The City of Bartlesville Water Supply Signing ceremony set for 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday has been postponed.

The event was planned to help mark an agreement between the City of Bartlesville and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that allows the City to purchase water rights at Copan Lake at a reasonable cost, which is now possible thanks to a provision in America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018. The author of the provision, U.S. Senator for Oklahoma Jim Inhofe, was the scheduled feature speaker for the ceremony, but he has returned to Washington D.C. in light of recent events involving the coronavirus Covid-19 in the U.S.

Sen. Inhofe said this week was supposed to be a recess week for all of the nation's senators. He said that recess was called off because of the COVID-19 crisis that has fiercely hit our world. It is Sen. Inhofe's hope that people of Bartlesville will understand and continue with their meetings as they had planned.

In a statement, Bartlesville City Manager Mike Bailey said, "The ability to purchase water rights at Copan Lake has been a long and difficult process, taking more than a decade to secure — and Senator Inhofe is largely to thank for that. So we want to choose a time for this ceremony when he is available, and we want the public to feel comfortable to attend as well. Due to this, we have decided to postpone this event to a later date.”

Currently, Sen. Inhofe is keeping his offices open for business. He said it is important to note that you can go to inhofe.senate.gov/coronavirus for the latest resources when it comes to fighting COVID-19.

If you know someone that is stuck overseas or is in a serious situation because of the coronavirus, you can get ahold of Sen. Inhofe's offices. Sen. Inhofe said they are there to help you.

The major thing to understand is that everything is changing. Sen. Inhofe said they will be ther no matter what happens. He said the most significant thing you can do is stay in touch with his offices to see what is going on.