Cities form collaboration to secure water supplies

According to Oklahoma's Journal Record (12/20, Brus), some central Oklahoma cities are banding together to form the Oklahoma Regional Water Utilities Trust to acquire water rights from a lake nearby, in "response to legal challenges from a Dallas-area water district also seeking the same water rights."

Recent droughts in the area have demonstrated the value of strategic planning for long-term water supplies, but it is the "external threat" that triggered the collaboration among cities to obtain the supplies. The trust will move forward to acquire the water rights, and then "design and finance the construction, maintenance and operation of water storage and transmission facilities," pulling the effort together from the participating cities.