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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Jennifer Alig<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#943634'>**My email has changed to Jennifer.Alig@deq.ok.gov.**</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#943634'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> ok-sus-bounces@lists.oksustainability.org [mailto:ok-sus-bounces@lists.oksustainability.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Gene Perry<br><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, June 28, 2011 8:31 AM<br><b>Subject:</b> Journal Record: OKC metro area faces growing thirst forsummer water<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div style='border:solid white 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in' id=header><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>The Journal Record<o:p></o:p></span></b></p></div><div style='border:solid #999999 1.0pt;padding:4.0pt 8.0pt 4.0pt 8.0pt' id=content><p style='margin-bottom:3.75pt'><b><span style='font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>OKC metro area faces growing thirst for summer water<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.75pt;margin-left:0in' id=BlogByline><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>by Brian Brus<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:3.75pt;margin-left:0in' id=BlogDate><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Published: June 27th, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style='margin-top:7.5pt' id=BlogContent><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>“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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>“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.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>“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.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>“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.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:9.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div id=footer><p><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Complete URL: <b><a href="http://journalrecord.com/2011/06/27/metro-faces-growing-thirst-for-summer-water-general-news/">http://journalrecord.com/2011/06/27/metro-faces-growing-thirst-for-summer-water-general-news/</a></b><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></body></html>