OPTIMA LAKE

'Optima Lake' is an artificial lake in Texas County, Oklahoma. The lake is located near the towns of Hardesty and Guymon in the Oklahoma Panhandle. The lake has never reached more than 5 percent of its design capacity^[1], and now is effectively empty. Rapid declines in streamflow (related to large-scale pumping from the High Plains Aquifer) coincided with the completion of dam construction^[1] to make this lake a dramatic example of unanticipated environmental impacts.
The US Army Corps of Engineers states (emphasis added):

Visitors should be aware that the lake's level can be very low. Depending on rainfall and evaporation rates, 'the lake may offer no water-based recreation' and may not be suitable for swimming, fishing, boating or other activities.^[3]

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Notes

References

External links

Notes

1. Wahl, K & R. L. Tortorelli, 1996. "Changes in flow in the Beaver-North Canadian River Basin Upstream from Canton Lake, Western Oklahoma", USGS WRI 96-4304
2. Wahl, K & R. L. Tortorelli, 1996. "Changes in flow in the Beaver-North Canadian River Basin Upstream from Canton Lake, Western Oklahoma", USGS WRI 96-4304
3. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Optima Lake website

References

★ R. Lowitt, 2002. "Optima Dam: A Failed Effort to Irrigate the Oklahoma Panhandle", Agricultural History, 76(2):260-72

External links

★ Oklahoma Water Resources Board Optima factsheet. The image on the first page shows the lake at its maximum level since dam construction

★ 2006 Geological Society of America press release – Lessons to be learned from sites like Optima