Some Rogers County Residents Urged To Conserve Water

Rogers County Rural Water District 3 is asking customers to voluntarily limit water use.

As relentless heat continues across Oklahoma, people are using a lot of water.

"We have water usage out the wazoo right now, it's incredibly bad," said Rogers County Rural Water District 3 Manager Rick Stull.

He said that's why they're asking people to cut down on non-essential usage like watering lawns and washing cars.

He said the water tower at Stone Canyon in Owasso is going through about two million gallons a day.

"Our tower, including this one that we're standing by, is lipping full, but we know that with this kind of heat, 101 to 105, it's going to be really difficult to maintain," says Stull.

Stull said if they could just get 25 percent of their customers to limit water use, that would make a huge impact, but for some that's still asking a lot.

Sherri Scarpa said taking care of livestock and a garden at her home in Foyil is tough when there are water issues.

"We've had days where we've had no water at all. We've had days where it's been very minimal on the pressure. Very little to no warning whatsoever when the water does go out," Scarpa said.

She said last month, issues with waterlines led to days without water. She said the District needs better infrastructure and planning.

"There should be plenty of forward thinking and visioning for all of the developments going up, new housing going up, monitoring their current towers and situations, figuring out what needs to be updated." Stull said he's working to get two more water towers built.

"We have almost 10,000 customers that utilize the district here, so it's an extremely large area," he said.

Stull said a break in the hot weather is the key to ending the need for rationing.