NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. —As Hutchinson Interim City Manager Gary Meagher prepares to step aside for the permanent manager, Kendal Francis, there is still a lot of work to be done on water needs in the immediate area and what role, if any, Hutchinson can play in meeting that.
"We have had a request from South Hutchinson to possibly supply water to them, from the community of Yoder and then with the industrial park that the chamber is creating south of town, there's water needs there," Meagher said. "We're in the process of looking at our water rights, we're looking at our capacity to pump water, how much we can provide to them. We're looking at our overall picture for the future, how can we make sure that we secure enough water for our community going forward?"
The only one of those agreements that has been agreed to by Hutchinson's city council is sending water to Yoder to blend with its own water to reduce nitrate levels to within acceptable limits. The other proposals are just that. However, if it is required to dig under Highway 50 and under the river to get the water to Yoder anyway, it seems like it would make sense to do it once with enough future capacity to allow for the expansion for these additional needs if that's something the governing body believes can and should be done. As of August, the city was using about 65% of its water rights. If you don't show the state your intended use for a water right and then use it that way, you can eventually lose that water right, which is legally called abandonment.
"The city's done a really good job in trying to secure enough water for the community," Meagher said. "It's when we receive these other requests that then we start having to look a little closer at what we really can provide. Water is such a critical resource. It not only is helpful to have water for economic development, but just for the overall growth of our community."
New City Manager Francis has water and wastewater experience in his career. According to his LinkedIn profile, Francis was a wastewater treatment plant operator in Beloit from 1994 to 2007 and foreman of the water plant from 2007 to 2009, before being named Director of Water/Wastewater Operations in Beloit in March of 2009 and holding that job until January of 2014, when he got into city management.
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