The City Of Oklahoma City - Water Quality Report

Water Quality Report

Utility Service Center

2008 Consumer Confidence Report

Each year, the Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust provides information about the quality of your drinking water in a Consumer Confidence Report. It’s required by the Environmental Protection Agency, but the City’s Water Quality employees do more than meet regulatory requirements. They work hard 24 hours daily to provide you with the best drinking water possible.

At Oklahoma City’s three water treatment plants – near Lakes Draper, Hefner and Overholser – online analyzers continuously test streams of water. The Water Quality operations staff tests the water every two hours – on raw water, treated water and water leaving the plant. Operators also conduct quality assurance and quality control processes to ensure the accuracy of their tests. In addition, chemists in the water quality laboratory conduct weekly and monthly tests. The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality tests the treated water at each plant on a monthly basis.

If you still have questions about the quality of your drinking water, please feel free to contact:

Utility Customer Service (405)297-2833 water@okc.gov	Kelli McDowell, Water Quality Lab Manager 405-297-2869 or 405-749-3070 kelli.mcdowell@okc.gov

Click here to see the water quality summary.

The Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust (OCWUT) is the policymaking body for the water utilities and strives to ensure customers receive outstanding water and wastewater services. OCWUT meets at 2 p.m. the first and third Tuesdays of each month in City Council Chambers, 200 N. Walker Avenue, 3rd Floor, Oklahoma City.
OCWUT Trustees: Mick Cornett, Mayor of Oklahoma City Pete White, OCWUT Chairman Patrick Ryan, City Councilman James Couch, City Manager James Thompson, Assistant City Manager Carl Edwards Jr., citizen trustee Cody Graves, citizen trustee Marsha Slaughter, General Manager

Drinking Water Sources

The sources of drinking water nationwide include rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, reservoirs, springs and wells. As water travels over the surface of land or through the ground, it dissolves naturally occurring minerals and can pick up substances resulting from the presence of animals or human activity. Drinking water (including bottled water) may reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of some substances. The presence of contaminants does not necessarily indicate that water poses a health risk. The City of Oklahoma City treats and filters all water from reservoirs to remove any possible harmful contaminants according to State and Federal standards.

Contaminants that may be present in raw – or untreated – water include microbes (viruses and bacteria), inorganics (salts and metals), pesticides and herbicides (from various sources, including agriculture, storm water runoff and residential uses), and radioactive materials that are naturally occurring.

The Environmental Protection Agency limits the amount of contaminants in water provided by public systems to ensure tap water is safe to drink. The Food and Drug Administration regulations limit contaminants in bottled water that must provide the same public health protection.

Some contaminants may cause color, taste or odor problems in water but are not necessarily causes for health concerns. More information about contaminants and potential health effects can be obtained by calling the EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 800-426-4791 or at www.epa.gov/safewater.

Source Water Assessment

The Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 require states to develop and implement Source Water Assessment and Protection Programs to analyze existing and potential threats to the quality of public drinking water. Copies of these reports for Lakes Draper, Hefner and Overholser are available upon request.

People with Health Concerns

Some people may be more vulnerable to contaminants in drinking water than the general population.

Immuno-compromised persons, such as persons with cancer undergoing chemotherapy, persons who have undergone organ transplants, people with HIV/AIDS or other immune system disorders, some elderly, and infants can be particularly at risk from infections. These people should seek advice about drinking water from their healthcare providers. The EPA and Centers for Disease Control guidelines on appropriate ways to lessen the risk of infection by Cryptosporidium (an intestinal parasite that can be fatal in some immuno-compromised persons) and other microbial contaminants are available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.

Facts About Your Tap

Hard water can be frustrating, but it’s safe for drinking, cooking and other uses. Water is an excellent solvent and dissolves minerals that it comes in contact with while moving through soil and rock. Calcium and magnesium are the two most common materials that make water hard.

The best way to determine if your water is hard is to have it tested. However, hard water leaves evidence, such as decreased efficiency of water heaters, chalky deposits on plumbing, showers or pots and pans, or difficulty in cleaning and laundering tasks.

Water from Draper Lake is soft, and the Hefner and Overholser water treatment plants soften water to a certain degree. However, some homeowners may desire softer water.

