Updated on Thursday, Sept. 8 at 1:30 p.m. — City of Guthrie releases second statement on drinking water
Original Story
Several citizens and businesses have noticed a negative distinct odor and color to the City of Guthrie’s water system. Many residents have stopped using the tap water, but instead have resorted to bottled water.
The Guthrie Public Works Authority (GPWA) has three primary sources of collecting water for treatment and distribution to the public. The three sources include Guthrie Lake, Liberty Lake and Cottonwood Creek.
According to a statement from the City, three weeks ago, the GPWA was utilizing Guthrie Lake as its primary source for water treatment when it experienced lake turnover. Lake turnover is the seasonal movement of water within a lake due to temperature changes between the different layers.
“The lake turnover in Guthrie Lake brought high levels of manganese to the level in which GPWA collects water for treatment,” a City spokesman said.
“As soon as staff detected the additional amounts of manganese, the process was initiated to switch the primary source of water from Guthrie Lake to Liberty Lake. The average time period to switch from one lake to the other is typically one week. GPWA staff was able to shorten this process to a couple of days in order to eliminate as much manganese as possible from coming into the water treatment plant.”
The statement goes on to read, “the manganese that entered the water system caused a taste, odor, and discoloration of the water not typical of daily water quality produced by GPWA. Since the changeover to Liberty Lake, the manganese level has dropped back down to treatable levels and GPWA has started flushing lines within the system to remove the excess manganese.”
In addition to residents, Guthrie restaurants have also been impacted by the poor water taste.
“(You) can’t even brush your teeth or make coffee without the terrible smell and taste of dirt,” a Guthrie News Page viewer said.
Despite the poor quality, the City enforces the fact that the water is safe to use for all daily activities and is not toxic or harmful for consumption.
City officials say due to Oklahoma weather patterns of August, including high temperatures and little to no rain, Cottonwood Creek was not able to be utilized as the primary water source. The same weather pattern is what contributed to the lake turnover in Guthrie Lake.
Tours of the water treatment plant are available with GPWA personnel every Thursday between 2-3 pm and can be reserved by calling (405) 282-0532.
We did in fact talk to DEQ and they were very helpful and indeed said the same thing!
That’s why the water stinks and the taste is aweful the cotton wood creek is disgusting for water sources. New water plant and the water is discussting to drink . Why pay for water that is not fit to drink ? You need to have someone from OKC water treatment plant to come show Guthrie how to treat our water so it’s fit to drink .
Why aren’t we looking at drilling several wells to pull water from like the rural water district?
Erin Brockovich already posted on Facebook about Guthrie’s water problem and believes the city is covering up a more serious problem.
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=%20Guthrie%20water%20erin%20brockovich