Emergency water ban ordered because of pump failure 09/05/2000

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY  Some Oklahoma City residents were without water and the entire city was under an emergency outside watering ban Tuesday as crews worked to repair a valve that blew out at a water treatment plant.

Jim Couch, assistant city manager, said a few people were without water in far northwest Oklahoma City and there were some areas of low water pressure. He expected service to be back near full capacity by early Tuesday evening.

The treatment plant at Lake Hefner produces 35 percent of the city's water, or about 60 million gallons a day. Some of the water also is sold to several surrounding communities. Other water for Oklahoma City comes from Lake Overholser and Lake Stanley Draper.

Service at the plant was lost for a short time Monday night and crews have been able to resume partial production. By Tuesday morning, the plant was back to being able to produce 30 million gallons of water a day.

Water usage in Oklahoma City set a record in the past week because of the city's continued hot, dry weather. On Aug. 28, usage reached 185.6 million gallons in a day. The city's limit is about 200 million gallons a day.

Couch said people violating the water ban could be fined.

Couch said he did not know whether heavy usage contributed to the valve break at the plant.

Temperatures in Oklahoma City reached 108 on Saturday and Sunday and 106 on Monday. The city has not had any rain since July 29.

While conditions have been hot and dry, the city had escaped until Monday without any water rationing or bans.

"The city is working around the clock to make the repairs and will be reassessing the situation as progress is made and updates will be provided," Couch said.

http://dallasnews.com/texas_southwest/163565_water05.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 06, 2000