City Of Bartlesville In Stage 2 Of Water Conservation Efforts

The City of Bartlesville is currently under a stage 2 water conservation effort due to ongoing drought conditions in the area. The city wants to educate residents about ways they can help conserve water.

The city' water system is currently down to 69% of the water that is available to them. Terry Lauritsen, Bartlesville's director of water utilities, said that the city isn't in a water crisis right now, but the water levels are something to monitor.

Bartlesville gets its water from four main sources. These include Lake Hudson, which currently sits at 88% capacity, Copan Lake at 68%, Hulah Lake at 55%, and the Caney River at 100% capacity. Hulah Lake is the city's biggest water resource and is currently down three feet as opposed to being down a normal one foot from the conservation pool. Due to this, Lauritsen wants to educate everyone to be a little more conscious about water usage.

"I think the biggest thing is just to take short showers and not run the water when it’s not necessary. If you're brushing your teeth, don’t run the water while you brush your teeth. If you’re rinsing dishes, doing your dishes in your sink, plug the sink as far as just to use a tub of water instead of a continuous run of water with it," Lauritsen said.

Lauritsen also said that during the winter, water consumption is typically down due to people not filling up their pools or watering their lawns as much, but the city does want to see what the next month or two look like before deciding on what next steps to take when it comes to water use.

"There are some more drastic steps that we can take, but we’re just going to wait and see how water consumption goes over the next 30 to 60 days. If we need to move forward with some more restrictive items, then we'll take that before council to consider," Lauritsen said.

Not only will water conservation efforts help the city, but Lauritsen said that good rainfall totals will help bring the city's water resources back to more normal levels. Lauritsen said that it will likely take a two-inch rain event over the area that drains into Hulah Lake to get it back to more normal levels.