After long process, Sardis Lake agreement nears final approval

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OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City’s agreement with state and tribal entities to draw water from Sardis Lake is all settled – almost. While approving an update to an agreement resolving a decades-long legal battle, Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt highlighted the proceedings as an example of how litigants can still be friends.

“I know a lot of people have worked years on this,” said Holt at Tuesday’s Oklahoma City Council meeting, held by teleconference, of the revised agreement. “I think it’s a great example of how you can have what is from a legal perspective an adversarial position but still be great partners and friends, in this case with the Choctaw Nation and the Chickasaw Nation. Really there are no better friends to Oklahoma City than those nations, and we’ve been very grateful to work with them on numerous fronts. I’m glad we could come to a conclusion in this matter as well that was beneficial to all parties.”

The council on Tuesday was presented with a new version of the agreement signed in February 2019 between the city, the Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust, the state of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, the Choctaw Nation and the Chickasaw Nation.

The agreement acknowledges the water rights of the tribes and includes lake level release restrictions designed to protect the lake and its recreational value from harmful environmental impacts while allowing the city access to the water.

Oklahoma City had in 2010 paid off the state of Oklahoma’s unpaid multimillion-dollar bill with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for construction of Sardis Lake in the 1970s. In return, the city was to gain the ability to draw water from the lake in southeast Oklahoma. But in 2011, the Chickasaws and Choctaws filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma against then-Gov. Mary Fallin, members of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board and the city of Oklahoma City over rights to Sardis Lake, which is actually a reservoir that was constructed in land under tribal jurisdiction according to original treaties.

“Under the terms of the Settlement Agreement, the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations will have a role in the evaluation of significant future water rights proposals,” reads Oklahoma City’s staff report on the agreement presented to the council dated May 2020. “The deal formalizes protections for the current and future water needs of the tribes and their surrounding communities, ensuring adequate water for southcentral and southeastern Oklahoma through the creation of a stream system as well as a set aside of 20,000 acre-feet of water from Sardis Lake for use within the ten-county area surrounding Sardis Lake.”

No substantive changes were made in the new version of the agreement regarding the rights and responsibilities of the city, Assistant City Attorney Craig Keith told members of the council. The original agreement required federal legislation with the president’s signature, which occurred in 2016. But the federal government has been working on the language in the years since, said Keith.

“The federal government went through another round of reviews,” said Keith. “They did make some changes as to language relating to the limited waiver of sovereignty of the nations and also some references in the document exhibits.”

“The federal review of the Settlement Act and the Settlement Agreement has now been completed and additional revisions were made to conform the Settlement to the Settlement Act,” reads the city staff report. “In addition, exhibits have been updated to conform with subsequent events and actions.”