Cities begin limiting irrigation after OUC asks water customers to start conserving

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — OUC is asking the community to limit irrigation immediately ,or the water quality could be impacted.

Officials are asking residents to cut back on watering their lawn, pressure washing and washing their cars.

The utility company told us it is running critically low on liquid oxygen, which is used to clean and treat our drinking water, and also used to treat and possibly save coronavirus patients.

READ: 9 simple ways to help conserve water

In Delaney Park, city officials shut off its big fountains at Delaney Park and Orwin Manor, Loch Haven and Blue Jacket parks.

The city also reduced water at 32 of their ball fields, and every park on the city’s potable water system is at a bare minimum now.

For years, OUC has relied on liquid oxygen to help purify and clean its water.

READ: OUC asking water customers to start conserving water immediately: Here’s why

Liquid oxygen is now in short supply. There are more coronavirus patients than ever in our hospitals who need that liquid oxygen, so that leaves OUC with a lot less liquid oxygen than they are used to.

“We were aware of that a couple weeks ago, but we weren’t aware that it was going to be an ongoing concern,” said Linda Ferrone, OUC’s chief marketing officer.

They typically get 10 trucks a week to treat water; they now get five to seven, and they’ve already used up about 50% of what they had saved.

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The liquid oxygen used in the ozonation process is vital, said Dr. Eban Bean, assistant professor and extension specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at the University of Florida.

“Ozone is probably the most common way to oxygenate or get rid of those elements that can have bad tastes and foul odors.”

So no oxygen liquid means the water “might look kind of cloudy” and smell like “rotten eggs,” Bean said.

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“You’re not going to want to drink it if you’re not going to want to cook with it,” Bean said.

Video: OUC asking water customers to start conserving water immediately: Here’s why Liquid oxygen is now in short supply due to a record number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, and OUC said its supply is running low. (Karen Parks, WFTV.com)

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