Do Water Shortages Loom For Sulphur?

Water Pipeline Stakeholders Receive Final Report Of Two-Year Study

by Mike West Times-Democrat staff with the Sulphur City Council last August. A second purpose of the meeting was to update those who are new to the Sulphur City government who attended the meeting, including the new City Manager Keith Mann, and new City Councilmen Brandon Flowers and Robert Clark, who filed unopposed in the city council election. Councilman Chad Hill also attended. One more councilman is yet to be elected. Two candidates filed for the councils Ward One seat. The election on April 1 will decide the race. The candidates for that seat are current Mayor Mitch Hull and challenger Derrick Priddy. They did not attend the meeting. About two dozen were present at the lunch meeting Wednesday, including many of what was termed the pipe!line stakeholder team. Among others at the meeting were Executive Director of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) J.D. Strong, and BOR DeputyArea Manager James Allard. Balcombe presented slides that summarized the 200!page report, printed copies of which were given to principal stakeholders. All others were offered CDs containing the report file. A study of Sulphurs water needs dating back to 2011 culminated with a presentation last week of a Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) Final Report titled Sulphur Pipeline Regional Rural Water Supply Project. Sulphur stakeholders, including some who are new to city government, heard of a possibility that Sulphur could experience water shortages by 2030, and run out of water by about 2035. The distasteful prospect was brought up by a BOR speaker at a stakeholders meeting at the Artesian Hotel Wednesday, Feb. 26. The meeting had a two-fold purpose, according to principal speaker Collins Balcombe, supervisory program coordinator with the U.S. Department of Interiors Bureau of Reclamation Great Plains Region, Oklahoma-Texas Area Office, based in Austin, Texas. First, Balcombe came to the Sulphur meeting to present the Final Report of a two-year study titled Sulphur Pipeline Regional Rural Water Supply Project. Previously, the BOR has held three meetings with area stakeholders, a separate meeting with the rural water districts, and a public meeting Arbuckle Master Conservancy District Manager Steven Jolly, right, explains a point about the Lake of the Arbuckles to local local contrac!tor Don Brown, center, and OWRB Executive Director J.D. Strong at a stakeholders meeting Wednesday, Feb. 26 at the Artesian Hotel. (See Water Study, back page)

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