BARNSDALL, Okla. — Oklahoma lawmakers are hoping to give $50 million in American Rescue Plan money to the Oklahoma Water Resources Board so it can provide grants to rural water districts in the state. One of those to benefit would be the City of Barnsdall which is hoping to use the money for the Waxhoma Lake Spillway Project.
The Waxhoma Lake Spillway began to leak last summer after floodwaters cut into the spillway, threatening to destroy the dam. Barnsdall Mayor Johnny Kelley said flooding isn’t their biggest concern, rather it’s the town’s drinking water supply.
Kelley said back in the 90s when the spillway was built, the curtain wall wasn’t put far enough down to the bedrock to stop water from flowing underneath the dam and spillway. He said that the curtain wall is around six feet but to meet regulations it needs to go down 20 feet.
“It’s been going on for some time and it’s just a poor design and it failed so here we are,” said Kelley.
He said the city hired a team of engineers to conduct test digs to see how far down the bedrock goes so they’ll be prepared if and when funding becomes available from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board.
“We’re just waiting. We’re hopeful that we’ll make that decision pretty soon so we can get this started with the engineering and everything. And the bidding processes that you have to go through with a project like this, it’s something that takes a substantial amount of time to get done so we’re trying to be as proactive as we can,” said Kelley.
Mayor Kelley said Waxhoma Lake serves both Barnsdall and the surrounding rural areas. He said around 6000 people, including the Osage Casino depend on the water so fixing the spillway is imperative. And he said each day that passes, the spillway continues to leak more and more water.
“We flirt with disaster all the time because we have to keep the lake lower than it should be so in the instance we do get a large rain we’ll have more room to play with there as before it actually gets out of hand and causes another big breach,” said Kelley.
Mayor Kelley said if lawmakers don’t approve the money later this month, the city might have to pump water from another lake. But the city would have to buy the rights and then treat the water to make it drinkable. He said that would actually cost more in the long run than fixing the spillway.
The legislature is set to meet in a special session the last week of September to consider approving this money along with other ARPA funds for not only water and sewer projects but also healthcare in the state.
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