James Coburn
EDMOND — A number of options to protect central Oklahoma’s 50-year water supply were discussed Monday at a workshop presentation of the Regional Raw Water Supply Study to the Edmond City Council. Central Oklahoma’s water needs are expected to more than double before 2060, said Bryan Mitchell, CDM project manager. The use of pipelines bringing water to central Oklahoma will be beyond capacity by 2020, he said.
“Public interaction is very important because this is the public’s process,” Mitchell said.
A variety of flexible ideas were presented to city leaders to study before a firm commitment is made by a group of central Oklahoma municipalities. Securing prosperity and economic development has led Edmond, Oklahoma City, Moore, Norman, Seminole, Shawnee, Chickasha, Calera, Midwest City and Del City to join together to investigate long-term solutions. The City of Ada is considering joining the group.
Mayor Patrice Douglas said it’s good the city has some planning time available to meet the challenge. Distinct tasks must be considered within the next couple of years, according to the report. Cities must decide this year whether to join the Oklahoma Regional Water Utilities Trust to purchase water rights, Mitchell said.
“Hopefully by 2015, everybody’s made their decisions on what they will participate in and how the trust is being executed. Design is finalized and all the environmental studies are being done,” Mitchell said. “That ... is the time to issue some very significant paper debt. That’s giving the communities five years to make their decisions — educate and communicate with their public to make very sound decisions.”
The City of Edmond’s 50-Year Water Supply Stakeholder Steering Committee has been identifying water resources for the long-term good of Edmond. Currently, City of Edmond water comes from Arcadia Lake and a system of water wells operated by the city. In recent years, the city also has sporadically purchased water from Oklahoma City.
Sardis Lake in southeastern Oklahoma could supply a future 100-mile water pipeline going parallel to Oklahoma City’s Atoka pipeline, Mitchell said. The Atoka pipeline alone could not carry the volume required, he added.
Delivering the water with a pipeline and pump station to the metro by 2020 would cost approximately $1 billion, Mitchell said.
Protecting endangered species will also require money, he said. Living in the Kiamichi River or in the path of the proposed pipeline are endangered species including birds, mussels, fish and a beetle, Mitchell continued.
New water source rights should be acquired by 2030 with infrastructure completed to allow delivery, according to the report. The cost of this phase of the project is expected to be between $350 million and $450 million, according to the report.
Three options are being considered once the water is delivered to the metro area. One cost option is the delivery of treated water from the Stanley Draper treatment plant to the communities.
“You’d be paying them to treat it, them to deliver it and you take it from there,” Mitchell said. “That projection would be $145 million in capital improvements to make that work.”
Another option would be taking the water to a regional water treatment plant owned by participating cities, costing about $350 million, he said.
“Then the last would be the local treatment,” with a projected $379 million cost, Mitchell said. “That is the utilization of all the water treatment plants in the metro area to the greatest extent possible. That gives towns the most flexibility that they could ever ask for, but it also puts all the capital costs for treatment wholly on your shoulders.”
Mitchell estimated a $279.9 million capital cost to the City of Edmond if all the group cities chose to participate in the trust. This cost figure includes the collection of water, environmental studies, delivery of water to the local pipeline, treated at Lake Stanley Draper and shipped to Edmond, he said.
City Councilman David Miller said the city must also be prepared to treat growing volumes of waste water expected with population growth. Assistant City Manager Jerry Smith said Edmond is in discussion with the Oklahoma City municipality about the possibility of partnering with its waste water treatment plants.
In addition, Douglas said it’s important for Edmond residents to know the city already has a water conservation plan. But City Councilwoman Elizabeth Waner described Edmond’s conservation plan at the moment as minimal.
“The whole idea of reusing water, again, is something we can control.”
jcoburn@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 114
