Changes to be made at Altus Reservoir soon

ALTUS, Okla. (KSWO) - The City of Altus is continuing to make progress on their MAPS II project that was approved by community members last year.

Officials have started draining the Altus Reservoir so they can begin working on the renovations they’re planning to make.

For the past 20 to 30 years the Altus community has talked about the idea of upgrading the reservoir and making it the focal point of the city.

Now, that’s going to finally happen.

“We think we can probably have it completely drained in a couple of weeks. Then, there’s a process of going in and doing core samples to determine what’s below, determine how far out we can go. Our design is to deeper and also come higher so we can have greater depth for more activity in the water,” City Manager Gray Jones said.

On the west side of the reservoir, a beach will be put in, along with new jogging trails, sidewalks, lights, and picnic pavilions.

“On the east reservoir, which is about 28-acres, what we’re doing there is permanent fishing docks. They’re handicap accessible. That’s really going to be focusing more on fishing habits and things like that,” Jones said.

Jones said this will provide more opportunities for people to come out and enjoy what Altus has to offer.

“It’s about approving the quality of life in Altus, so this one and all the other maps projects we’re doing,” Jones said.

The first phase of this project was installing a water line around the reservoir and connecting it with the water supply that comes from Tom Steed Lake.

“In addition to that years ago, decades ago this was one of our water supplies for drinking water. It hasn’t been used in probably 50-years, but with this now the freshwater becomes a backup if something happened to our water supplies. We would have a 45 to 50-day backup water supply and emergency supply to use,” Jones said.

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