This is Part 4 in a series about What Makes Us Civilized reflecting on the building blocks of our own community and the most important elements that we must get right.
Water-borne illness. Know anyone who has died from it?
I sure don't.
Ever play the classic 80's computer game, The Oregon Trail? Zeke always died of dysentery. What the heck is dysentery?
Your great-grandparents knew what dysentery was. They likely had a relative who had suffered or even died of dysentery.
This is largely a thing of the past in developed economies when living in a modern city with plumbing systems and water distributions systems. While it is largely a thing of the past, there is nothing more essential to life than clear, clean, drinkable water. As humans, we can't go long without it.
Today, our water is delivered from two sources: Oklahoma City's water system and the City of Yukon's wells located near and on the OKC Airport Trust land. Both of these sources provide good, clean and abundant drinking water and the City of Yukon has a strong agreement with Oklahoma City to deliver this water for decades to come.
BUT, this is not the only kind of sustainable water solution we desire. We are working on and making progress towards alternative sources of water, both potable and non-potable.
Why? For our city to maintain the civilization we have come to expect, we need to have redundant and abundant sources of water for the next 50 to 100 years.
In coming months and years, we will bring on alternative sources of potable and non-potable water. We also are focusing on strategic reuse of the water we process from our waste treatment plant. Sustainability and resilience are the key words when we think about providing water for our citizens in the decades to come.
We will need to make these critical investment decisions in the coming months and years that will set up our children and grand-children to be well provided for with clean and abundant water. Water continues to be at the top of my priorities for what we need to solve for our city to have a sustainable solution.