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Show 606 OKLAHOMA adjudication of rights to use water if notified by the Water Eesources Board that the public interest would be served by such intervention. Also, if the board determines that the interests of the water users within a stream system would be better served by a determination of all of the water rights within the system, the board may institute a general adjudication.26 In any statutory adjudication all persons using water or who claim a right to use water from the system are to be made parties to the litigation. Water users who are not parties to the suit are not bound by the decree.27 In any such suit the court may direct the board to furnish data necessary for a determination of the rights involved.28 The final decree which is issued in such a case shall describe the right of each of the parties with respect to: priority, amount, purpose, place of use, and, as to water used for irrigation, the specific tracts of land to which it would be appurtenant, together with such other conditions as may be necessary to define the right and its priority.29 2.3 Other Agencies Having Water Resource Responsibilities a. WATER QUALITY CONTROL The water resources board also administers the Water Pollution Control Act. Under the provisions of this act, the board has authority (1) to develop a comprehensive program for the prevention, control, and abatement of new or existing pollution; (2) to advise and con- sult with Federal, State, and local agencies to carry out the purposes of the act; (3) to accept and administer Federal loans and grants; and (4) to require the submission of plans and specifications for industrial disposal facilities.30 A permit must be obtained from the board for the construction or extension of any industrial disposal system,31 but the Department of Health has authority to issue per- mits for the construction of municipal sewage disposal systems.32 After notice and hearing, the board may set standards of water quality and classify streams according to their best present and future uses, and allow a reasonable time for persons discharging wastes into these waters to comply with such classifications and standards.33 The Water Resources Board, after notice and hearing, may issue an order to prevent violations of the act or of any prior order of the board. Orders of the board may be appealed to the district court.34 Criminal penalties are provided where there has been a violation of the act.35 Since 1968, the responsibility for planning the environmental pol- lution control program rests with an independent agency, the de- partment of pollution control.36 The department is administered by 26 Sec. 105.6. 27 Sec. 105.7. 28 Sec. 105.7. 29 Sec. 105.8. 30 Sec. 926.3. 81 Sec. 926.4. 32 Sec. 926.5. 33 Sec. 926.6. 34 Sec. 926.7. 35 Sec. 926.10. 36 Sec. 932. |
