TULSA, Okla. — City of Tulsa water crews are racing across town to fix water line breaks.
The water was flowing quickly near 11th and Yale. The 6-inch water line break was flowing into the icy street.
Josh Bilby, Tulsa’s Water Distribution Manager, says it’s one of at least 12 breaks reported on Jan 27.
“With the colder temperatures, we did expect this, so we had extra crews on standby,” said Josh Bilby. “We had people ready to go.”
Bilby says this week they’ll have nearly 50 employees ready to respond. At least 36 of them are working the breaks Tulsa is seeing right now.
“Right now, we’ve seen a lot of the breaks in our smaller 6-inch cast iron lines,” said Bilby. “That’s what we’ve seen the most issues with during this winter event.”
2 News saw water crews fixing a 6-inch line near 4th and Sheridan.
Of the more than 20 breaks listed on the city’s water line break board, at least 7 of them are the 6-inch lines.
Bilby says they’re keeping an eye out for those, along with the older infrastructure, through town and on 21st and Lewis.
2 News shows you the road buckled in this area because of a water main break on Jan 26.
Bilby says it’s a problem area.
“We have had issues with that line in the past,” said Bilby.
For perspective, the 2021 winter storm brought more than 250 water line breaks through February, with at most 30 breaks a day. So far in 2026, we haven’t seen that many.
With more than 50 people without water as of 3 p.m. Jan. 27, the goal is to get everything up and running again soon.
“We try to isolate as few as possible when we’re in a neighborhood because we understand people are home,” said Bilby. People are working remotely. Schools are out. So, everybody needs water while they’re home, so we try to work with that while we can.”
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