I was sitting with my wife’s grandparents, who are semi-retired ranchers living on the Blue River, discussing the various water rights issues a lot of states are facing. My wife’s grandparents have lived on the Blue for more than 40 years and have a unique insight into the Blue and how it ebbs and flows. While not as important to them as a source irrigation today, they have always been good stewards of the land of the Blue and care deeply for its survival.
The Trout Underground blog has gotten me thinking a lot about water conservation, and fishing the Blue this weekend and seeing it so low spurred me on to ask some questions and do a little research about the issues facing the Blue and take some time to talk about the struggles the Blue is facing in the coming years. Without looking too far, I came across something striking on Wikepedia about the Blue.
The Blue River is unique to Oklahoma in that it is one of the last free flowing streams in the state, in that the water flows freely from its source to the ocean without dams or other man made structures controlling the flow of water. Because of this, the American Eel swims freely from the Gulf of Mexico inland to the upper Blue River.
Needless to say, the Blue is a special river in my state and could use the help of others in the state writing a simple letter or learning more just telling people. Most of the information about the water rights issues I talk about were taken from Barry Shrader on the Blue River Fly Fishers group on Yahoo. Barry is a great steward of the river and is a great voice for her. Barry even got the honor to help bring awareness to the Blue’s issues when he fished in the FR&R Trout Bum Tournament to 2005.
The Blue flows spring fed from the Arbuckle Simpson Aquifer, as do a few other creeks such as Pennington Creek in southeastern Oklahoma. The Blue flows into the Red River, which than finds its way into the Mississippi. For a long time I guess the Blue wasn’t big enough to fight over and the counties through which she flows used it mainly as a source of water or a dumping ground for agriculture. The Blue has changed over the last 50 years, and even surprises people once in awhile when someone takes ODWC a native species of fish related to the piranha. The Blue is a great fishery, especially in the state owned and managed wildlife area which is designated winter trout fishery for the State of Oklahoma.
In 2002 a group of nine communities, and a Tulsa engineering firm, banded together and tried to get rights to 70,000 acre feet of water per year by drilling into the Arbuckle Simpson Aquifer. Give or take, that is the amount the Blue River put out every year. Because of this citizens concerned about the Blue River banded together and formed the CPASA (Citizens for the Protection of the Arbuckle Simpson Aquifer). They successfully fought off the communities by getting SB 288 passed which put a five year moratorium on taking water until the USGS could conduct a comprehensive study of what the aquifer could sustain.
Despite the existence of SB 288, Martin Marietta Mining Company, a producer of construction aggregates such as crushed stone and gravel, was able to essentially scalp water from the aquifer through its process of pit mining. The CPASA was instrumental in decreasing the amount Marietta could take from the aquifer from 1400 acre feet annually to 105 acre feet. To make matters worse, in August Judge Thomas Walker of Tishomingo ruled that the water coming into the pit was due to natural causes and that the Oklahoma Water Resources Board had no jurisdiction in the matter. I wonder if the mining company’s pit is still filling at 325 gallons per minute like it was back in August due to natural causes.
It will be interesting to see what the studies over the next few years show about the impact the mining operation has had on the Blue River, but what about the other creeks and streams that are sourced by the Arbuckle Simpson Aquifer as well? I am going to try and keep up with this issue and other water issues I come across in Oklahoma in the future and talk about them here. Our issues in Oklahoma aren’t nearly as dramatic as those faced in the west or in the southeast, but if we don’t do something now we could face many of the same challenges.
As I was sitting around the table talking about these issues my wife’s grandparents summed it best:
In a few years everyone will be fighting over water.
November 26th, 2007
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