Oklahoma City is drawing from Canton Lake in northwest Oklahoma to boost Lake Hefner’s dwindling water levels. Although OKC holds water rights to Canton, these releases also affect northwest Oklahomans who depend on the lake.
Lake Hefner is where OKC stores about 40% of its drinking water. Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust requests to draw from Canton Lake whenever Hefner gets too low. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manages and executes approved releases.
The last OKC-requested release from Canton was almost exactly two years ago. That was the second release of 2022 (although the first was cut short amidst public concern). Before that, Oklahoma City hadn’t pulled water from Canton since 2013.
This time, the Corps of Engineers plans to release about five billion gallons of water from Canton Lake’s sluice gates. These aren’t the giant floodgates you might be picturing — they’re three much smaller openings slotted into the concrete at the bottom of the dam.
After it leaves Canton, the water journeys about 100 miles down the North Canadian River to reach Lake Hefner. Along the way, much of the water is lost as it evaporates or soaks into the riverbed and banks.
Still, Hefner, which is smaller than Canton, is expected to rise by about three feet over the next week as the released water reaches it. Before the release, it was sitting about seven feet lower than normal for this time of year.
David Wigington was one of a handful of people who gathered below the dam on Tuesday to watch the gates creak open. He said most locals are unhappy about the releases to OKC.
“You know, all little towns are closed halfway down, but the camping and fishing brings revenue to this town,” Wigington said. “They buy gas for the boats and all the food for camping. When nobody's camping, it hurts the town.”
This week’s release is expected to lower Canton Lake by about three feet. Wigington said it makes an especially stark difference because of the lake’s shape — wide and shallow, like a saucer.
After Oklahoma City drew water from it in 2013, Canton Lake dropped 13 feet below its normal level, developed an algae bloom and lost 90% of its tourism, according to reporting by the Enid News & Eagle from June of that year. That summer, Oklahoma City received so much rain that it had to release excess water into the North Canadian River to prevent flooding. Ultimately, the city released more water than it had received from Canton Lake just months earlier.
But Canton has always recovered, Wigington said. And the draws in 2022 didn’t have as drastic of an impact.
“We don't take it lightly,” an OKC Utilities spokesperson said at the time of the Oct. 2022 release. “It's very serious. We certainly want to limit where possible the impact of these decisions on Canton, as well as balance out the need for water in Central Oklahoma.”
The current release was carefully planned to minimize impacts on recreation and wildlife at Canton, according to a press release from Oklahoma City.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
