Central Oklahoma: The Nexus of Disasters and Responding to Emergencies

Central Oklahoma has a diverse, complex climate with weather events ranging from extreme winter conditions to severe drought with exceptional temperatures to violent storms to destructive flooding. In order for Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust (OCWUT) through the Utilities Department for the City of Oklahoma City to respond to system failures resulting from inclement and disasters, policies and procedures have been implemented to immediately address impacts to the water and wastewater system. Emergency construction contracts allow for the design, bidding and contract award within a period of a few days. Material pre-purchase provides for materials on-hand to eliminate lead times for manufacture and/or delivery of pipe and repair kits. Contracting of on-call services has allowed OCWUT to remain ready to respond while not increasing staff or while deferring capital expenditures. Lastly, resource flexibility has created the ability to reallocate assets as needed to other areas to enable OCWUT to address increased demands for a particular area while not increasing overall staffing levels.