Owasso council declares emergency to repair inoperable water transmission line after major leak

Owasso’s City Council declared an emergency to authorize immediate repairs to a main water transmission line that recently failed and supplies the southern portion of the city.

Roger Stevens told the council the line, located near East 66th Street North and running under Burr Creek, was scheduled for replacement in 2026 but “a major water line or water leak has rendered it inoperable,” leaving reduced redundancy for the Grama water tank. Staff asked the council to waive the 21-day competitive bidding requirement under the Owasso code of ordinances and Title 61, the Public Competitive Bidding Act of 1974, and to authorize soliciting quotes and the city manager to enter into a contract with the lowest responsive qualified contractor.

Stevens provided a preliminary cost estimate: construction-only costs of $750,000 and an additional approximately $50,000 for core drilling, survey and engineering. He said staff expects to use about $1.3 million in remaining loan proceeds from prior water projects as the funding source and aims to have the line replaced within 30 days.

Councilors asked about budget impacts and whether the project had been planned for a later fiscal year; Stevens said engineering had previously been funded but the need to accelerate was driven by the new leak. A motion to approve the emergency declaration and solicit quotes passed on a recorded vote.

Why this matters: The transmission line supplies a key storage tank and reduced redundancy raises service and reliability concerns; expedited repair seeks to restore system redundancy and reduce risk of service interruptions.

Next steps: Staff will solicit multiple quotes, present contract details to the council (or OPWA as appropriate) and report back with the executed contract amount and project status at the Jan. 6 meeting per staff remarks.