OKLAHOMA CITY – The Geary Utilities Authority in Blaine and Canadian counties received approval Tuesday for a $250,000 Emergency Grant through the Oklahoma Water Resources Board to improve the town’s water infrastructure.
In June, severe storms and lightning strikes caused significant damage to critical infrastructure, affecting equipment needed to produce and distribute drinking water. The project will repair or replace damaged well pumps and controllers, electrical components, and a standby generator, while restoring radio telemetry and well-control systems. These improvements will strengthen the reliability and resilience of the water system, helping ensure a dependable supply of safe drinking water and protecting public health. The $250,000 project will be fully funded through an OWRB Emergency Grant.
Lori Johnson, chief of the OWRB's Financial Assistance Division, calculated that the grant will save the town’s customers $413,600 in principal and interest charges by not having to borrow the project funds. 'Severe storms can cause significant damage to critical infrastructure, and unfortunately, Geary's well field took a serious hit from lightning strikes this summer,” said Rep. Nick Archer, R-Elk City. “This emergency grant will help the city make the necessary repairs and restore reliable, safe water service for the community. I am thankful that the Oklahoma Water Resources Board has approved a grant to Geary Utilities to address this immediate need.'
“We are grateful to Senator Darcy Jech and Representative Nick Archer for their continued support of water and wastewater infrastructure funding in Oklahoma,” said Julie Cunningham, OWRB Executive Director.
The announcement comes as the city is dealing with another water outage. A social media post Sunday advised that the town had lost water production at its plant because the reverse osmosis control system was down. The failure did not trigger the alarm, meaning no one was alerted the system was down.
This is following the same system outage on Sept. 16. Crews were made aware of the low pressure or no water to residents when the complaints began pouring in.
The public works notified the residents there would be low pressure until the water tower refills. They are asked to refrain from watering, long showers or laundry until the situation is rectified. The post goes on to explain that the issue might be tied to internet connectivity and have asked that IT specialists address it as a priority since it is the second silent failure in four days.
While the post maintains the water quality has not been affected, residents posted of cloudy to dirty looking water while others were resorting to bottled water.