What a Del City plumber finds in post-war houses
Del City began as one builder's project. In 1946 George Epperly, a Capitol Hill home builder, bought 160 acres of county land at what is now SE 29th Street and Sunnylane Road. He used precut, subassembled housing units to hold down costs and speed construction, and the first house was ready in January 1947. About 200 families lived there by the summer of 1948, and residents voted to incorporate that October. The town later absorbed Carter Park in 1954 and Midway Village in 1963, and it annexed undeveloped land between itself and Tinker Air Force Base.
The Census numbers show how much of Del City went up in two decades. The American Community Survey counts about 9,700 housing units here, with roughly 2,550 built in the 1950s and nearly 3,000 in the 1960s. The median year built is 1964, compared with 1982 for Oklahoma City as a whole. About 7,900 units are detached single-family houses, and the rest range from duplexes to apartment buildings of 50 units or more.
For plumbing, that age is the whole story. Unless they have been replaced, houses from that era may still have galvanized supply pipe, a cast-iron drain stack and a clay or cast-iron sewer lateral. Homes that were updated in pieces can have copper, PEX and galvanized in the same wall, and the oldest section is usually the one that gives out first.
Del City water and sewer: a city-run system fed by Lake Thunderbird and wells
Del City runs its own water utility. Its most recent Consumer Confidence Report, covering 2024, lists Thunderbird Lake as a surface water source along with 12 groundwater wells. The lake connection goes back to 1964, when Del City joined Midwest City and Norman to fund the Little River Reservoir Project that created Lake Thunderbird.
The same report shows lead and copper sampling from 2020 to 2022 with a 90th percentile lead result of zero, though one sampled site tested above the action level. The city keeps a service line inventory you can ask about at 405-671-2871. If you want to know what your own line is made of, we can check it where it enters the house and talk through lead water service line replacement if it turns out to be lead or galvanized.
On the sewer side, the Public Works Department operates a wastewater treatment plant that treats wastewater from throughout Del City. When a drain backs up, the first question is whether the problem sits in your line or in the city's main. A sewer camera inspection answers that quickly and shows the condition of the pipe under your yard.
Freeze risk in Del City
Del City shares Oklahoma City's weather, and that includes sudden arctic outbreaks after mild weeks. On February 16, 2021, Oklahoma City hit minus 14°F, its second-lowest reading on record behind minus 17°F in 1899, according to the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. IBHS, citing University of Illinois research, treats 20°F as the alert threshold for pipe freezing in southern homes.
In a sixty-year-old house, the pipes to watch are the ones on north and west exterior walls, in the garage and in the attic. When the forecast drops below 20°F, drip those faucets, open the cabinet doors under sinks and disconnect garden hoses. If a line does freeze, our frozen pipe repair service thaws it safely and checks for splits before the water comes back.
Plumbing permits and inspections in Del City
Permits in Del City come from the Community Development Department's Permits and Inspections desk at 3701 SE 15th Street. The city uses one application for plumbing, electrical and mechanical permits, and it requires a contractor with a valid State of Oklahoma license. The desk is open 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until 11:30 a.m. on Friday. When a job needs a permit, we pull it with the city and schedule the inspection, so you are not the one chasing paperwork.
