Page images
PDF
EPUB

1 to 1.10. Included in the estimated annual benefits are $62,000 for the prevention of direct and indirect losses from floods of the magnitude of those which occurred during the years 1914 to 1939, inclusive, after modification by the authorized reservoirs and with the present flood-plain developments, $31,000 for prevention of damages which these floods would cause when the flood plain is further developed as a result of the protection afforded by the reservoirs, $38,000 for preventing damages by possible larger floods, and $39,000 for land-enhancement values due to rendering the flood plain suitable for increased development. 7. As to Deep Fork River, the district engineer finds that small tributary reservoirs to control the floods of that stream would not be wholly effective and that the construction of these or local improvement works would not be economically justified at present. His preferred plan for that stream provides for a dam on the main stem 81.4 miles above the mouth to create a reservoir with 675,000 acre-feet of storage for flood control and 25,000 acre-feet of conservation storage at an estimated first cost of $7,605,000. However, the estimated annual costs are $375,700, as compared with estimated average annual benefits of $206,000. In the opinion of the district engineer, this reservoir affords the most practicable means for securing relief from the floods of Deep Fork River, but the benefits are insufficient to justify its construction at this time. Moreover, local interests have expressed opposition to the work.

8. The district engineer recommends provision of the leveed floodway at Oklahoma City at an estimated cost to the United States of $2,142,000 for construction, subject to conditions which in substance require that responsible local agencies furnish assurances satisfactory to the Secretary of War that they will (a) provide without cost to the United States all lands, easements and rights-of-way necessary for consruction of the improvement; (b) bear the cost of necessary alterations of local highway bridges; (c) hold and save the United States free from damages due to the construction works; and (d) maintain and operate all works after completion in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary of War, including supervision, to insure that the construction of bridges or other works which might adversely affect the flood-carrying capacity of the channel at the locality will not be permitted. The division engineer concurs, with the added proviso that local interests bear the expense of any local works necessary for interior drainage of the protected areas, except the openings through the proposed levees.

9. The Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, after affording local interests an opportunity to present additional information, concurs in general in the views of the reporting officers. However, it notes that in dividing the first costs of the proposed work at Oklahoma City between the United States and local interests, the district engineer has proposed that the United States bear the costs of changes to power and pipe lines and costs for treatment of oil wells to provide for their continued operation, estimated to total $105,000. In the opinion of the Board, these costs are a part of the costs of furnishing the rights-of-way and therefore should be borne by local interests. Accordingly the Board recommends provision of the leveed floodway at Oklahoma City at an estimated cost to the United States of $2,037,000 for construction, subject to the local cooperation proposed by the division engineer modified as indicated.

10. After due consideration, I concur in the views of the Board as to the need and justification for local works for flood control at Oklahoma City to supplement the authorized reservoirs and as to the local cooperation which should be required. However, subsequent to preparation of the Board's report, it has been learned that the city of Oklahoma City is planning the construction of an airport adjacent to the river in the vicinity of Western Avenue. If this airport improvement is to be carried out as now proposed, the leveed-floodway plan presented by the district engineer will require modification in this vicinity and this may necessitate a channel change, street and railroad alterations, and other work at increased cost. The proposal is in a preliminary stage and consequently modification of the floodway plan at this time is regarded as premature. However, authorization of the work should make provision for modification of the plan by the Secretary of War and the Chief of Engineers at the time of construction, if found advisable and practicable, to facilitate accomplishment of the airport improvement. As the modification is not necessary for flood control, local interests should bear any resulting increase in the cost.

11. Accordingly, I recommend improvement of North Canadian River at Oklahoma City, Okla., by provision of a leveed floodway, in general accordance with the plans of the district engineer as shown on the accompanying drawings, with

such changes therein as in the discretion of the Secretary of War and the Chief of Engineers may be advisable, at an estimated cost to the United States of $2,037,000 for construction; subject to the condition that local interests bear any increase in the cost of the work which may result from changes in the plan made for the purpose of facilitating airport construction and other improvements by local interests, and to the condition that responsible local agencies furnish assurances satisfactory to the Secretary of War that they will (a) provide without cost to the United States all lands, easements, and rights-of-way necessary for the construction of the project, including bearing the cost of necessary alterations of local highway bridges, changes in power and pipe lines, treatment of oil wells and any local works necessary for interior drainage of the protected areas except openings through the proposed levees; (b) hold and save the United States free from damages due to the construction works; and (c) maintain and operate all works after completion in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary of War, including supervision to assure that the flood-carrying capacity of the channel at the locality will be suitably maintained.

