The last four days of light rain in Bartlesville has many residents asking if the area is still under Stage 3 restrictions of the Water Shortage Ordinance.
The answer is, yes, we are.
According to Water Utilities Director Terry Lauritsen, levels at Hulah and Copan lakes appear to “holding steady.”
“Hulah and Copan are holding steady — meaning levels are not going down, but they are not going up, either,” Lauritsen said, noting detailed data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is still pending. “We’ll know better in the coming days what impact the rain had.”
Stage 3 of the Water Shortage Ordinance kicked in once the area’s overall water supply fell below 60 percent. For more information about the drought and current restrictions, see www.cityofbartlesville.org.
Even if this week’s rainfall results in an increase in overall water supply for the area, it likely won’t be enough to end the drought – or even move the City back to a less restrictive stage of the ordinance.
“Unfortunately, it’s going to take a lot more rain to pull us out of this situation,” Lauritsen said. “It’s important that we all continue to conserve as much water as we can to preserve what’s left in our lakes.”
The City is meeting the current demand with water from the Caney River, which is released by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from Hulah and Copan Lakes.
Water use for the area is currently 5 million gallons of water per day (mgd), Lauritsen said Thursday.
“We have the capability of pulling 6 mgd from the Caney River, so right now we are meeting all of our water needs solely through the river,” he said.