By Robert Barron, Staff Writer

It seems to be a subject that will not go away.

Interest among Enid area residents for building a lake continues, but costs are prohibitive at this point, city officials fear.

Mayor John Criner said Enid city commissioners support the idea of a lake but must overcome a myriad of problems before one can be built. In the meantime, updating the current water system is on the agenda. He said he has been told it would take $400 million to build a lake; however, an Army Corps of Engineers spokesman said it is impossible to determine the cost without knowing the geography.

“There isn’t one of the commissioners who doesn’t like the idea of a lake, but we don’t have the money, plus we’d have to determine where to build it,” Criner said.

Carolyn Nicholas, an environmental engineer with Envirotech Engineering Co., made a presentation in August 2008 to the city commission about a 700-plus acre lake near Enid. Nicholas is a former president of Enid Park Board.

Her studies show the right type of land must be available, and she said a minimum of 700 acres is needed for a lake, but it probably would take 1,000 acres to do it right. She identified several sites in the Enid area, including 15th and East Garriott along Boggy Creek, southeast Garfield County along Skeleton Creek and the convergence of Black Bear and Crow creeks northeast of Covington.

She said the last lake built in Oklahoma was Lake Arcadia near Edmond, which was built in the early 1980s at a cost of $50 million.

During the same meeting, Karl Stickley, of C.H. Gurnesey & Co., an engineering firm consulting with the city on a long-range water plan, said there is a possibility of a lake being built west of Hennessey.

Recently, News & Eagle recreation columnist Gerry Augustin wrote about other communities and how successful their lakes have become and how they enhance their communities. For example, Stillwater has three lakes: Lake McMurtry, Carl Blackwell and Boomer Lake. McMurtry, at 1,200 acres, offers camping sites, bike trails and RV hookups. The city charges $3 per day for cars and $5 for boating and fishing. The lake also is used as an alternate water source for the city.

Carl Blackwell is a favorite spot for fishing and also has boat ramps, camp sites, picnic areas and RV hookups. It is 3,500 acres and also is a backup water source for the city.

Brian Vance, of Oklahoma Water Resources Board, said financing never existed to fund construction of a lake. OWRB money primarily is geared toward infrastructure, wastewater programs and other projects, such as treatment, water lines and storage systems, he said.

The ideal situation, which currently is on the table, is an update of the state water plan, Vance said. OWRB officials are looking at the state from a regional perspective concerning current supply and future demand. They are trying to identify what sort of water alternatives will be required for areas, communities and water systems.

“We’re trying to get a grip on where the water systems are, what the 50-year life looks like in 10-year increments,” Vance said.

The project envisions deficits in supply over that period, he said, and looks at alternatives that can be pursued to establish supply over the next 50 years. Reservoirs are an option, he said.

However, financing remains a problem. Vance said “in the old days” the federal government would step in if a project could be justified and fund part of it. However, it is more difficult to justify projects, he said, although there is money to build them. The federal government looks more toward a partnership now with a local entity to provide sometimes as much as half the money needed.

Augustin said he has done no research on costs of building a lake near Enid, but said some communities have used them as alternative water supplies.

“All Enid has is wells, and if something went wrong ...,” he said.

Augustin said he has not brought up the subject but plans to in order to determine reaction. He said he has heard comments from people about how nice it would be if Enid had a lake within 10-15 minutes.

“Now it’s restricted to weekends, and you hope the weather is good enough to go,” he said.