By Michael Cross
August 16, 2011 from KOSU It’s been so hot and dry this summer that climatologists say the southern part of the United States is going through an “exceptional drought.” Parts of Oklahoma have seen little rain since October — not to mention a string of 100-degree days. The steamy conditions are pressuring the state’s water needs. About 1.2 million people live in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, and they are putting a drain on the city’s water supplies. At the Lake Hefner Water Treatment Plant, manager Doug Holmes says the triple-digit temperatures have pushed demand for water to peak levels. “It’s not necessarily been much of a call for water; it’s just been more water over an extended period of time,” Holmes says. “Normally, we’re flowing at our maximum capacity for a couple of weeks; this time it’s been about a month, month and a half.” In the past six weeks, the city’s water utility has fixed 1,400 water main breaks and leaks. The high temperature dries the soil and shrinks it away from the buried pipes. Increased water usage raises pressure inside the lines and makes the decades-old pipes susceptible to burst. “While some people are watering their yards, there may be fellow citizens at the edge of the city that don’t have enough water pressure to even take a bath,” says Debbie Ragan, a city water spokeswoman. Across the state, the lack of water has even cut into tourism. Low water levels in northeast Oklahoma’s Grand Lake resulted in a spike of toxic levels of blue-green algae. […]
Heat, Drought Pressure Oklahoma’s Water Supplies
