Oklahoma City lifted its mandatory water restriction after three days on Thursday afternoon, and Mustang followed shortly after.
Oklahoma City spokeswoman Debbie Ragan said officials still urge residents to conserve water. They recommend residents water lawns every other day and avoid watering between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., but she said that is voluntary.
“We hope not to make it a mandatory thing if we can be mindful of the heat and the drought and our other fellow citizens needs as well as our own,” she said.
Repairs were finished at the Overholser water treatment plant Thursday, Ragan said, which brought an additional 15 million to 20 million gallons of water into the system. She said the plant has been down for a while.
Thunderstorms on Tuesday offered a little relief, but forecasts call for continued triple-digit heat and dry conditions. Over last weekend, Oklahoma City used 176 million gallons in one day. Under normal conditions, it uses an average of 100 million gallons. With the plant offline, Ragan said water pressure during peak hours was low in western Oklahoma City neighborhoods.
To solve the problem, Oklahoma City mandated an even-odd outdoor watering restriction based on house number.
Mustang was affected by the larger city's ban because the municipality is one of its water customers. Mustang must buy Oklahoma City water to blend with its well water because the Environmental Protection Agency beefed up arsenic standards in 2006. Before 50 parts per billion of arsenic was allowed, but that was lowered to 10 parts per billion.
Because several of Mustang's wells don't meet that standard, the water must be blended from other wells and Oklahoma City water to meet the requirement.
Others that buy water from Oklahoma City are Yukon, Piedmont, El Reno, Moore, Edmond, Norman, Blanchard, the Village, Warr Acres, Lake Aluma, Deer Creek water district and Canadian County District 3.