Two Communities Asked To Conserve Water Until Friday

Thursday, August 9th 2007, 3:16 pm

By: News On 6

Power has been restored to a pumping station on Skiatook Lake, which provides water for the cities of Sand Springs and Sapulpa. Crews restored power about 6 p.m. Thursday, six hours after a malfunction in an AEP/PSO transmission line knocked out the power, shutting down the pump station and stopping the flow of raw water.

Even though the pumping station is up and running residents in Sand Springs and Sapulpa are still being asked to conserve water until noon on Friday, August 10th. This will allow the entire system to refill.

â€œThe conservation by our water customers got us through this critical situation without any problem,â€ said City Manager Douglas Enevoldsen. â€œWe saw a decrease in consumption as soon as the media got the word out of our situation, and we did no experience any spikes in usage as people got home from work.â€

With the high temperatures and dry conditions the City of Sand Springs has been drawing about 6.7 million gallons of water a day from Skiatook Lake; Sapulpa has been drawing about 4.6 million gallons. Officials want the public to know there was never a problem with water quality.

â€œKeeping our water safe to drink is our greatest priority, and our Public Works employees made sure that was never an issue,â€ said Enevoldsen.

The Skiatook Lake raw water conveyance system uses four pumps to provide Sand Springs and Sapulpa with water. Those pumps are turned off and on as demand increases and decrease. Authorities say Thursdayâ€™s shutdown is the first major interruption of water from Skiatook Lake since the systemâ€™s construction in the 90s.