Stillwater crews thaw Kaw pump station, avert water shortage

Feb. 15—The deep freeze that has settled over the center of the U.S. is wreaking havoc across a wide swath of the country, stressing communities and the services they rely on.

Already facing the prospect of having to interrupt electric service to about 4,300 households Monday to address a power shortage caused by the extreme weather, the City of Stillwater found itself dealing with another crisis when the pumps that deliver the city's raw water supply from Kaw Lake froze.

City workers made a one-hour drive through snow to try to thaw the pumps using propane heaters, City Manager Norman McNickle told the News Press. Two of the five pumps had been thawed by around 4 p.m.

Those two pumps are enough to deliver the amount of water the city needs and avert a crisis, he said. But the crew continued to work in the hope of getting more pumps thawed.

If they hadn't been brought back online, Stillwater wouldn't have been completely without a water supply, McNickle said.

The city has several water storage tanks that are kept filled and could have temporarily met some of the demand, he explained. Stillwater also has an agreement with Oklahoma State University, which operates its own water treatment plant, to serve as a backup water supply.

Those stop gap measures would have met basic needs, but residents likely would have still needed to conserve water because they wouldn't have provided the volume Stillwater's system produces when operating normally.

The City of Stillwater has become something of a regional water provider. In addition to providing treated water for Stillwater residents, it serves several rural water systems.

Temperatures are expected to remain below freezing at least through Thursday in Oklahoma, with lows in the single digits. More winter precipitation is expected to move through the area Tuesday and Wednesday, potentially bringing several more inches of snow.

Twitter: @mcharlesNP