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City of Bartlesville

Posted: Oct 23, 2023 9:38 AMUpdated: Oct 23, 2023 9:38 AM

Bartlesville's Water Supply Issues Continue

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Tom Davis / Kellie Williams
Water supply woes continue. Appearing on CITY MATTERS, The City Director of Water Utilities Terry Lauritsen gave us the current water supply situation--and it wasn't good.
 
According to Lauritsen, overall water remaining is 59.4% and the weighted water supply is  76.5%.  Technically, we are in Stage 2 of the Water Shortage Ordinance but we also are on the edge of falling into Stage 3.                               Water Shortage Ordinance - Modified
 
Water Shortage Ordinance
 
A significant task completed by the Water Resources Committee following the drought of 2001-02 was the creation of the Water Shortage Ordinance, an ordinance that placed a high priority on conservation.
 
The ordinance was implemented for the first time in December 2022, when overall water supply began to decline due to lowering lake levels caused by drought conditions in Southeast Kansas.
 
The ordinance outlines four stages of drought based on the overall water supply remaining and the weighted water supply remaining.
 
Each stage beyond Stage 2 calls for escalating restrictions on outdoor water use and alters certain City operations. The ordinance also allows the City Council to impose emergency water rates in these later stage when overall supply and weighted supply (based on water rights) decline and voluntary conservation methods fail to lower consumption.
 
The Water Shortage ordinance was placed “on hold” briefly by the City Council in September 2023 pending further review by the Water Resources Committee in the wake of its implementation. The committee heard reports from City staff regarding the successes and limitations of the plan as it was implemented beginning in December 2022.
 
  • Some areas where staff felt improvement could be made were:
  • More stringent rate increases for very high-use businesses, such as car washes
  • Consistency in open/closures of public and private swimming pools
  • Emergency rate increases
 
The WRC agreed to recommend higher emergency rates to escalate in later stages of the ordinance and to close all pools if the area enters Stage 4, which is considered emergency conditions.
 
The City Council approved the recommended modifications during its Oct. 2, 2023 meeting, removing the ordinance from its "on hold" status.
 
 

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