Tuttle citizens reminded to conserve water
The City of Tuttle reminded citizens Wednesday, July 5 that the city maintains a year-round, mandatory odd/even lawn-watering schedule to facilitate the conservation of its ground water supply.
Addresses ending in an even number may water on even-numbered days of the month, and odd-number addresses may water on odd-numbered days of the month. This is the case for businesses and homes.
The city also encourages citizens to water before 10 a.m. and after 7 p.m. throughout the year.
As far as why, Tuttle’s Public Works Director Aaron Slattery said Thursday, July 6, “Historically, the City of Tuttle has purchased water from the City of Newcastle when our demand exceeds what we are able to produce with our existing 13 water wells. Newcastle receives its water from Oklahoma City. In past years, whenever we began to purchase water from Newcastle, we implemented an Odd/Even watering schedule. Our community, as well as the surrounding communities have all experienced significant growth and an increased demand each year on our water systems. Implementing a year-round, odd/even watering schedule will help protect our aquifers and supply levels, given the increase in growth and demand.”
City officials insist they are seeking solutions. However, much of the circumstances are outside of their control.
Slattery said, “We are studying and researching long term strategic water supply sources and believe there are options that can supply water on a strategic level, however, those options will require significant capital investments, planning, and time to implement. Our current usage/demand hinges on many factors, i.e., (weather conditions, seasons, customer connections, drought, etc.) Last summer was a bit of a wake up call in the sense that a long, hot, dry summer really put a strain on our system and those communities around us. Last summer, we had several days where our demand exceeded one million gallons in a 24-hour period and we anticipate similar daily demands this summer. For that reason, we are developing new water restrictions that could be implemented, in stages, if necessary to ensure we can maintain adequate water tower levels (tower levels are directly proportional to water pressure) during the peak summer season. We hope to have those restrictions finalized and posted on our city website very soon.”
