Senate Bill 259 would require Oklahoma groundwater users to meter the water they pull from wells. The law would allow eight years before metering requirements are enforced, and only apply to people with permits from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) to use groundwater for commercial purposes, not people with household wells.
Under current state law, permit holders are required to report how much water they use and keep it under a set limit. But they aren't required to document their reporting. According to the bill authors, many people use less but report the full limit, in fear their cap will be lowered.
"They're given a permit by the OWRB to use so much water," said Rep. Carl Newton, R-Cherokee, who co-authored the bill. "All I'm asking is that we measure that much water, so we know exactly how much they're using."
This measure would require specific, documented reporting. But it would explicitly bar the OWRB from lowering someone's permitted water use because they weren't using the full amount.
It would also allow a five-year flex period, during which people could use up to 150% of their allowed amount one year, as long as their average use over a five-year period was below the limit. Although metering wouldn't be mandatory yet, the five-year flex policy would go into effect in 2027 for people who voluntarily meter their water.
Newton and Sen. Brent Howard, R-Altus, are behind this bill. They sponsored a similar measure in 2024, which made it through the legislature but was vetoed by Gov. Kevin Stitt.
But this measure goes a step further to address a concern that wasn't on most people's minds just two years ago: water use by large data centers.
Rep. Nick Archer, R-El Reno, is the chair of the House Energy Committee. Archer said he told Newton he wouldn't hear the bill without an amendment to address groundwater use by data centers.
"We have spent a lot of time over the last four years fighting farmers against farmers over water protection," Archer told the committee. "The reality is: there are a lot of data centers, there are a lot of other activities of large consumers of water. Frankly, if my guys in Beckham County are arguing over individuals to the south, there's a real possibility that a bigger user may come in and use more than all of them combined."
The committee unanimously voted to approve the measure with an amendment that requires data centers to use closed-loop cooling systems rather than evaporative ones, if they want a permit to use groundwater.
"We will not allow traditional open air evaporative cooling," Archer said. "When you see all of the scary water usage numbers from data centers and those kinds of things, but those are from traditional evaporative cooling units."
Rather than using water to absorb heat and evaporate away, like in a swamp cooler, closed-loop systems circulate coolants, like in a refrigerator.
If the House passes the bill, it will go back to the Senate for approval in its new form.
