre-feet of water from Canton Lake, north of Watonga. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers owns Canton Lake, but the city owns rights on all the water. Oklahoma City residents draw an average of 110 million gallons a day of water from Hefner, and almost twice that amount during the summer months.
The city also stores water at Lake Overholser, which, like Hefner, is fed by the North Canadian River, and at Lake Stanley Draper, which is fed by Lake Atoka in the southeast part of the state.
The city also owns water rights to McGee Creek, near Atoka.
Contributing:
Zeke Campfield, Staff Writer
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