City of Copan on precautionary boil water order due to 'cloudy water'

COPAN, Okla. — Since the summer of 2023, the city of Copan has had several issues with their water bank. Now, they're running into even more problems.

Officials said Copan is on a precautionary boil water situation due to high levels of turbidity in the water, that means the water may appear cloudy and have particles floating in it.

Washington County Emergency Management said this might have been caused by the rapid rise of the lake level after extended dangerously low lake levels.

Residents should use boiled or bottled water for drinking, food preparation, dishwashing and brushing teeth.

FOX23 spoke with the Copan Mayor, Pete Elkins, who told us how this all came about.

"The rain came in, the lake elevated and the wind caused the top of the lake to be real muddy," he explained.

Elkins said their plant is equipped to treat turbidity at 12 to 15 parts per million, however, right now, he said the turbidity is running five to six times that amount.

"Our water plant is not equipped to treat that kind of mud so we are having a very difficult time," Elkins said.

The water issue is not only affecting residents, it's also affecting the school district.

FOX23 spoke with Copan Public Schools Superintendent, Chris Smith who told us how they're handling the issue

"We send a message out to all of our parents and families encouraging them to send bottled water with their kids," he said. "That's the number one way that we deal with these issues most of the time, we've kind of dealt with these on and off kind of throughout this school year."

As this school year is coming to a close, Smith said problems like these are always challenging, especially for young kids.

"We try to be as tolerant as we can, but it is getting frustrating and it is challenging," he said. "We'd like to hopefully, like I said, get to a good solution for too long and not have to deal with this next school year, if at all, possible."

Elkins said their water plant, even under ideal conditions, is stressed.

"When we get things like this, it can't produce potable water with the turbidity as high as it is in the lake, unless we find a good clearer spot down in the water some place," he said.

Right now, the water's turbidity is 0.28. Elkins said that's great for them, but there's still more work to be done in order for the city to lift the boil order.