Oklahoma’s Top 5 Local Water Priorities Now That State Question 764 Is Law

• Logan Layden
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  Logan Layden is a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma. He is a native of McAlester, Oklahoma and graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2009. Logan spent three years as a state capitol reporter and local host of All Things Considered for NPR member station KGOU in Norman and six years as a reporter with StateImpact from 2011 to 2017. Most recently, he was news director for McAlester Radio before returning to public radio in 2020.

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The Oklahoma Water Resources Board’s Financial Assistance Program helps local governments secure loans to make water infrastructure improvements.

Since the program began in 1985, nearly $3 billion has been provided to counties and municipalities to build wells, improve sewer systems, install generators, and a host of other water projects.

The program allows localities to use the state’s credit to secure loans, instead of their own credit ratings, which are usually worse. But the program was finally stretched to its limit earlier this year.

That’s where State Question 764 comes in. 764 passed on Election Day and expands the amount OWRB can back up loans with to $300 million. Executive Director J.D. Strong says that translates to billions more in loans over the next several decades.

The lists of projects needing funding are long, but the OWRB says these are the top-five priorities:

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