Water continues to flow into the City’s primary water supply source, Hulah Lake, following heavy rains in Southeast Kansas over the Christmas weekend.
The filling of the lake means the area has moved out of all drought stages, Water Utilities Director Terry Lauritsen said today.
“Rains that started over the Christmas holiday have had a significant impact on our water supply, increasing Hulah Lake levels by 3.5 feet as of today,” Lauritsen said. “Now, a week later, water continues to flow into the lake. This has moved us out of all stages of the Water Shortage Ordinance for the first time since December 2022.”
The City’s overall water remaining is 72.1 percent, compared to percentages in the mid-50s just a month ago. Weighted water supply, which is based on water right, is 128 percent – well above the 95 percent required for Stage 1 of the Water Shortage Ordinance.
“Because we rely most heavily on Hulah Lake for our water supply, as that is where we have the most water right, we really couldn’t be in a better situation than we are now,” Lauritsen said. “Hopefully, we will continue to see enough rain in the Hulah watershed to keep us out of all drought contingency plan stages as we continue to seek additional water sources to meet future weather and climate-related challenges.”
While the filling of Hulah Lake has helped Bartlesville and surrounding water customers immensely, other communities that rely more on Copan Lake are still struggling, Lauritsen said.
“They desperately need rain in the Copan Lake watershed area,” which is located near the Hulah watershed in Southeast Kansas, he said.
Local water customers dropped their water consumption levels last week as well, coming in at 3.96 mgd, just below the average of 4 mgd this time of year.