Okla. Stat. » Title 82 — WATERS AND WATER RIGHTS
Oklahoma Statutes

Okla. Stat. tit. 82, § 1B (2026)

Moratorium on sale or exportation of surface water and/or

✓ current as of July 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section OK-LEGoklegislature.gov JustiaOkla. Stat. CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

groundwater. A. In order to provide for the conservation, preservation, protection and optimum development and utilization of surface water and groundwater within Oklahoma, the Legislature hereby establishes a moratorium on the sale or exportation of surface water and/or groundwater outside this state pursuant to the provisions of this section. Unless otherwise repealed or revoked by the Oklahoma Legislature, the moratorium shall be in effect for a five-year period beginning on the effective date of this act or until such time as the State of Oklahoma conducts and completes a comprehensive scientific hydrological study of the water resources of this state.

B. Subject to the moratorium set by subsection A of this section, no state agency, authority, board, commission, committee, department, trust or other instrumentality of this state or political subdivision thereof, nor elected or appointed officer, member of any governing body or other person designated to act for an agency or on behalf of the state, or a political subdivision thereof shall contract for the sale or exportation of surface water or groundwater outside the state, or sell or export surface water or groundwater outside the state without the consent of the Oklahoma Legislature specifically authorizing such sale or export of water. C. Nothing in this section shall be construed as affecting or intending to affect: 1. Any contract for the sale or exportation of surface water or groundwater outside the state executed prior to the effective date of this act which has received legislative approval or was executed pursuant to law, provided such sale or exportation of surface water or groundwater does not exceed eight million (8,000,000) gallons of water per month; or 2. Water contained in agricultural crops, animal and dairy products, beverages, or processed or manufactured products or to products transported in cans, bottles, packages, kegs, or barrels. Added by Laws 2002, c. 485, § 1, emerg. eff. June 6, 2002. Amended by Laws 2004, c. 392, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2004.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases, 2008–2011 · leading case: Tarrant Reg'l Water Dist. v. Sevenoaks, 545 F.3d 906 (10th Cir. 2008).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Tarrant Reg'l Water Dist. v. Sevenoaks, 545 F.3d 906 (10th Cir. 2008). “A; Okla. Stat. tit. 82, § 1B(A). The Oklahoma Attorney General also has issued an opinion 2 based on his interpretation of Oklahoma law that concludes: “we consider the proposition unrealistic that an out-of-state user is a proper permit applicant before the Oklahoma Water…”
City of Hugo v. Nichols, 656 F.3d 1251 (10th Cir. 2011). “[2] Initially, the suit challenged Okla. Stat. tit. 82, § 1B, a five-year moratorium on export of water out of state; Okla.”
Tarrant Reg'l Water Dist. v. Herrmann, 656 F.3d 1222 (10th Cir. 2011). “Okla. Stat. tit. 82, § 1B(A). Another statute applied the Moratorium to any state or tribal compact or any intergovernmental cooperative agreement, authorized pursuant to law, which is drafted in whole or in part to apportion surface water or groundwater ownership, or authorize…”
— Okla. Stat. tit. 82, § 1B(A) — 2 cases
Tarrant Reg'l Water Dist. v. Sevenoaks, 545 F.3d 906 (10th Cir. 2008). “A; Okla. Stat. tit. 82, § 1B(A). The Oklahoma Attorney General also has issued an opinion 2 based on his interpretation of Oklahoma law that concludes: “we consider the proposition unrealistic that an out-of-state user is a proper permit applicant before the Oklahoma Water…”
Tarrant Reg'l Water Dist. v. Herrmann, 656 F.3d 1222 (10th Cir. 2011). “Okla. Stat. tit. 82, § 1B(A). Another statute applied the Moratorium to any state or tribal compact or any intergovernmental cooperative agreement, authorized pursuant to law, which is drafted in whole or in part to apportion surface water or groundwater ownership, or authorize…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.