Hulah Lake's rise lifts water restrictions; citizens urged to conserve
City Manager Mike Bailey announced Monday morning that water restrictions, implemented earlier this spring due to a severe water shortage, have been lifted.
The announcement comes after recent heavy rainfall filled Hulah Lake, the city's primary water supply source.
"As a result of weekend rains that have filled Hulah Lake, we have moved to Stage 1 of the Water Shortage Ordinance," Bailey said. "This means we will continue our public awareness campaign for water conservation, as called for in Stage 1 of the ordinance. All Stage 3 restrictions, the stage we were in prior to these significant rain events, are lifted effective today."
Under Stage 1, there are no restrictions on outdoor water use. However, city officials strongly encourage conservation efforts to ensure the sustainable use of water resources.
Per the Stage 1 guidelines, the city plans to open splash pads as soon as possible, potentially as early as today or tomorrow. City staff will recommend that the City Council approve a resolution to rescind emergency water rates immediately. The resolution will require City Council approval.
However, Bailey regretfully announced that the city-owned Frontier and Sooner swimming pools would not open this summer.
"We were hoping to open the pools, even if we could only keep them open for a couple of weeks," Bailey said. "But unfortunately, the Richard Kane YMCA, which manages our pools, has advised they simply cannot staff them — or even one of them — this late in the season."
The city has arranged free rides to the Osage Hills Park swimming pool through the United Community Action Program to ease residents' swimming needs. This nonprofit organization operates the CityRide public transit system.
"While we understand it would be preferable to have our local pools open, we are extremely grateful to UCAP Transit Director Laura Corff and her organization for generously offering to provide this service — at no charge to riders or Bartlesville taxpayers — for our residents," Bailey said.
The City Council is expected to address the Water Resources Committee appointments at the August council meeting. The Water Resources Committee was approved at the July meeting to research and explore options for Bartlesville's water needs.
"This has been a challenging time for our community, but as always, Bartlesville has risen to the occasion," Bailey said, "The Water Shortage Ordinance did what it was intended to do, and that is to help preserve our remaining water supply until a significant rain event or the addition of a potable water source. We will continue to seek additional resources for water so that we can be even better prepared should this situation arise again [in] the future."
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Hulah Lake's rise lifts water restrictions; citizens urged to conserve