Maj. Gen. EUGENE REYBOLD,

E. REYBOLD, Lieutenant General, Chief of Engineers.

STATE OF TEXAS BOARD OF WATER ENGINEERS,
Austin, Tex., April 27, 1945.

Chief of Engineers, United States Army,

Washington, D. C.

DEAR SIR: In reply to your telegram of April 25 to Governor Stevenson regarding our comments on your report on the North Canadian River in Texas and Oklahoma:

We regret the delay in submitting our comments and trust it has not caused you any undue inconvenience.

We have examined and studied this report, and find that none of the projects included therein are in Texas, or would interfere with any present or future development on the stream and its tributaries in the State.

We have no suggestions or objections to offer to the plans as proposed in this report, but we do reserve the rights of the State of Texas to develop and use the waters of these streams and its tributaries arising in and/or flowing across the State should the occasion demand.

Very truly yours,

Copy to Gov. Coke Stevenson, Austin, Tex.

C. S. CLARK, Chairman.

OKLAHOMA PLANNING AND RESOURCES BOARD

STATE POSTWAR PLANNING COMMISSION DIVISION OF STATE AND INDUSTRIAL PLANNING
DIVISION OF WATER RESOURCES
DIVISION OF FORESTRY AND STATE PARKS

Maj. Gen. E. REYBOLD,

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA., April 12, 1945.

Chief of Engineers, War Department, Washington, D. C.

DEAR GENERAL REYBOLD: In reply to your letter of transmittal of your report on a preliminary examination and survey of the North Canadian River, Okla. and Tex., including Beaver River, Okla., together with reports of the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, and the division and district engineers, which is in conformance to Public Law No. 534, Seventy-eighth Congress, I herein make the following comments and recommendations which express the desires and views of the State of Oklahoma on this subject.

1. The Canton project which was under construction at the outbreak of the war should be completed at the earliest possible date after the war emergency. Storage in that reservoir should be provided for the Canton irrigation project lands. The irrigation district is now in the process of organization, and the project plans are nearing completion by the Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior. The 40,000 acre-feet of storage allocated to pollution abate

87116-46- -43

ment, and such other conservation storage as needed, should be allocated to irrigation of the Canton projects lands. (See attached resolution by the Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board, dated August 14, 1942.)

2. The Optima Reservoir authorized by Congress in the 1936 Flood Control Act should be reconsidered in order to complete the flood-control plan and provide additional conservation storage needed to completely develop the water resources of the North Canadian River Basin. The State of Oklahoma considers it advisable to shift the cite of the Optima Reservoir to the mouth of Coldwater Creek in order to secure added storage capacity, and to control more drainage area.

3. The flood-control measures as recommended for Oklahoma City are urgently requested. However, it is advisable to modify this project in order to accommodate a proposed airport adjacent to the south bank of the North Canadian River. Oklahoma City has made preliminary plans for this airport estimated to cost approximately $5,000,000. The city informs me that they are unable at this time to furnish definite plans and therefore are unable to advise the exact modifications in the proposed floodway and levee system which are necessary. Oklahoma City has expressed a desire to cooperate with you in this matter and are willing to meet local requirements, imposed by law, in order to obtain the resulting flood protection and improvements. (See letter of March 3, 1945,

Ralph Lee, city engineer, city of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, Okla.) 4. Changed economic conditions, especially as they affect agriculture, point to the advisability of restudy of tributary reservoirs and channel improvements on Deep Fork River and tributaries. Special consideration of dam and spillway design for tributary reservoirs on this stream are likely to result in finding less cost for construction, thus making the ratio of cost benefits more attractive.

We do not concur with the opinion of the district engineer in his preferred plan for a dam at mile 81.4 known as the Okmulgee Reservoir.

Therefore, I concur with the recommendations made by you to the Secretary of War in your letter of transmittal to him under subject head, "North Canadian River, Okla. and Tex.," with the reservations that in future review reports the matters pertaining to the Optima Reservoir, the Canton project, and the Deep Fork River, and other projects now under your jurisdiction, namely, drainage and recreational development, be given due consideration.

