Local News
Ruling favors Texans
Decision by Johnston County judge allows mining company to continue taking water from Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer at quarry near Mill Creek
TISHOMINGO — A Texas mining company will continue capturing water that springs up from the Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer — thanks to a ruling Thursday by Johnston County District Judge Thomas Walker.
The decision could result in millions of gallons taken out of the aquifer which serves Ada and several other communities like Tishomingo, Durant, Ardmore, Wapanucka and Connerville.
The fight over Arbuckle-Simpson water has been ongoing for several years. Senate Bill 288, passed in 2003, bans water sales by land owners over the aquifer. A group of central Oklahoma cities hopes to run a pipeline that would handle as much as 20 million gallons of water a day from the aquifer.
Duane Smith, director of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, said the agency is in the midst of developing a statewide 50-year water plan. He said many areas of the state are in need of water.
Walker ruled that OWRB does not have authority over water trapped in mines. Meridian Aggregates has a huge operation off State Highway 1 between Sulphur and Tishomingo in the Mill Creek area, drilling for rock used in Texas road construction. The judge said OWRB lacks authority because the Texas company is drilling for stone, not water.
OWRB — in a 2006 decision — allowed Meridian Aggregates to take 274 acre feet of water — or 89 million gallons — of water a year from the aquifer. The company had sought five times that amount.
Opponents, including nearby ranchers and towns that depend on the aquifer as a main water source, wanted the company’s permit rejected completely.
Both sides appealed the water board’s decision.
OWRB officials said they haven’t studied Thursday’s ruling yet. They could decide next month whether to appeal Walker’s decision.
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