The most common method for treating hard water is through ion exchange water softeners.

Bottled and tap water are both safe and healthy. The differences are in the price and quality testing. You pay about $2 for a bottle of water (many water bottling companies use municipal tap water), but less than a penny for a gallon of clean, quality tap water. Also, bottled water is a food product and regulated by the Food and Drug Administration that tests water on a quarterly basis. Oklahoma City tests its tap water 12 times a day, exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency’s requirement of every four hours.

Water filtering systems are not necessary for Oklahoma City residents and businesses who rely on the city’s tap water. Safe Drinking Water Act standards ensure that your drinking water is safe.

People who have medical conditions that could put them at special risk should discuss the need for a water filter with their doctors. If you choose to install a home water filter, it’s important to make an informed decision and not be taken in by misleading marketing tactics.

Maintenance of your home treatment device is important as an inadequately maintained filter can actually reduce water quality.

Oklahoma City Water Supply

Customers of the City of Oklahoma City Utilities receive drinking water from one of three water treatment plants – Draper, Hefner and Overholser – which rely on six reservoirs – Lakes Atoka, Canton, Stanley Draper, Hefner, Overholser and McGee Creek.

Tap Water Delivers
Our dependable and ample supply of safe tap water is more than something good to drink. In fact, we only drink about 1% of our tap water, and that’s vital to our lives. However, our tap water does much more. Tap water delivers public health protection, public safety and economic growth for our city.

In some places in our world, about 3 million people die of waterborne diseases each year. Municipal treated tap water prevents waterborne diseases and allows us to quench our thirsts, brush our teeth, clean our homes, wash our clothes, water our lawns and do many other everyday tasks without worry. When fire threatens our property and our safety, tap water delivers fire protection. On-demand tap water also influences new home construction and reduces insurance rates. Tap water leads to economic growth and business development in our city. Businesses would not be able to relocate to Oklahoma City and conduct day-to-day operations without a sustainable supply of water.


Why Conserve
Earth’s population grows larger every year, and each person needs a lot of water. However, the amount of water on Earth never changes.
About 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, but 97% of it is salt water. Two percent of the water on Earth is glacier ice at the north and south poles. This ice is fresh water but is too far away from where we need it. That leaves only about 1% of all the water on Earth for us to drink. We also use this small amount of water for heating and cooling, and running our households and businesses. Water is a nonrenewable natural resource and constantly moves. What we use today may have once been on the other side of the Earth or even drank by dinosaurs. This process is best described by the water cycle:

Evaporation:		The sun warms the water, causing water vapor to go into the air.

Condensation:		Water vapor in the air cools and changes back to liquid and forms clouds.

Precipitation:		Clouds move around the Earth’s atmosphere and release rain, snow or hail that falls back to the surface.

Transpiration:		Plant leaves continuously release water vapors.

Percolation:		Rain water moves into the Earth’s surface through cracks, pores, soil and rock.

Runoff:		Water, usually from precipitation, moves toward streams, channels, lakes, oceans or low points in the surface.

How To Conserve

A leaky faucet that drips just two tablespoons a minute can waste 15 gallons of water a day, 105 gallons a week and 5,460 gallons a year.
A toilet uses 5 to 7 gallons of water per flush. Low-flow toilets use only about 1.5 gallons per flush.
You use about 2 gallons of water if you leave the faucet on while brushing your teeth or shaving. Instead, turn the water off and on again to rinse.
Water the lawn only when it needs it and in the early morning or late afternoon. Watering in the middle of the day allows most of the water to evaporate. Watering at night attracts bugs, mostly mosquitoes.
Use a broom instead of your hose to clean the driveway or sidewalk.
When cleaning a fish tank, water house plants with the dirty water. It’s rich in nitrogen and phosphorous.
In a restaurant, every water glass used requires two glasses of water to wash and rinse it. Nearly 70 million meals are served each day in U.S. restaurants. More than 26 million gallons of water could be saved if one person in four declined the complimentary water.
If you water when it’s windy, water will go everywhere but on the grass. Also, make sure the sprinkler is aimed at the lawn, not the street or sidewalk.

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