Water Problems Flow Yet Again For Konawa Residents

The water problems keep flowing for the town of Konawa. Many residents say they haven't had running water since this weekend, and that's just the latest in a reoccurring issue that now happens a couple times a week.

1/24/2013 Related Story: Konawa Water Woes Now Include Dangerous Carcinogens

Anna and Milton Courtney have lived in their Konawa home for most of their 63 years of marriage.

"Since 1954," said Anna.

But nothing has been like the last year.

"It's been more frequent that it's off than it is on," said Anna referring to their running water.

This time they haven't had water since Sunday. And the water they now have to save up all around the house is starting to run out.

"Let me just say we're getting desperate," said Milton.

One block North Julia Merriman keeps a pot of water warm on her stove to rinse the hair of customers of her beauty salon. She hauls the water in from her daughter's house in the country that has a well.

"You can either go heat water and keep it going or shut the door and go home and being self-employed that doesn't work," said Merriman.

The city manager says they replaced the pipes out at the well field, but then problems with pumps emerged. The current outage is due to the wells not producing enough to keep up with demand.

Last year, the Oklahoma Water Resource Board gave the city almost a hundred thousand dollars to drill a new well. But the new city manager says the old city manager, who was fired months ago, was in charge of that project and those wells weren't put in correctly.

For resident's, it's all adding to frustration that's close to boiling over.

"We're kind of in the dark, we're trying to be as patient as we can," said Milton.

The town of Konawa is holding a meeting at 5:30 Wednesday night to inform residents of the current problems and get feedback about what to do next.