A town hall meeting in response to recent water quality in Altus was held last night, Sept. 19, at Altus City Hall. On the panel were Chris Riffle, Assistant City Manger Terry Mosely, and City Engineer Johnny Barron. City Manager Gary Jones joined the Facebook Live event to help answer questions. Colonel Patrick L. Brady-Lee of Altus Air Force Base was also on hand and said that Altus AFB was here to support the City as they deal with this situation and to offer their expertise as they work to a resolution.
Riffle started the meeting by giving background information about the City’s water system and how we got to the point of excessive levels of manganese in the water, and what is being done to combat it.
The City began seeing discoloration the water in mid-August and higher than normal levels of manganese were found in testing. The cause of this issue was said to be from a lake turnover at Tom Steed Lake. The City of Altus gets about 80% of their water from the lake, with the other 20% coming from Texas wells. Tom Steed Lake has been at 100% in recently years, but is currently at about 60%. A lake turnover stirs up organic materials and minerals which has caused problems and challenges in water quality. Since 2016 Altus’ water has been a mix of well water, reverse osmosis water and traditional treated surface water.
To combat the issues, the City of Altus has increased level monitoring, and they are currently upgrading and changing out some of their equipment, and monitoring that equipment within the water treatment plant and utiliizing the expertise of experts and consultants.
Riffle said that their long term plans include sourcing addition water sources from well fields to our east and south. Mosely said that the City is taking a three-fold approach, “We are moving to 24/7 monitoring, maintaining an increased testing of levels and treatment.” He added, “When you are using surface water as your primary water source, you have to be mindful of things like we have been going through because of such things as drought and lake levels, but for the long term we are looking at increased well capacity and other water resources.”
Mosely said that even with the current situation, Altus water is still safe to drink. “We feel like we have a good handle on this particular episode. We have made some discoveries that are going to put our water treatment facility in rock solid shape for the long haul.”
Mosely added that this is a stressful situation for everyone, but especially for the team at the water treatment plant, and wanted to thank them for how well they have responded as things are moving forward.
Questions and concerns from the public included wanting access to day-to-day testing levels in case of health issues, as well as getting notifications and information to the public in a timely manner, and in general, if the water is harmful to use and drink.
Riffle said that he wanted to alleviate those concerns, and that in fact, the water being supplied to the people of Altus is safe and is not harmful, and that they are continuing to address the issue, and they are taking steps through treatment, testing, new equipment and alternative sources to get levels to where they need to be. He said, “All indications that we have been getting from Tom Steed Reservoir are more normal today than what we have been seeing, and water coming out to the public is in a more normal range with less or no discoloration.”
The information being put out by the City on the water conditions have been primarily through Facebook posts, but those who do not have Facebook, or even a computer, asked if the City could use the phone alert system to give updates. Riffle said that that system is used for emergency type announcements, but he would look into the possibility of giving water quality information through it in the future.
Water use restrictions were then addressed with Mosely saying that they have discussed going to a Level II Water Restriction status for Altus, “It’s not a red alert situation, but it’s something that we can all do together just to help alleviate the sheer amount of water being used since Tom Steed is down to about 60% full. I ask citizens to just think about how many times we are watering our lawn, washing our cars, and those kind of things. As a community there are small things that we can do to get through these kinds of episodes, and I challenge each of you to help us out at this time.”
In closing, Col. Lee said, “On behalf of the leadership team at Altus AFB, we appreciate the opportunity to support and be a part of this conversation because we believe is it vital to this community. We are committed to supporting the City of Altus as we move forward during this challenging time. I also want to echo what you all have been saying this entire time in that we are committed to providing safe drinking water and we believe that the water being producing in Altus right now is safe, but with that being said, we expect a very high standard in our water and we don’t believe that we are getting that at this time. We are working hard to achieve the standard that we expect from our community, and that is what this team that you see before you is working hard on.”
If you have questions or concerns, contact the City of Altus at 580-477-1950 or visit their website at altusok.gov, or find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cityofaltus. Riffle stated that you can also specifically ask to speak to him or City Manager Gary Jones.