Tulsa to Participate in ‘Imagine a Day Without Water’ Oct. 23

10/22/2019

• Top 20 Things We Would Give Up On a Day Without Water

The City of Tulsa is participating in the national advocacy movement, Imagine a Day Without Water on Oct. 23. On this day across the country, organizations, corporations and environmental advocates are joining together to educate the nation on how essential water and wastewater services are to communities and the importance of making necessary investments for future generations.

To help celebrate and increase public awareness about Tulsa’s quality water, the City of Tulsa has spent the month of October attending various community events to hand out complimentary reusable water bottles and provide samples of award-winning Tulsa water from the City’s water trailer. Events have included the First Friday Art Crawl and the Tulsa Zoo Run.

The City’s water trailer team also will attend the Tulsa Run on Oct. 26 to hand out reusable water bottles and provide water from the City’s water trailer.

The message for this year’s #ValueWater campaign focuses on four key points:

• Millions of Americans take water service for granted every day.
• A day without water is a public health and safety crisis.
• Water infrastructure is the lifeline of our communities.
• Strong leadership on water is key to securing our future.

“Tulsa is fortunate to have a plentiful supply of good, reliable water, as well as one of the nation’s top water systems to make sure we have that water when we need it,” said Clayton Edwards, Water & Sewer Department Director. “The City of Tulsa recently received an ISO ranking of 1 (highest ranking) for fire protection systems, and we scored 39.68 out of 40 points for a reliable water distribution system. Our City employees work hard to make that happen, knowing we’re building the foundation for economic prosperity, improved health and enhanced quality of life for our whole community.”

The City of Tulsa’s Water & Sewer Department is responsible for the lifecycle of Tulsa’s water, which begins at our lakes, continues with treatment and distribution to our customers, and finishes at our sewer collection system where the water is treated before being discharged back into area rivers – all while being tested and monitored numerous times throughout the process.

The Tulsa Metropolitan Utility Authority is a public trust organization created by the City charter and responsible for water and sewer policy matters by managing, constructing and maintaining Tulsa's water and sanitary sewer systems. 

Here are a few important facts about Tulsa’s water and wastewater:

• The City of Tulsa supplies on average 103 million gallons of drinking water each day to more than 500,000 people in the metropolitan area through 2,237 miles of water lines. Mohawk and A.B. Jewell treatment plants, distribution lines, and other infrastructure are in place to help keep pace with Tulsa's growing need for high quality drinking water. 
• On the wastewater side, Tulsa treats on average 55 million gallons of wastewater each day.
• There are 1,960 miles of underground trunk and collection system sewer lines in Tulsa, and 62 lift stations that move the water to four major treatment plants – Northside, Southside, Haikey Creek and Lower Bird Creek. 

Learn more about the City of Tulsa’s water and wastewater systems by visiting www.tulsawater.com You can also visit http://imagineadaywithoutwater.org/ to learn more about Imagine a Day Without Water