Local news
Citizens raise questions at water forum
Utilities director promises answers at future meetings
Even though most of the questions asked by citizens attending the City of Norman's introductory forum discussing a long-term water supply plan weren't answered Thursday night at City Hall, future meetings promise to do just that.
Audience questions about brackish water, gray water, arsenic removal technologies and how much the city would pay if it starts bringing water from southeastern Oklahoma weren't fully addressed by Mayor Cindy Rosenthal and Utilities Director Ken Komiske, who presided over the meeting -- the first of eight slated over the next four months.
Instead, Komiske took notes on a giant Post-It in front of the audience and promised to address those complex issues at a later public forum.
Komiske said the City of Norman currently produces 4.5 billion gallons of water each year and performs more than 170,000 water quality tests. He said Norman gets 76 percent of its water from Lake Thunderbird, 26 percent form the Garber-Wellington Aquifer and just 2 percent from Oklahoma City.
Water rates, a huge issue for an city, also were discussed.
In Norman, voters have to approve rate increases and residential customers are charged more if they use more, which used to be a rare instance.
"That's a huge conservation incentive," Komiske said. "A lot of cities are adopting that now."
Komiske said the city applied for and received $14 million in stimulus funds -- in the form of a low-interest loan -- to rehab the city's aging water treatment plant, including a new clarifier, filter replacement, chemical feed units and a new emergency generator, among other items. He said under terms of the stimulus loan, the city will only have to pay back $12 million, with a "favorable" 2.78 percent interest rate.
Komiske also discussed the process of cleaning a decades-old filter at the city's water treatment plant.
"It's like an archaeological dig," Komiske said. "We're seeing what the bottom of the filters look like now."
The next forum will be Jan. 21 inside Norman City Council chambers, where officials will discuss the state of Oklahoma's water plan and how it affects Norman residents.
The forums will be broadcast on Cox Channel 20, and will be rebroadcast throughout the rest of the series, which runs though April.
Komiske and Rosenthal both stressed the importance of citizen participation in the forums several times Thursday night.
"I don't know any answers right now," Komiske said to the audience, who braved temperatures in the teens to attend the meeting at City Hall. "You guys are going to help us with that."
Andrew Knittle 366-3540 aknittle@normantranscript.com
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