Oklahoma Residents Left with Undrinkable Water as Oil Regulators Delayed Action
For two years, Tammy and Chris Boarman lived with a growing fear: the water flowing from their well, their source of life in a rural Oklahoma home, was becoming increasingly toxic. Despite repeated tests revealing dangerous levels of salt and metals, state regulators repeatedly delayed crucial steps to pinpoint the source of the contamination, according to internal agency documents and a joint investigation by The Frontier and ProPublica.
The Boarmans’ experience, 30 miles from Oklahoma City, is not isolated. The investigation reveals a pattern of delayed responses and insufficient action by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the state agency responsible for regulating the oil and gas industry and addressing related pollution. It highlights a growing concern that Oklahoma’s rapid oil and gas production is coming at the expense of its residents’ access to safe drinking water.
The couple first noticed a salty taste in their water in the summer of 2022, shortly after moving into their newly built home. The problem quickly escalated. Their ice maker began producing clumps of wet salt that dissolved into an oily, foul-smelling substance. Plants in their yard withered despite regular watering. They soon stopped drinking the water altogether after developing sores in their mouths.
“For the longest time, we were so naive to everything,” Tammy Boarman said. “We thought things were going to get better.”
The Boarmans filed a complaint with the oil division of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, hoping for a swift resolution. Agency testing confirmed their fears: salt concentrations in their water were climbing, exceeding safe levels and, at one point, revealing toxic metals at levels that could endanger human health. The results pointed to oil field wastewater pollution.
However, the agency’s response was slow. Internal documents show that regulators repeatedly postponed tests recommended by their own employees to locate the source of the contamination. Despite evidence suggesting a potential link to nearby oil operations – 26 wells within a half-mile radius, more than half improperly plugged – the agency struggled to take decisive action.
One well, McCoon 3, an injection well operated by Callie Oil Co., stood out to agency staff. It was the closest active injection well to the Boarmans’ property. However, 12 years of injection data required by state law were missing from agency records, and a map showing nearby objects potentially impacted by the injected fluid was also unavailable. A previous owner had also reported a missing cement layer designed to prevent wastewater from escaping at shallow depths.
Early in 2024, a manager requested tests to determine if the McCoon well was leaking, but it took another ten months for the agency to conduct them. Those tests ultimately revealed a hole in a steel pipe within the well, a potential pathway for wastewater to escape.
Further testing revealed a swirling cloud of contamination beneath the Boarmans’ property, with their well situated at its center. The concentration of dissolved salts and chemicals was as much as 72 times higher than EPA recommendations for drinking water.
Despite the mounting evidence, the agency initially blamed the drilling company that installed the Boarmans’ well, suggesting they had inadvertently tapped into a natural saltwater pocket. Agency staff also expressed concerns about the cost of further investigation, with one legal advisor noting the oil division “doesn’t have the funds for this.”
State Senator Grant Green, after being contacted by the Boarmans, intervened, securing $2 million in state funding to connect the couple and their neighbors to a rural water system. “It should never take lawmaker intervention to get people to do their jobs,” Green said in a statement.
the agency closed the case, stating that a responsible party could not be identified. The Boarmans, however, remain frustrated and concerned about the broader implications for Oklahoma’s groundwater. They now rely on a new water source, but worry about the long-term effects of the contamination and the lack of accountability for those responsible.
“This place has been ruined for us,” Tammy Boarman said. “It’s a nightmare.”
