By Davi Stuhlsatz

 MULVANE – Mandatory lawn watering restrictions have been imposed again this year, as work continues on developing a secondary source of water.

“The issue is not one of supply – there is plenty of water in Augusta’s primary water source, El Dorado Lake,” said Kent Hixson, city administrator. “The problem is the ability of the water transmission pipes from El Dorado to Augusta and from Augusta to Mulvane to withstand the pressure needed to supply all the water the citizens of both Augusta and Mulvane want to consume during the hot summer months.”

Daily water consumption in Mulvane nearly doubles during the summer.

“Because the transmission pipe from Augusta to Mulvane is so fragile and is cost prohibitive to upgrade or replace, it is my opinion that water restrictions from Augusta will be a long term part of Mulvane’s future,” he said.

A secondary source of water is being developed.

In 2011, public works was directed to begin making improvements to two city wells. Reconditioning these wells is the first phase of long-term improvement in Mulvane’s water supply.

This water is now available as an emergency backup should there be water shortages due to a shutdown of the Augusta pipeline and/or the depletion of water reserves.

It is “hard” water, so even though it is safe to drink and to use for fire protection, it will only be used in case of emergency.

In May, a draft design of a water supply and water storage plan was presented to the city council.

Recommendations were to recondition the city’s well system and to construct a 1.5 million-gallons-per-day water treatment plant to treat groundwater from the two wells and to build a 500,000-gallon elevated composite water tower near the Kansas Star Casino.

City council directed city engineer, Chris Young, to move forward with the development of plans to construct the water tower.

“We are moving forward, but developing a secondary water source is a slow and expensive process,” said Hixson.