Sincerely,

DON MCBRIDE, Chairman.

RESOLUTION OF OKLAHOMA PLANNING AND RESOURCES BOARD, AUGUST 14, 1942

Whereas the Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board is charged by statutes to promote the best use of the resources of the State of Oklahoma in the following particulars:

*

**

** *

"It shall be the function and duty of the Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board to prepare and adopt an official State Plan for the physical development of the State. Such an official plan * * * shall show the Board's recommendation for the development of the State * * * and may include, among other things, the general location, character, and extent of waterways flood-prevention works * * conservation projects, land utilization program for agricultural, mineral, forestry, dams for water power, industrial, and other purposes * * which by reason of their functions, size, extent, location, legal status, or other reason, fall within the province or jurisdiction of State bodies or State Officials or which for any other reason are appropriate subjects of, or fall appropriately within the scope of a State, as distinguished from a local program or plan." (O. S. 1941, title 74, sec. 345.)

*

"The retention of rainfall and the capture and detention and distribution of flowing surface and subterranean water, and conservation of water, soil, and promotion of moisture, in the State of Oklahoma, in any lawful, available, and economical manner is hereby recognized and declared to be and is a public necessity for the preservation of the habitability, productivity, venience, and public utility of the State of Oklahoma, and the people thereof." (O. S. 1941, title 82, sec. 455.)

* *

*

con

"In the consummation of said conservation, it is hereby declared a public necessity to promote, build, and encourage the building of lakes, reservoirs, ponds, the terracing of lands, the prevention of wind and water erosion, the promotion of contour cultivation of lands, the irrigation of lands, and the saturation and storage of water in lands (O. S. 1941, title 82, sec. 456.)

*

*

* * **

"The Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board is hereby vested with the duties and powers necessary and proper to promote the control of floods in the State and diminish their destruction and promote the conservation and use of waters in the State to the protection of public and private property and to the development of agricultural and industrial development of the State and in addition thereto, shall have the following specific powers and duties:

(a) "Investigate and determine upon the best methods of flood control and water conservation and use in the different sections of the State for the Agricultural and Industrial development of the State and as to the best method of construction and maintenance of necessary structures in the State to accomplish that purpose.

(b) "Prescribe rules and regulations not inconsistent with this Act or other laws

*

* *

(c) "The Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board shall have authority to negotiate contracts with the Federal Government or any department or bureau thereof, * for the purpose of obtaining assistance and cooperation in the accomplishment of the purpose of flood control and water conservancy and use in the State

*

*.

(d) "To determine and map proposed conservancy and water improvement districts for preliminary purpose of estimate and cost, and effect, of a proposed conservancy district, for the purpose of submitting the question of the creation of said proposed district." (O. S. 1941, title 82, sec. 482.)

"The Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board is hereby authorized to exercise the following rights, privileges, and functions:

* * *

*

(a) "To control, store, and preserve within the boundaries of the State, all waters in the State which may be stored within the State in any manner whatsoever, for any useful purpose * *, and to use, dispose, and sell the stored water within the boundaries of the State, except as to such waters duly appropriated to private, municipal, or public use;

(b) "To control rivers, creeks, ponds, and lakes, to prevent or aid in the prevention of, damage to person or property from such harmful waters within the State of Oklahoma * * *;

(c) "To do any and all other Acts or things necessary or convenient to the exercise of the powers, rights, and privileges or functions upon it conferred by this Act * * (O. S. 1941, title 82, sec. 486.)

"It shall be the duty of the Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board ** * * to begin the capture and impounding of flowing streams as near as practicable at the head of the stream sought to be captured, and shall construct canals * to conduct such conserved waters to the uplands and there * * * distribute the same into the soil * * to the end that the greatest restoration of the ground water and water supply be availed." (O. S. 1941, title 82, sec. 488.)

