Oklahoma Administrative Code
Title 785 - Oklahoma Water Resources Board
Chapter 30 - Taking and Use of Groundwater
Subchapter 1 - General Provisions
Section 785:30-1-4 - Requirement for water right

(a) Who should file.Any person intending to [82:1020.7] initiate a use of groundwater for beneficial use as defined herein, other than domestic use as defined herein, shall make application and obtain an appropriate permit before completing any fresh water well for such purposes. An application for a permit to use groundwater is not required to be filed for testing. For purposes of this section, testing shall be considered the conducting of a pump, well acceptance, drawdown or aquifer test that will require the continuous pumping of the well for twenty-four (24) hours or less, or the cumulative pumping for seventy-two (72) hours or less within a five (5) day period. If pumping for longer periods occurs or is intended, an application must be filed.

(b) Forms to be furnished by the Board. The Board will furnish, without charge, blank application forms and instructions for filing for a groundwater permit. Each blank on the application shall be filled in by the applicant as accurately and completely as the circumstances permit with all the relevant data. Supplements may be attached if space on the form is insufficient. If a supplement is used, the data entered thereon should be segregated into paragraphs with numbers corresponding to the paragraph numbers of the forms and properly cross-referenced thereto.

(c) Applications to be amended by applicant. Groundwater applications will be altered, corrected, amended or revised by the Board only upon written request signed by the applicant or his duly authorized agent. Changes may also be made directly on the application, or filed through the Board's online application service, by the applicant or his duly authorized agent or by telephone instructions to the Board from the applicant or his duly authorized agent to be followed by written confirmation. All changes must meet the requirements of 82 O.S. §§ 1020.1 et seq. and these rules and regulations.

(d) Corrections, changes, or amendments to defective applications. If the application is defective as to form, the Board shall advise the applicant of the corrections, amendments, or changes required and sixty (60) days shall be allowed for the refiling thereof. If the application is not corrected, amended, or changed within the time required, the Board may inactivate the application.

(e) Corrected applications not filed in time allowed. Any corrected application filed after the time allowed shall be treated in all respects as an original application received on the date of its refiling.

(f) If an application is filed after non-domestic use of the water has begun, the application filing fee due for the type of permit requested as set forth in Chapter 5 of the Oklahoma Administrative Code, title 785, shall be doubled.