Mindy Ragan Wood Southwest Ledger
A water supply plan devised more than 40 years ago is being revived, this time with a concept to construct a pipeline from a lake near Texarkana, Arkansas, to Altus.
The project is a recent departure from a plan to build a 300-mile pipeline from Hugo Lake and tap into additional water resources along the path to boost supply across southeastern and southwestern Oklahoma. Following public pushback at Hugo City Council meetings, newly elected officials fired City Manager Leah Thomas in May and stopped the plan cold.
“They changed council and chose not to pursue that,” said Altus City Manager Gary Jones, who spearheaded the concept.
Hugo Mayor Tina Bunn told Hugo Daily News in April that to ensure the community had enough to attract new industry, she would oppose the sale of water.
Jones said the goal of the line is not to drain or burden any community’s supply of water, but to find numerous water sources to pool into a larger supply for mutual benefit.
Jones said the project is in a preliminary discussion phase with Texarkana and Oklahoma officials. As previously reported by Southwest Ledger, a project of such scale would likely cost billions to construct. The plan revised The latest concept is to build the estimated 365-mile water line in phases from Texarkana to Durant; from Ardmore to Kingston; from Ada to southern Cleveland County to extend along Interstate 44 to Chickasha; from Fort Sill to Tom Steed Lake, which is Altus’ primary source of drinking water.
Click here for Southwest Ledger