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Oklahoma Water Resources

Although today we have more sophisticated tools to access our water sources than say, the Egyptians and Babylonians who had to establish their cities along rivers, a responsible and efficient use of water is just as important today in the United States. Oklahoma has huge water resources at its disposal, but managing these resources correctly and supplying the dryer southern regions, especially during drought years, is still a priority.

Usage of Water Resources
- IIn 2005, Oklahoma residents used over 1,746,000 acre-feet of water. 63 percent of this water was extracted from surface water sources, such as lakes, reservoirs and rivers. The remaining 37 percent was withdrawn from groundwater wells. In Oklahoma most of the water is used for the state's public water supply and irrigation, a total of 73. In the same year, livestock and aquaculture only used 12 percent of the water supply extracted.
Surface Water
- Oklahoma's surface water is contained in lakes, ponds and rivers. The state has a huge reserve of surface water within its over 55,600 miles of sweet water shoreline. This system of lakes and ponds represents a total acreage of over 1,400 square miles, which is more the total area of the state of Rhode Island. However, in some of the southern regions of Oklahoma, especially in the east corner, lake evaporation far exceeds rain fall.
Ground Water Reserves
- The state of Oklahoma has access to over 20 large groundwater basins which hold around 320 million acre-feet of water. Just one of these basins, the Ogallala basin is large enough to submerge the entire state in 2-feet water if the aquifer were emptied. However, according to estimates published by the Oklahoma Water Resources board only half of the groundwater water storage can be recovered.
Water Drilling
- Water drilling is a popular method of supplying water to residential homes outside of the metropolitan areas. In Oklahoma, over 2,235 homes had domestic wells in 2008. All water drilling contractors and operators must be licensed and approved by the Oklahoma Water Agency, also known as the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, or OWRB. In 2008 there were 341 firms license by the Water Agency to drill for groundwater. The OWRB publishes a map with the groundwater levels over Oklahoma. This information is collected by monitoring a network of over 600 water wells.

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