Interstate Stream Compacts

To resolve and prevent disputes over waters shared with neighboring states, and to assure the receipt of adequate surface flows/releases from upstream states, Oklahoma participates in four interstate stream compacts: the Arkansas River Compact with Arkansas; the Arkansas River Compact with Kansas; the Red River Compact with Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas; and the Canadian River Compact with New Mexico and Texas.

The Oklahoma Water Resources Board supports the state's compact commissioners in negotiating and administering the interstate stream agreements that clearly spell out how much water a signatory state is allowed to develop or store on an interstate stream. Generally, the compacts provide a means of working out problems between states in an orderly manner, preventing the likelihood of litigation in most cases. Although the compacts continue to address problems concerning quantities and equitable development of river waters, annual meetings of the compact commissions deal increasingly with quality and pollution problems. The Arkansas-Oklahoma Arkansas River Compact Commission has begun to address some water quality issues while the Red River Compact Commission has already established a standing environmental committee.