BARTLESVILLE, Okla. — The City of Bartlesville is asking people to use less water as they deal with an ongoing drought that is limiting supply.
“The area we get water from is really southeast Kansas and that’s the area that’s really been experiencing a very prolonged significant drought," said Terry Lauritsen, Director of Water Utilities for the City of Bartlesville.
At the park with his little girl, Angel Perez-Gonzalez is thinking about the water situation.
“It’s concerning for everybody,” Perez-Gonzalez said.
He said his neighbor first alerted him to the city’s effort to conserve and he’s been taking part.
“I take short showers,” said Perez-Gonzalez. “Don’t try to be in there for 30 minutes or so.”
He’s one of thousands of people that city leaders are asking to cut back amidst an ongoing drought and lower water supply.
“We’re tightening our belts so we’re asking the residents to tighten their belts as well with their water use,” Lauritsen said.
Lauritsen says they get water from southeast Kansas primarily from the Hulah Lake watershed. The lake is located in Osage County, but the watershed sits in southwest Kansas. It’s pumped into Hudson Lake, north of the city, and then taken to the water treatment plant.
They process about 4 million gallons of water a day during the winter. They expect to process even more as they head into the spring and summer months.
“As we start to progress into the spring, we want to make sure people are aware of where we’re at, and to keep that on their radar,” Lauritsen said.
As southeast Kansas continues to see drought, they want everyone to take part in voluntary efforts, so they don’t get to a critical level. Right now, the water supply is at about 66%. Critical level is around 50% where they have to start issuing mandatory restrictions.
“We want to avoid that and just have everybody do little bits now so that we can preserve it and hopefully in the spring we can get rain and it will be back renewed again,” Lauritsen said.
He says you can cut back on use by taking shorter showers and turning off the faucet when you brush your teeth.
“If anything is leaking in your house, fix it, so you can conserve more water,” Perez-Gonzalez said.
They want people to be aware, as they hold out hope for the fix.
“Rain is the answer,” Lauritsen said.
The city says along with drought, supply chain issues are delaying renovations at the Candy River Pump Station which is contributing to the problem.
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