The man who manages Oak Harbor’s water system said a couple of incidents last week should remind residents to set a few jugs of the wet stuff aside in case of an emergency.

“People should remember that we’re living on an island,” said Rich Tyhius, operation manager for the city’s water division. The city and Navy base purchase water from Anacortes’ water plant on the Skagit River in Mount Vernon. The water is piped along Highway 20, and underneath Deception Pass bridge, to the city.

Due to low river levels, the city is in “Stage 1” of the water supply warning, which calls for voluntary water reduction.

Last Tuesday, city crews tore a hole in a 24-inch water main while they were digging alongside Highway 20 on Fidalgo Island. They needed to locate and evaluate the 24-inch water main because the pipe has to be moved next year for a Department of Transportation highway project.

“We found it, but we hit it with a backhoe and punched a hole in it,” he said.

The crew put a temporary patch on the pipe, which was still a bit leaky. They topped off the water tanks Wednesday. Thursday morning, they turned off the water and replaced a five-foot section of the water main, fixing the problem.

City residents didn’t have any interruption in water service, but Tyhuis said he received three complaints of cloudy water.

“When you shut off the main and turn it back on, you get air in the water,” he said.

Tyhuis said the city has three water reservoirs, with a total capacity of just over three million gallons. The Navy has about five to six million gallons of storage capacity, he said.

City residents use, on average, about 1.7 million gallons a day. But in case of an emergency, the city has three wells that can produce up to 230,000 gallons a day.

Because of dry conditions in the mountains, the Skagit River is running a little low. The river gauge dipped below 10 feet last week, which triggered Oak Harbor’s first stage of a water emergency. Stage 1 means “a potential for future drought conditions exists.”

“We’re asking people to use water wisely,” Tyhuis said. “We’re not curtailing anything, but just think about it.”

Fortunately, the river’s water level went back to above 11 feet Tuesday, Sept. 5.