City Of Sapulpa Investigating Recent Increase Of Water Main Breaks

City crews in Sapulpa have been busy fixing a lot of water main breaks recently, and the time and frequency of the breaks have caught the City's attention.

The City said a couple of recent water main breaks raised a red flag, so City leaders met Monday to try to figure out what's going on.

One water main break had city workers tearing up a parking lot and sidewalk early Sunday morning to get things back to normal.

It's something the crews are doing more often than usual.

Sapulpa Assistant City Manager Rick Rumsey said, "It seems to be happening at the same time about every Sunday."

Another break, on January 22nd, took almost 10 hours to fix while some residents had low water pressure.

Rumsey said after meeting with the Utility Maintenance and Water Treatment supervisors, they think they know what's going on.

He said, right now, a water tank is going through routine maintenance - being cleaned and checked out - so it's not being used. Rumsey said the water tanks regulate the pressure, and someone is using a lot of water early on Sunday mornings.

"Somebody's using a high demand at that time, we believe, and at about the time of the water break, they're stopping their demand, and, all of a sudden, this line gets that pressure hitting it again, and it’s bursting the line," he said.

Rumsey said he isn't sure who's using so much water - a residence or a business - and said he may never know.

Maintenance is expected to be done on the water tank by the end of the week.

The City said if they have another water main break this Sunday, they'll keep looking into the problem.