*

[ocr errors]

"The Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board is hereby authorized and empowered to determine and map proposed water conservancy and/or water improvement districts and/or soil erosion prevention districts and to perfect the organization of such proposed districts (O. S. 1941, title 82, sec. 501.) "When, in the opinion of the Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board, the organization of irrigation, flood control * districts is necessary and expedient to effect the purposes and intentions of * * this Act, said Board may perfect the organization of said district or districts (O. S. 1941, title 82, sec. 502); and

Whereas the statutes declare:

* *

*

"Beneficial use shall be the basis, the measure, and the limit of the right to the use of water, and all water appropriated for irrigation purposes shall be appurtenant to specified lands owned by the person claiming the right to use the water, so long as the water can be beneficially used thereon. Priority in time shall give the better right: Provided, That in all cases of claims to the use of water initiated prior to November 15th, 1907, the right shall relate back to the initiation of the claim and beneficial use of such water. All claims to the use of water initiated thereafter shall relate back to the date of receipt of an application therefor in the office of the State engineer, subject to compliance with the provisions of this chapter and the rules and regulations established thereunder" (O. S. 1941, title 82, sec. 1).

"The Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board shall make hydrographic surveys and investigations of each stream system and source of water supply in the State beginning with those most used for irrigation, obtaining and recording all available data for the determination, development, and adjudication of -44

87116-46

the water supply of the State. It shall be authorized to cooperate with the agencies of the Federal Government engaged in similar surveys and investigations, and in the construction of works for the development and use of the water supply of the State, expending for such purposes any money available for the work of its office, and may accept and use, in connection with the operations of its departments, the results of the work of the agencies of the Federal Government" (O. S. 1941, title 82, sec. 11).

"Any person, intending to acquire the right to the beneficial use of any water, shall, before commencing any construction for such purposes, or before taking the same from any constructed works, make an application to the Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board for a permit to appropriate in the form required by the rules and regulations established by it" (O. S. 1941, title 82, sec. 21); and Whereas the determination of all rights to the use of water in the North Canadian River has been prosecuted to a final adjudication in the District Court in and for Oklahoma County, State of Oklahoma, and such adjudication was made upon the basis of a hydrographic survey of the North Canadian River stream system; and

Whereas the United States by the Department of the Interior has requested, in pursuance to the provisions of the laws of the State of Oklahoma, that all unappropriated waters of the North Canadian River and its tributaries be withdrawn from further appropriation, and has declared its intentions to use such unappropriated waters, and has developed preliminary plans for such use which have been submitted to the Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board for revision; and

Whereas the statutes declare:

"Whoever wilfully and maliciously deposits excrements, or foul or decaying matter, or in any manner corrupts any spring or reservoir used for domestic * * * shall be punished by a fine * purposes * or by imprisonment (O. S. 1941, title 63, sec. 27).

[ocr errors]

* * * *

"No person, company, corporation, institution, or municipality shall let a contract or contracts for any construction work * * for sewerage disposal and treatment plan, or for any extensions to be placed or discharged into any of the waters of the State without written permit 1941, title 63, sec. 614).

*

(0. S.

"The Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board is hereby given the right and authority to regulate and control the pollution of all streams, creeks, lakes, rivers, water courses, and subsurface water, in the State of Oklahoma and flowing through the State of Oklahoma. If any person, firm, or corporation shall violate any law, rule, or regulation, said violation thereof shall be deemed a misdemeanor ** (O. S. 1941, title 74, sec. 351C).

Therefore it is the decision of the Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board that each municipal government, industry, or any firm, corporation, or individual is responsible for adequate treatment of its sewage before disposing of same into the North Canadian River, and that the most practical economic development of the North Canadian River above Oklahoma City depends upon irrigation to stabilize agriculture.

Further, it is the decision of the Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board pertaining to the use of waters of the North Canadian River that irrigation shall have a superior right over the use of waters for dilution of pollution. Further, it is the decision of the Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board that the plans of the United States Army engineers for the control of floods on the North Canadian River above Oklahoma City, the Department of Agriculture for water-flow retardation, and the Bureau of Reclamation of the Department of the Interior for irrigation development, are adopted as the State plan for the development of the water resources of the North Canadian River.

Mr. DON MCBRIDE,

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA., March 3, 1945.

Chairman, State Planning and Resources Board,

Oklahoma City, Okla.

DEAR MR. MCBRIDE: With reference to contemlated flood control on the North Canadian River, affecting Oklahoma City, I wish to point out the following pertinent facts on that portion of flood control between Exchange and Walker Avenues.

« PreviousContinue »