BARNESVILLE — Gulfport Energy has stopped drawing water from the Slope Creek Reservoir at the request of village officials.

Village Administrator Roger Deal made the announcement at a recent Village Council meeting, saying he had asked Gulfport to cease pumping water from the reservoir on July 5. He noted the company has complied with the request.

Deal said that despite recent heavy rain, the water level at the reservoir has dipped to about 6 inches below the level at which the village asks third parties to stop drawing water. Both Antero Energy and Gulfport had been pumping water from the reservoir to use in natural gas drilling and fracking operations.

Deal went on to say that he would be monitoring water levels at the reservoir daily and that when the level comes back up that Gulfport would be allowed to start withdrawing water again.

Village resident Scott Whitacre asked if Antero had been asked to stop drawing water also. Village Solicitor Marlin Harper informed him that the water contracts with the two companies have different limitations and that Antero could only be cut off if a water shortage seems imminent. Mayor Dale Bunting elaborated, saying that Antero’s cutoff level is a foot below Gulfport’s.

In 2012 village officials signed a water use agreement with Gulfport that allowed the company to buy water from the reservoir at a rate of $10 per 1,000 gallons.

In March 2015 Gulfport filed a lawsuit against Barnesville after village officials asked the company to stop drawing water due to a low water level in the reservoir. The lawsuit, which attracted national and international attention, was dismissed in October of that year after Antero intervened as a party to the suit and Gulfport and Barnesville agreed that it would be best to resolve the dispute outside of court.

Deal also announced that village Reservoir No. 1 is experiencing an algae bloom for the third time in as many years and that the reservoir has been shut off to isolate it from the rest of the village water system. He said water department employees are continuously taking samples to determine when that body of water can be utilized again. He added that the heat of the summer would not be helpful to rectifying the situation.