Rob:  Well the water board is expected to make its recommendation during the upcoming legislative session.  But any new pumping limits could be challenged at either the state capitol or in court.  Joining me now is Duane Smith the director of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board.  Well is it fair to say that the Arbuckle-Simpson issue kind of helped us focus on water quality here in the state?
Duane Smith:  Oh, I think it absolutely did.  That controversy over the Arbuckle-Simpson really brought to light the importance of water issues, and I think that was one of the big things that got our comprehensive water plan pumping.
Rob:  Let’s talk a little bit more about the comprehensive water plan.  Just give us kind of the outline of where it is and where it’s going.
Smith:  Well we’re in the second year of a five-year program to update the plan.  And the first, really, water plan was done in 1980.  It really focused on water transfer, taking water from eastern Oklahoma through a series of pipelines to central, to northwest and southwest Oklahoma.  And then in 1995, we updated that plan.  But the difference between those two plans really, was in 1980 is was more of an infrastructure plan.  The 1995 update was more of a policy update.  Now, when we’re talking about our current update that we’re working on, we’re going to identify for every city and every rural water district in Oklahoma a 50-year plan on where they’re going to get water.
Rob:  That’s certainly something that is needed in the state, and certainly something that it sounds like the things you talked about in 1980 haven’t changed that much until today when we’re talking about bringing water from one side of the state to another, or maybe even out of state.
Smith:  Well, absolutely, it hasn’t changed a lot.  What changes is our perception.  For the last 20 years we’ve been roughly in one of the longest, wettest periods in our history.  And as John Steinbeck said, during the dry years we worry about drought; but in the wet years, we forget about that.  And so we take water for granted.  Worldwide, we take water for granted.  Oklahoma’s no different.  And then when we do have periods of shortage, then that’s when we fund our comprehensive water plan.
Rob:  Now, once we have this comprehensive water plan, will this become a regulation, will it become a law?
Smith:  It will be recommendations to the legislature.  So, there will be various recommendations on additional pipelines to be built, additional water supplies, all of those types of things; and also policy.  Is the current ground water law and surface water law the correct policy for our future?  All of those will be the premise of all or our discussions on the water plan, and then a series of recommendations will come out of that for our legislature to implement.
Rob:  So, Duane, how important is water to our state’s future?
Smith:  I think it’s the most critical thing we do.  We talk about roads; we talk about schools; we talk about taxes; we talk about all of that.  But the most important thing we have for the sustained growth of our state is water.