Oklahoma Administrative Code › Title 785 - Oklahoma Water Resources Board › Chapter 30 - Taking and Use of Groundwater › Subchapter 3 - Permit Application Requirements and Processing › Section 785:30-3-5 - Approval of application

Current through Vol. 41, No. 20, July 1, 2024
(a) When a person makes an application for a groundwater permit, the Board
										shall consider relevant evidence and data before taking final action on the application. Subject to
										subsection (f) of this section, if the Board finds that the applicant owns the surface of the dedicated land
										or has a valid lease or other legal authority for the taking of groundwater from the land; the dedicated land
										overlies a fresh groundwater basin or subbasin; the applicant's intended use for the water is a beneficial
										use; and that waste by depletion and waste by pollution as specified in 82 O.S. §
									1020.15 will not occur, then the Board
										shall approve the application and issue the appropriate permit.
(b) In making the determination of whether the lands are owned or leased by
										the applicant, the Board will only consider language on the face of legal instruments used to support or
										oppose this element.
(c) In making the determination of whether
										the lands owned or leased overlie the fresh groundwater basin or subbasin, if a hydrologic survey or report
										and determination of the maximum annual yield have not been completed, and absent specific evidence to the
										contrary, the Board will presume that the groundwater underlying the lands dedicated is contained in one
										groundwater basin as shown in United States Geological Survey and Oklahoma Geological Survey hydrologic
										atlases. The Board will presume that no subbasin exists unless clear and convincing evidence is presented
										that the groundwater subject of the application is contained in a confined aquifer and is not hydrologically
										connected to a main body of water underlying the general area as shown in hydrologic atlases.
(d) The Board may approve applications proposing well locations on
										dedicated lands which are not contiguous to other lands dedicated, as long as the lands on which the wells
										are to be located and the other non-contiguous lands overlie the same groundwater basin. This provision shall
										be subject to any well spacing orders issued by the Board.
(e) In
										determining whether waste will occur, the Board shall consider the following:
(1) Regarding waste by depletion, evidence concerning the manner and method
										of use proposed, efficiency of system proposed to be used, history and incidents of past waste and
										applicant's response thereto and the amount of groundwater needed for the purpose proposed in relation to the
										amount allocated to the land dedicated to the application may be considered by the Board.
(2) Regarding waste by pollution, the Board may consider relevant and
										admissible evidence regarding the manner and method of all of applicant's uses of fresh groundwater;
										applicant's well and water distribution system; history and incidents of permitting or causing pollution of
										groundwater or
failure to properly plug abandoned fresh water wells in accordance with rules of the
										Board and file reports thereof
[82:1020.15]; and anything else that tends to prove that the
										applicant will or will not cause or allow groundwater pollution. Provided, however,
[i]f the activity
										for which the applicant intends to use the water is required to comply with rules and requirements of or is
										within the jurisdictional areas of environmental responsibility of the Department of Environmental Quality or
										the State Department of Agriculture, the Board shall be precluded from making a determination whether waste
										by pollution will occur as a result of such activity
[82:1020.9].
(3) To ensure that waste by pollution or waste by depletion will not occur
										and that the activities to be conducted by the applicant will not violate Oklahoma Water Quality Standards,
										the Board may impose conditions on the use of the groundwater.