LAWTON – Apparently it will be several more weeks, at the earliest, before construction can start on a water line to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.
The project has not gone out for bids yet, David Farmer, manager of the WMWR, confirmed Tuesday. “There’s no timeline yet” on that “because there are still a couple of compliance permits to get.”
All necessary permits must be secured before the project can be advertised and bids can be solicited from contractors. After that, the bids must be evaluated, a winner selected, and requisite documents signed.
One hurdle to construction of the water line was cleared earlier this month. The Comanche County Board of Commissioners voted July 7 to allow Comanche County Rural Water District #4 to annex the wildlife refuge. The rural water district could not extend a line to the refuge unless the WMWR was annexed into the water district’s service territory.
WMWR WATER SOURCES CITED FOR LEAD, BACTERIA
The WMWR hasn’t had potable water for at least three and a half years.
Starting in May 2016, four areas of the refuge with public water supplies – the Visitors Center, Doris Campground, the Headquarters, and the Holy City of the Wichitas – were issued multiple notices of violations by the state Department of Environmental Quality because of insufficient treatment of the water.
The Visitors Center was directed by DEQ to impose a boil order in May 2016 because of contamination from coliform bacteria and E. coli bacteria. The center was served by a groundwater well.
In July 2016 a notice of violation was issued to the Holy City because of insufficient treatment of water from a spring. Water samples taken at the caretaker’s house, at the church sink and in the men’s public restroom found colonies of coliform and E. coli bacteria.
The DEQ also issued a notice of violation in July 2016 to the WMWR headquarters for insufficient treatment of water from a spring and a hand-dug well. Those samples, too, contained coliform bacteria and E. coli.
The DEQ notified the refuge manager that the water samples taken at the refuge headquarters between June 1 and Sept. 30, 2016, exceeded the maximum permissible level of lead.
And in February 2017 the DEQ issued a mandatory boil order for all public water supplies at the Holy City, Doris Campground, the refuge headquarters and the Visitors Center, because of the presence of E. coli bacteria.
“This Boil Order will remain in effect until DEQ has deemed that the water supply of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge water system can be operated reliably and deliver safe drinking water to the consumers,” a letter from the executive director of the DEQ to the manager of the WMWR decreed.
The boil order still remains in effect.
Water supply to the restroom sinks, the chapel and the laundry at the Holy City were disconnected. Additionally, “our most current information indicates there was non-potable water supply to the public restroom toilets and private well supply to the caretaker’s residence,” Erin Hatfield, the DEQ’s communications director, reported on June 1.
RURAL WATER DISTRICT #4 TO SUPPLY DRINKING WATER
The Fish and Wildlife Service, an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages the federal wildlife refuge, inked an agreement with Comanche County Rural Water District #4, based in Cache, to supply drinking water to the WMWR.
DEQ issued construction permits to the rural water district in December 2019 for installation of a water line, Hatfield said, and it is envisioned that potable water will be flowing to the refuge in 2021.
The wildlife refuge is to be served by a 15.2-mile water transportation line starting approximately three miles west of Cache on US-62 and extending north on SH-115, along highway right-of-way. Approximately nine miles of the water line will be on refuge land, officials said.
David Farmer, WMWR manager, said distribution lines will extend from the main line to the Holy City of the Wichitas, Doris Campground, the Visitors Center, and to the Environmental Education Complex at Quanah Parker Lake. Approximately 8,000 students participate each year in environmental education programs at the wildlife refuge.
There has been “some delay” in construction of the water line because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Farmer said. If not for the health crisis, “We’d probably already be into the water line construction phase,” he said Tuesday.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will pay for construction of the lines into the refuge and will pay monthly usage fees “which will cover maintenance expenses,” Farmer said.
Comanche County RWD #4 resells drinking water it buys from the City of Snyder, which gets its water from Tom Steed Lake in Kiowa County. District #4 was created in 1972 and has approximately 1,400 customers, System Manager Roger Wisner said.
The City of Lawton had an opportunity to bid on supplying water to the WMWR but chose not to.
“Questions were asked several years ago about getting water to the Holy City, not just the refuge,” said Rusty Whisenhunt, Lawton’s public utilities director. “The line would have had to run along Highway 49 into the refuge from the south side of Medicine Park. It was a cost issue on the amount of line required and the rock excavation in that area. It would likely require a pump station, also.”
WATER QUALITY COMPARISON
The Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) conducts water quality sampling at approximately 130 lakes on a five-year rotation schedule. Three sites at Tom Steed Lake were sampled four times between December 2014 and September 2015. Five sites at Lake Lawtonka were sampled four times between October 2018 and July 2019.
Tom Steed Lake is a 6,400 acre reservoir that was created in 1975 by the U.S. Bureau of Recreation by impounding West Otter Creek. According to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, Tom Steed has an average depth of 15 feet and a maximum depth of 231⁄2 feet.
Lawtonka was created in 1905 by the City of Lawton and is fed by Medicine Creek; it encompasses approximately 2,300 surface acres. It has an average depth of 12 feet and a maximum depth of 58 feet, according to the Wildlife Department.
Tom Steed Lake is designated as a sensitive water supply. That means it possesses conditions that require additional protection because its susceptibility to pollution is atypical, Oklahoma Water Resources Board records indicate.
The OWRB’s water quality analysis showed that water from Tom Steed Lake is about three and a half times more turbid than the water in Lake Lawtonka. (Turbidity is an indicator of the concentration of suspended solids in the water.)
The salinity of Tom Steed was rated at 0.22 to 0.64 parts per thousand, compared to 0.14 to 0.17 ppt in Lawtonka.
Nitrogen content in Tom Steed was gauged at 0.79 milligrams per liter to 1.35 mg/L, while the nitrogen concentration in Lawtonka was found to be 0.57 to 0.90 milligrams per liter. The phosphorous content in Tom Steed was determined to be 0.070 milligrams per liter to 0.202 mg/L. In Lawtonka, the phosphorous content was found to be 0.021 to 0.054 mg/L.
Phosphorous and nitrogen “are two essential nutrients necessary for all aquatic life,” said Julie Chambers, manager of the OWRB’s lake monitoring program. “In lakes, nutrients support algal growth and algae provide the foundation for the overall lake food web.”
Nitrogen and phosphorous are present within bodies of water “in various organic and inorganic forms,” she said. Phosphorous and nitrogen “can come from natural sources through physical, chemical and biological processes.”
But they also come from “anthropogenic sources,” including agriculture activities (synthetic fertilizer and animal manure application), wastewater discharges (municipal swage treatment plants and septic systems), industrial discharges (nitrogen fertilizer production, paper mills, and petroleum refining), and stormwater runoff.