Municipalities across Oklahoma are putting their safe, treated wastewater to work. With permits from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, cities have an option to beneficially reuse high quality, treated wastewater in place of drinking water for authorized purposes. The Oklahoma City Utilities Department supplies clean, treated wastewater for golf course irrigation and power plant cooling operations, saving over 2 billion gallons of fresh drinking water each year. Learn more about DEQ's reuse program.
The Oklahoma Water Resources Board, Oklahoma Rural Water Association, and Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality Sustainability Alliance assist municipalities and rural water districts through sustainability planning efforts. As a result of leak detection analysis in 2018 and 2019, 246 million gallons were saved from loss. Learn more about the Oklahoma Strategic Alliance.
Lagoon is a leader in water recycling and is the first to provide commercial water recycling services in Oklahoma. Located in the heart of the STACK play, their core facility can treat 40,000-barrels-per-day and includes 1.2 million barrels of storage capacity. Across its geographic footprint, Lagoon can work with oil and gas producers to meet their water demands and to reduce the burden on freshwater resources by providing disposal alternatives and recycled water for completions operations. Learn more about Lagoon Water Midstream.
Oklahoma State University has initiated a Master Irrigator Program to provide advanced training on irrigation water management. The program includes classroom training, peer-to-peer exchange of information between producers, field demonstrations, and free-of-charge services such as energy audits through mobile irrigation laboratories. Research suggests that adoption of precision irrigation management could reduce water demand by 76,000 acre-feet/year statewide without impacting, and potentially increasing, productivity. Learn more about the Master Irrigator Program.
The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) provides financial and technical assistance to agricultural producers to address natural resource concerns and deliver environmental benefits. Together, NRCS and producers invest in solutions that conserve natural resources for the future while also improving agricultural operations. In Oklahoma in 2019, 3,195 acres were receiving irrigation conservation practices across the state, including conversion to drip irrigation and no till practices. Learn more about the EQIP Program.