Be Prepared for Broken Water Lines

This is from the City of Tulsa E-news. I thought there was some good info in here so I yanked the whole thing for a blog post.

Single-digit temperatures are forecast for Tulsa within the next few days.

That means home and business owners should be prepared to deal with frozen water pipes in and around their structures and with interruptions in water service.

Expansion and contraction of soils as the earth freezes and thaws often breaks water lines. The City has waterline repair crews on duty and on call around-the-clock. The repair crews try to restore service as quickly as possible to minimize inconvenience to customers, but some interruptions are unavoidable.

Residents can fill clean containers to store water for a few days when extremely cold temperatures are expected locally.

In some homes, especially older homes and those built on raised foundations instead of slabs it may be wise to take measures to protect pipes from freezing. Caution should also be used with additional heat sources used for warming pipes. Fires are caused each winter by improperly used electrical space heaters or open-flame heating devices.

Anyone noticing water bubbling up from the ground or running down the streets in spots that are not normally wet can report suspected water line breaks by calling the City of Tulsa's Water Emergency Line at 596-9488. You can also complete an online form to alert the Mayor's Action Center about the location of the water line break.