Oklahoma saw relief from five years of drought this year—with torrential floods. But state climatologist Gary McManus made clear last week that Oklahomans shouldn’t get too used to all the precipitation, reports StateImpact. “Ocean patterns are favorable for now, but uncertain in the long term,” he said. McManus added, “drought can come back in less than a year’s time.”
At the Oklahoma Governor’s Water Conference last week, groundwater also got a lot of attention. The idea of pumping excess water into aquifers for later use is gaining traction in the state. Places like El Paso and Wichita have been doing it for years. The process is called “aquifer storage and recovery.” It means storing water in underground reservoirs instead of in lakes on the surface. The hurdles are daunting, but ASR is cheaper than building new lakes on the surface.