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Students in Beggs attended virtual class for eight days this month while their school had no water

A red brick building with a monolithic dome top. A sign in front says "We are Beggs" with a trident logo. In the foreground, trees with fall colors frame the top of the image.
Beggs Public Schools
Without consistent access to water, Beggs Public Schools held virtual learning November 4th through 15th.

Unreliable access to drinking water has left people in Beggs scrambling for much of the month of November.

The problem came to a head recently as students in the local school district have attended virtual class while their school building was without water.

Beggs Public Schools teachers posted homework on a Facebook page. Students worked from home, even though some didn’t have water there either. Virtual learning started on Nov. 4, and students only returned to classrooms on Wednesday, Nov. 16.

This isn’t the first time Beggs has had to close school because of water issues. Students also went into virtual learning for three days in September.

Mayor Jacob Branson told News 8 in Tulsa that the city’s pipes run uphill from the water plant. It takes a lot of energy to pump that water to residents, and Branson said OG&E hasn’t been supplying enough power.

This has left Beggs without consistent access to water for months. The city is looking into installing more efficient infrastructure, but those improvements will be pricey.

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Graycen Wheeler is a reporter covering water issues at KOSU as a corps member with Report for America.
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