The Texas Border With Oklahoma Has Been Redrawn, Here’s Why

The map of Texas will look slightly different after an announcement this week that the Texas-Oklahoma border will be redrawn, very slightly redrawn.

According to WFAA, the Texas-Oklahoma border under Lake Texoma is being redrawn in order to return a pump station that provides water to more than 2 million Texans.

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said that the redrawn boundary will "ensure that millions of north Texans' water comes from a secure source in Texas". The new boundary is part of an equal swap of 1.34 acres of land between the two states.

The last time the boundary was redrawn was in 2000 when most of the pump station was placed on the Oklahoma side of the border according to WFAA. And while the land swap between the two states is equal, WFAA reports that neither state owns the actual land.

Neither state owns the land, though. It’s owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency responsible for Lake Texoma. Lake Texoma is the primary water source for fast-growing Sherman and Denison and provides about 20% of the North Texas Municipal Water District’s water supply for more than 2 million North Texans in the area.

WFAA also reports that as part of the deal, the North Texas Municipal Water District will pay $10 million to the Oklahoma State Treasurer.