Claremore Residents Asked To Conserve Water

While we all deal with an early June heat wave, the City of Claremore is asking its residents to conserve water after two water mains break in less than 24 hours.

The first water happened around 10:00 Thursday night. When city workers checked on the water system they discovered their water towers were drained, prompting them to ask residents to slow their water usage, even as people fight high temperatures.

You can feel and even see the heat beaming down this June, and area workers outside are doing what they can to stay cool and keep each other safe if they notice overheating.

"They're taking immediate steps to make sure that person gets cooled off," said ODOT spokeswoman Kenna Carmon.

But the situation is more serious in Claremore. City leaders say 5,000 people are still dealing with low water pressure after two water main breaks.

City manager Jim Thomas said a 16-inch pipe broke Thursday night.

“It ended up draining a couple of our water towers," Thomas said. “And so we kind of went into a conserve water mode this morning."

Then, just as the water pressure was restored from that break, a 12-inch pipe broke and forced crews to make more repairs.

Thomas said the heat forced the ground to move, causing the back-to-back breaks.

"The ground is moving. You get a lot of rain then it starts to dry and the pipes start to move," he said.

Thomas said everyone has water that’s okay to drink; he just wants people to conserve the water until the tanks are refilled.

"No boil order, it just has to do with us being low on water," he said.

The city manager believes the towers will be full in sometime Saturday, but asks residents to avoid watering the grass or washing the car until then.

Thomas said when the city is using water they can't fill the towers because the city pumps out as much water as it is producing.