(Oklahoma City, OK) Oklahomans are about to gain access to additional groundwater that can be used for industrial, commercial, agricultural and (to a limited extent) domesticated purposes.
On Tuesday, members of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board adopted proposed rules allocating ownership of marginal, brackish groundwater to surface owners, allowing for its production and use for beneficial purposes. Its intent primarily is to provide the oil and gas industry with an additional source of water it could use to drill and produce horizontal wells.
However, it also opens up the water’s use for other agricultural and commercial purposes — an important step toward making Oklahoma more self-sufficient for water use in coming decades.
