Tulsa's Zink Lake water

Feb 14, 2024

Among many other projects, the Improve Our Tulsa capital improvements package funds water recreation at Zink Lake.

Tulsa World Staff Writer

The city hopes to begin testing the water in Zink Lake in March, six months before the reconstructed Zink Dam is set to open in September, a city engineer said Wednesday.

Brooke Caviness told city councilors that the start date would depend on when the Holly Frontier refinery company completes its bank-stabilization project on the west side of the river.

“We can’t start impounding water into the lake until that project is complete because it would impact their construction,” Caviness said. “So as soon as that is complete, which we are anticipating to happen in March, then we will be able to impound water, have water in the lake and start our water-quality testing.”

Caviness was one of several city officials and consultants who met with councilors to present a detailed history of the project and explain how the city is preparing to monitor the water quality in the lake and communicate that information to the public.

Critics of the plan have met twice with city councilors to say they don’t believe the city has done enough to ensure that the lake will be safe for recreational uses.

“This is the beginning, really, of these kinds of conversations for the next year,” said mayoral Chief of Staff Blake Ewing. “Everything is not all the way figured out, but this is a good place to start as to where things stand and what the plans are moving forward.”

Forty-two miles of the Arkansas River run through Tulsa County. According to a 2022 report from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, the segment of the river that would include Zink Lake has been listed as impaired for cadmium but not for bacteria. In earlier reports, it had been listed as impaired for bacteria.

Scott VanLoo, operations manager for the city’s Public Works Department, said the river’s water quality is in line with other streams and rivers in the region.

“The water quality in the river, in the Arkansas River, is not unlike water quality in most other streams and rivers across the state of Oklahoma, as well as across the Midwest,” VanLoo said.

He added that what happens upstream at Keystone Dam plays a primary role in determining the river’s water quality in Tulsa.

“What that does is, even though it’s classified as a prairie braided stream, it doesn’t necessarily behave like a prairie braided stream just because the dam controls so much of the river … channel itself,” VanLoo said. “That is important when talking about water quality.”

Construction crews make progress on the Zink Dam flume site and pedestrian bridge over the Arkansas River on Thursday, July 13, 2023, in Tulsa, Okla.

He added: “You do have issues or times when the water consists of a lot of runoff, but that is during rain events. For the most part, most of the water quality is coming in from upstream.”

Wednesday’s presentation also included information on the city’s existing testing protocols.

The city tests stormwater that eventually feeds into the Arkansas River as a requirement to receive a Municipal Water Discharge permit. The testing is done throughout the city, not at the point of discharge into the Arkansas River.

The city also tests the water that comes out of its wastewater treatment plants, as well the water in the Arkansas River upstream and downstream of the plants.

Eric Lee, director of the city’s Water and Sewer Department, said the city is required to test for a variety of things, including, E. coli, water flow, residual chlorine, total suspended solids, PH, and toxicity.

“I have a great picture that I forget to put in the slide,” Lee told councilors. “The Arkansas River is brown; what we are discharging into the receiving body is totally blue, totally clear.

“It’s wonderful, and you probably say, ‘If I am going to swim in one or the other, I am probably going to swim in the effluent of the wastewater treatment plant’ — right, because it’s that great.

“We produce a great product, and we’re proud of it.”

VanLoo said the city is evaluating several on-site methods of communicating the water quality in Zink Lake. Under consideration are flags, signs with a QR code, and lights. The city also plans to develop an online dashboard that will provide detailed information about the conditions in the lake.

Lee said the goal would be two-fold.

“One is: What is the most recent test? Provide that date, provide the results, but then, also, can we model to be more predictive in things that happen and then be more informative on those predictions?” he said.

Ewing said that over the next several months the city intends to provide additional updates to councilors and is planning to hold several public engagement discussions “where we can share the progress as it’s made with the community, invite people to come to share thoughts, concerns, and ask questions.”

“This group that has been working on putting this together is committed from department to department to making sure that this is a thorough, transparent process and that we have lots of opportunities for you to ask questions and to present concerns,” Ewing said.

Barbara Van Hanken, one of the founders of the Tulsa Area Arkansas River Advocates, has been a critic of the city’s plans for the lake. After Wednesday’s meeting, which she attended, she said the presentation had many gaps.

“They had a lot of conversation about the bacteria, but really nothing about testing the water for any of the pollutants that would come from the refinery,” Van Hanken said. “So, in my opinion, it is a bit superficial and doesn’t get to the real crux of the problem.”

Wednesday’s presentation focused on the biological risk factors associated with recreational waters. The physical and chemical risks will be part of future discussions, according to the city.

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