Local and Regional Government Environmental Programs

The City of Tulsa participates in and leads many local and regional government environmental programs dedicated to improving the quality of Tulsa's air and water environment. The Ozone Alert!, Clean Cities and Tulsa Area Commuter Choice (Green Traveler) programs reflect Tulsa's commitment to promoting clean air through a variety of initiatives between government and private enterprise. The City of Tulsa also sponsors the Partners for a Clean Environment, which makes information about water and air quality improvement available on Tulsa's Environmental Network, and the Blue Thumb Business Partners for A Clean Environment program offered jointly with the Tulsa County Conservation District.  Tulsa also helps support the Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking (EMPACT) program, hosted by INCOG, to help people in the Tulsa community and the surrounding regions of Northeastern Oklahoma connect environmental data to their daily lives and promote public involvement in environmental policy. This objective is being reached by providing up-to-date, relevant, and interesting environmental information, in combination with other public awareness, outreach, and educational programs in the Tulsa area.  

The City of Tulsa is currently implementing a comprehensive public education program for water quality protection as part of their Phase I Stormwater permit. Tulsa partners with nonprofit groups representing developers and industries, its suburban Phase II stormwater cities, the Tulsa County Conservation District, and the Tulsa Blue Thumb program to provide a suite of education and citizen involvement activities related to protection of watersheds in the Tulsa area.  

The City of Tulsa is also an active participant in INCOG’s regional Green Country Stormwater Alliance (GCSA), a coalition of cities and counties in Northeast Oklahoma dedicated to controlling stormwater pollution. The GCSA members implement education programs, perform inspections of construction sites and other potential pollution sources, and take local enforcement actions to stop pollution. Tulsa provides guidance and leadership to its neighbors to help implement regional solutions to watershed protection. INCOG has also implemented a stream restoration and watershed protection program, the Oklahoma Stream Team. This program provides education to developers, consultants, city planners and citizens on how to restore and protect urban streams by implementing environmentally sustainable alternatives to concrete channel hardening. The OST also provides free consulting services in the project planning stages on the best solutions for stream protection. 

The Metropolitan Environmental Trust (M.e.t.) hosts semi-annual Household Pollutant Collection Events at the Tulsa Fairgrounds. The City of Tulsa provides substantial funding and manpower support for these events. Thousand of pounds of household waste are safely removed from the environment with each event. The M.e.t. also provides recycling centers in the Tulsa metropolitan area for communities that need additional help with waste disposal. These centers provide additional protection to Tulsa watersheds by providing a means to properly dispose of trash that might otherwise be discarded into streams. This effort is complimented by the City of Tulsa's curbside recycling program. This new program is a voluntary effort in trial sections of the city to reduce waste for customers with residential trash service. For a nominal surcharge on monthly Tulsa utility bills, recyclables will be collected at the curb. Recycling bins are provided by the trash collection service for recycling of glass, plastic, aluminum, and newspaper.  

The M.e.t. also sponsors an annual Enviro-Expo / Earth Day event held in Tulsa to promote environmental protection and stewardship. Local bands and craftsmen attend in a festival atmosphere. The City of Tulsa and other environmental organizations have displays and booths for providing information to the public.  

The City of Tulsa's Parks Department hosts Waterworks New Art Studio and Wet In the City water quality education programs at their newly renovated Mohawk Water Plant and at other Parks facilities. These programs target local secondary school children and focus on water quality protection strategies that can be undertaken by citizens.  

In addition to the sustainable development programs described above, the City of Tulsa has partnered with many organizations to promote environmental improvements within the Tulsa area. The City of Tulsa sponsors Operation Clean Sweep where residents and volunteers from businesses gather to remove litter and trash from public areas. Another city-wide beautification project sponsored by the Mayor's office is “Paint the Town,” where residents from across the city volunteer their time to paint over graffiti on walls, buildings, overpasses, and other public places. Some of the paint used for this project is collected during the Household Pollutant Collection Events, another Tulsa environmental protection program. 

The environmental programs described above are complimented by several long-term air and water quality monitoring programs. Tulsa has five air quality monitors providing 24-hour continuous readings of ozone. These data are transmitted real-time to the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) where they are evaluated for compliance with the EPA ozone standard. The Ozone Alert! website captures the ODEQ data and transforms it continuously in  user-friendly formats on the website for stakeholders and the public. There are several water quality monitoring programs in the Tulsa area conducted by State and Federal agencies that generate data to assess water quality of local streams and rivers.