[OKC] Journal Record: OKC metro area faces growing thirst forsummer water

[Alig, Jennifer L.]

Jennifer Alig

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From: ok-sus-bounces at lists.oksustainability.org
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Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2011 8:31 AM
Subject: Journal Record: OKC metro area faces growing thirst forsummer
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The Journal Record

OKC metro area faces growing thirst for summer water

by Brian Brus

Published: June 27th, 2011

OKLAHOMA CITY - Some metro area residents are being asked for the first
time this season to conserve water and put less emphasis on keeping
their lawns green.

Oklahoma City Hall has announced a three-hour yard watering ban from 7
p.m. to 10 p.m. for the heart of the city, for example, and Norman is
one step away from an even-odd system, officials confirmed Monday. The
conservation in both cases, however, is for different reasons and
neither will likely be legally enforced with a penalty.

"No one likes to say the R word or the C word," said Jerry Church,
spokesman for the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments. "Most
cities focus on conservation more than rationing. It's a sensitive
topic. Rationing is always the absolute last appeal, and usually
involves a problem in the water line.

"When you make the move to ration, people overcompensate. There's a
psychological impulse ... to take as much of an advantage as you can to
over-water. There are some studies that suggest that rationing with an
even-odd system (based on street house numbers) is counterproductive,"
he said. "And cities are leery of trying to enforce it because it makes
them look bad if they have to bust somebody."

Oklahoma City has enough water for its residents, utilities spokeswoman
Debbie Ragan said, pumping about 160 million gallons of water daily
compared with the fair-weather average of 100 million gallons a day. The
city is supplied primarily by Atoka and Draper lakes, which are 100
miles away and were built in the early 1960s. In response to a recent
water supply study that projected the city will need 316 million gallons
by 2060, the Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust acquired a water
storage contract for 136,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Sardis.
Officials expect supplies to be sufficient for decades, Ragan said.

The problem is getting that water to all parts of the city's 620 square
miles when everyone seems to be demanding it at the same time, she said.
At the end of the traditional workday, for example, family water
consumption normally increases in households, but rises dramatically
primarily because of yard watering when residents start fretting about
keeping their lawns green. The widespread demand taxes the city's pumps.

Those most likely to experience reduced water pressure are those who
live at the far edges of the city. As water is used along its way
through the pipelines, the lower the pressure will be for those near the
end. The three-hour watering ban is expected to help ease that problem,
Oklahoma City officials said. Construction of a new pump station near SW
104th Street and Portland Avenue is scheduled to begin in about 18
months.

Norman's challenge is inverted, with a strong pumping station but weak
primary resources, Utilities Director Ken Komiske said - "In our case
it's about volume," he said.

"This hot weather is taxing our water supply," he said Monday. "We are
very, very, very close to issuing a mandatory conservation declaration,
but not yet. Hopefully it will rain tonight, but with no relief in sight
we are getting close to that."

The city is already using all the water it can out of Lake Thunderbird
as well as its municipal wells. Norman will have to buy emergency water
from Oklahoma City soon, and it's really expensive, he said. City
leaders are trying to identify funds for acquiring more permanent water
sources.

City Council members have discussed asking Normanites to reduce their
water use to odd-even address lawn tending. The municipal government
would likewise reduce its public splash park water use by two hours per
day and eliminate street cleaning, fire hydrant flushing and similar
tasks. At this point the conservation is voluntary, Komiske said.

If the conservation is made mandatory, penalties for abuse can be
assessed under the city charter, but Komiske agreed with Church that
most city leaders are reluctant to do so.

"We don't want to do that. We're hoping everyone will do this
voluntarily," he said. "It's not like we would ride around town writing
tickets. ... Generally, if we ask our customers to do something because
we really need it, they respond pretty well. Not everybody, but we have
a pretty conscience group of customers."

City staff often get phone calls from irate residents who wonder why the
University of Oklahoma's campus lawns are so green during the summer, he
said. But OU has supplemental wells that cannot be used for potable
water, so they are turned to irrigation instead, Komiske said.

On the western side of the metro area, Yukon residents are comfortable
with their water access, City Manager Grayson Bottom said. Yukon blends
well water near Will Rogers World Airport with water it purchases from
Oklahoma City. Even though the water is initially taken from one of
Oklahoma City's main lines, he said, the pressure is immediately taken
up by Yukon's own pumps and helped by a slight elevation drop over the
long distance.

And Guthrie, which draws its water from Liberty and Guthrie lakes and
Cottonwood Creek, is running well below the city's potential maximum
volume even though the lakes are slightly below their normal levels,
City Manager Matt Mueller said. The city recently brought a new water
treatment plant online.

Shawnee City Manager Brian McDougal said his city on the eastern side of
the metro area started working on developing the Wes Watkins Reservoir
several years ago in preparation for growing water demand. The city has
access to about 85 percent of the reservoir's water and has no plans to
ration anytime soon, he said.

Complete URL:
http://journalrecord.com/2011/06/27/metro-faces-growing-thirst-for-summe
r-water-general-news/

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