Water service to businesses and residents south of Interstate 40 and west of U.S. 81 has been turned off as workers for the City of El Reno and volunteers search for a leak in a water mainline affecting a large portion of the town.

Interim City Manager Ken Brown held a press conference Wednesday in which details of the water issues were released.

“We were notified about 1 o’clock this morning that our water towers were low. Crews went out and started looking into it and about 4 o’clock we discovered that the tower at the lake or what we refer to as the West Tower was at about a 10-foot level. That is extremely low,” said Brown.

The isolated area was determined after morning searches. Brown did not know how many residents or businesses would be affected by the outage. He added the cause for the water main leak will be determined when it’s found but speculated it is due to dried shifting ground caused by the prolonged drought.

“We started looking into all the general areas and continually monitoring (towers) and what’s going on with that. We had crews out and our drone operators have been flying. Some of your news helicopters have flown and kind of give us an update on what they're seeing.

“In the last hour or so, we believe we have isolated the area in which it (leak) is coming from,” said Brown.

The city has two water towers, one at the lake and the other at the corner of Highway 66 and Elm Street, which is the East Tower. The towers and the city’s water well sites and wastewater treatment plant are operated by Wright Water, which initially notified city leaders of the situation.

The city also provides water to the Heaston community as well as the City of Union City and its some 1,800 residents. Water to both areas has been cut off according to El Reno Public Information Manager Lyndsay Bayne.

Union City officials had no comment.

Normally the lake tower, which at capacity holds 750,000 gallons of water, stands at 36 feet deep. The level was down to 10 feet deep, or two-thirds lost capacity, before the leak area was isolated.

Brown added that the water level in the lake tower had increased to 15 feet after the service was cut off to the isolated area. He said the water service cutoffs could last from just a few hours up to days.

“Until we repair it. As soon as we're able to isolate it and make repairs, then we’ll open everything else back up,” said Brown.

The downtown tower remains full at its 500,000-gallon capacity.

Bayne said the water to replenish the lake tower level is coming from the city’s water wells. Production at the site has been increased.

The city is asking all outside water usage supplied by the city to stop until the leak is located. Inside water consumption should be limited when possible.

“We continue to work as hard as we can. We have crews out driving every roadway, walking all areas and along creek lines looking for this break or whatever it may be.

“I want to assure everyone we’re doing everything we can and we’ll get it (water) back on as soon as we can,” said Brown.

Brown said relief agencies like the Red Cross are ready to provide bottled water to residents in need.

El Reno Public Schools canceled classes for Wednesday. Redlands Community College closed the campus before noon and will remain out Thursday, Aug. 27. Canadian County offices and court services closed at 2pm Wednesday.