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 Welcome to the Water Planning Process!
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This website is your avenue to involvement in Oklahoma’s water planning process. In 2006, the state legislature directed the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) to update the state’s comprehensive water plan. The update, which began in Jan. 2007, includes in-depth technical studies and, for the first time, substantial public input.
This five-phase process is centered on citizen involvement. It builds upon a base of broad public input and then uses citizen workgroups to develop suggestions for better managing the water resources of our state. During 2007, 42 local input meetings were held to gather citizens’ ideas, concerns, questions and suggestions about water resource management in Oklahoma. In 2008, 368 citizens were invited to help us determine which of the issues raised in the local meetings should continue to be discussed in the planning process. Development of management strategies is the purpose of the three planning workshops scheduled for 2009. In the spring of 2010, the Oklahoma Academy for State Goals will conduct a special Town Hall meeting where 150 Oklahoma citizens will determine which management strategies should be included in the Water Plan. In the final phase of the public participation process 11 meetings will be held across the state to gather responses to the draft water plan. The final plan, written by the OWRB, is scheduled to be presented in 2011 to the legislature and governor. For a more detailed explanation about the public participation process, click here.
We want participation to be as easy as possible, so we set up a comment page for you to enter any concerns, ideas or suggestions you have about the management of Oklahoma water. All comments we receive are available in a searchable database to allow citizens the opportunity to read what others have said and add their own comments.
We have also set up a page for you to enter your water management strategy. This page provides you the opportunity to give us your idea for how to solve a problem or suggest a new way to manage water. You also have the opportunity to view others’ strategies and comment on them.
We encourage you to join our email list to stay informed.
We strive to keep our process and information as open and transparent as possible. To help achieve this, all reports, comments and management strategies are available on this website. If you have any questions or comments please email us at waterplan@okstate.edu.
We are excited to be working with Oklahoma citizens on the future management of their water resources!
Any project like this involves numerous groups and we would like to thank our partners for their efforts.
In addition, many organizations are making important contributions to this project by keeping their members informed and involved. They are listed on our Links page.
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