City of Pawhuska dealing with citywide water outage

PAWHUSKA, Okla. — The City of Pawhuska is dealing with an ongoing citywide water outage.

The Osage Nation even closed their Pawhuska campus because they had no water.

The bigger problem is that water outages are common there.

FOX23 talked with the city manager about why this is happening.

The water problems in Pawhuska are due to old pipes and the water system in general.

The infrastructure is more than a century old.

"Of course our water system dates back to 1915, we're 109 years old," Pawhuska City Manager Jerry Eubanks said.

The City said they are working to update their water system, but have run into budget issues.

"We're trying to get into a proactive state instead of a reactive state. For years we've been reactive just because that's what our budget has allowed us to do,” Eubanks said.

Eubanks said that people in the city are looking for grants the City can apply for. He also said the City tries to communicate as much as they can with the public.

"It works a lot better than poof no water, you know, and then everyone starts calling. With our Facebook and website and things, we try to keep them informed," Eubanks said.

Since July 2021, the City of Pawhuska's Facebook page has posted that there was little to no water pressure due to main line breaks and leaks 77 times.

FOX23 spoke with neighbors who said they are frustrated.

They said it seems like they lose water at least once a month.

Eubanks said they're committed to fixing the problem once and for all.

The last time we reported a problem with the City's water system was just last month.

The water was shut down because of a major leak due to storms, but was restored the same day.