OK Hit By S. Plains Drought - At Least 16 Dead, 1,400 Burst Pipes In OKC, Blue-Green Algae Blooms

[hatrack]

EDIT

Parts of Oklahoma have seen little rain since October — not to mention a string of 100-degree days. The steamy conditions are pressuring the state's water needs. About 1.2 million people live in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, and they are putting a drain on the city's water supplies.

At the Lake Hefner Water Treatment Plant, manager Doug Holmes says the triple-digit temperatures have pushed demand for water to peak levels. "It's not necessarily been much of a call for water; it's just been more water over an extended period of time," Holmes says. "Normally, we're flowing at our maximum capacity for a couple of weeks; this time it's been about a month, month and a half."

In the past six weeks, the city's water utility has fixed 1,400 water main breaks and leaks. The high temperature dries the soil and shrinks it away from the buried pipes. Increased water usage raises pressure inside the lines and makes the decades-old pipes susceptible to burst. "While some people are watering their yards, there may be fellow citizens at the edge of the city that don't have enough water pressure to even take a bath," says Debbie Ragan, a city water spokeswoman.

Across the state, the lack of water has even cut into tourism. Low water levels in northeast Oklahoma's Grand Lake resulted in a spike of toxic levels of blue-green algae. Gov. Mary Fallin says this hit just as visitors were arriving for July 4 celebrations. "It took a toll on businesses and tourism at the lake itself," Fallin says. "Some of the businesses I talked to at Grand Lake told me they saw a 50 percent drop in the number of people who were coming into their businesses."

EDIT

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/16/139664424/heat-drought-pressure-oklahomas-water-supplies

[CarmanK]

1. My oh MY, OK needs some of that Obama stim money!

I wouldn't venture to guess that the TBAGGERS would actually see need and so something about aging infrastructure that is actually breaking down in front of their eyes. I sure hope they aren't selling their public lands to the Oil/gas frackers who will poison what potable water is left in the ground.

[provis99]

2. now that is totally unbelievable.

The part about Oklahoma having tourists, I mean.

[AC_Mem]

3. Abundance of water on East Coast

With American ingenuity, why can't we figure out a way to send water to drought states? If we can have oil pipelines, why not water pipelines?

There may be a very good reason why we can't, I'm just kind of typing out loud :)

Shine on WISCONSIN! We are with you in spirit!
Annette

[InvisibleTouch]

4. I seriously hope people aren't using that water on their lawns.

If they are watering food or medicinal plants, by all means do so - but babying turf grass is about as wasteful as anything I can imagine.

[Javaman]

9. what do you think? it's right wing territory...

they probably all have st augustine for lawns.

morons.

[MrDiaz]

5. sometimes

You guys can be so insulting and terrible towards a state, because of who is in it. There are DEMS there to guys, so please have respect for others, and to the guy who is gonna say "why don't you move", simple it's not an easy task.

[Kolesar]

8. There are "Indian tribes" who were relocated to Oklahoma, too

My buddy prefers the term "indigenous people".

[Old and In the Way]

6. Waiting for the Senators, like Inhofe, to lead the way

on addressing a private sector solution to a problem (climate change/global warming) that they refuse to admit exists. Maybe Inhofe can get his buddies in Big Oil can start drilling for water instead of oil? Don't mean to be sarcastic, but Republican Senators have made the issue political for years (I believe Senator Inhofe has been at the forefront of insulting people like Al Gore for his work on this issue) and the voters in these regions need to decide if they've had enough of this type of leadership.

[MrDiaz]

7. YEA

but your insulting all the citizens there too. What you are saying is that you can careless about the citizens that live there so long as the state government is stupid.