Residents are concerned as the water levels continue to drop at Canton Lake.Water is a precious resource but in northwestern Oklahoma, there’s been little of it. The grass is dead, there’s dirt practically everywhere that is blowing into drifts, and now, even the reservoirs, such as Canton Lake, have dropped several feet.Residents said they are concerned."I saw firsthand friends and neighbors having to let employees go or get out of the business or whatever. It just changed everything," said Mark Fuqua, owner of M&D Enterprises.Fuqua has lived in Canton for the last three decades and remembers the devastating drought and water releases in 2013. People fear it’s going to happen again.Get the latest news stories of interest by clicking here."But when you see water running down the streets in Oklahoma City and then people watering and when they shouldn't be and not conserving and then they come take your water and it totally devastates your lake not for a season, but for multiple seasons. It was five or six seasons before we got good water back in the lake," Fuqua said.He said levels aren’t that bad yet, but they can’t afford another disaster. The problem is the drought continues and every time they have to pull water to help refill Lake Hefner down in central Oklahoma, the water levels continue to drop."This lake, as we like to say, is a saucer. It's not a bowl. It's not a big deep bowl with a lot of water. when we talk about being five or six feet low, they're thinking, well, that's no big deal. We only had 10 more feet until we're in the inactive pool, that becomes very dangerous," Fuqua said.He said there are misconceptions."I see online all the time, that this lake was built for the city of Oklahoma City to have water. Nothing could be further from the truth. When this lake was built. It was part of the works project and it was built for flood control and irrigation for the local farmers and ranchers," Fuqua said.>> Download the KOCO 5 AppHe said people understand that Oklahoma City bought the water rights in 1990 but it’s the lack of water conservation and what they consider to be mismanagement that brings out the anger."I can't think of a more inefficient way to move water losing some 30 to 50% possibly before it reaches its intended destination. For such a precious resource to be watering the cedar trees along the riverbanks, you know, and then and then knowing what that does to our economy around here and how devastating it is. It's just it's disheartening, really," Fuqua said.The data shows up to half of the water never makes it to Lake Hefner. OKC requested two releases from Canton this past August and again in October to even out the levels in Lake Hefner and Canton.Christopher Neel with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board acknowledged tough lessons were learned in the 2010 to 2012 drought."I think that's where Oklahoma City realized that they needed to make changes in how they manage the water," Neel said.Neel said the new pipeline is under construction to draw water from southeast Oklahoma in order to relieve pressure on Canton, but OKC had to connect its pipes first."In 2010, 2011, 2012, the north half and the south half of the city weren't interconnected as far as their infrastructure for water delivery and that was one of the things Oklahoma City identified," Neel said.Neel manages permits and equips decision-makers with knowledge, which means better planning and less waste."I feel like and I think that Oklahoma City does take that information, and they genuinely want to be good stewards of the water. So, I've seen that process, things take time. And I do believe Oklahoma City is-- is becoming a better steward of the water," Neel said.Updating infrastructure is not cheap but is absolutely necessary."Some of it's getting old, and we have to go in and repair that and that's another problem," Neel said.Despite the challenges, Neel is passionate and dedicated to solving this."I can see how we are going to change the way we manage water in the state, and I see that, you know, happening in the next 10 years or so in my lifetime, some things I can help facilitate," Neel said.Fuqua is thankful and appreciative of OKC’s efforts to manage water better moving forward."And so, we're all neighbors. I mean, we're all Oklahomans at the end of the day, and that, you know, we only look out for each other in the best way we possibly can," Fuqua said.Top Headlines55 United Methodist churches will sever ties with denominationMassive solar storm makes Northern Lights visible in parts of OklahomaOklahoma basketball team runs out of tournament during shooting scareOklahoma County Detention Center reports detainee death overnightOfficials investigate after one person shot, killed in StillwaterMother of missing 2-year-old Oklahoma girl facing charges in Indiana