Bentwood Country Club to Save Nasworthy Water

Bentwood Country Club will be saving the City’s water resources after Tuesday’s City Council meeting, when Director Kevin Collins petitioned Council for an easement and right of way that would allow him to pipe the water to the club for irrigation purposes.

The water stems from wells on the Hoelscher family’s land across from Callison Road, Collins said Tuesday. The easement and right of way are needed to build a pipeline on city-owned land that is 950 feet long and is located within the abandoned Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railway, which the City acquired for a future Foster Road extension.

Bentwood intends to fund the pipeline themselves and the line will not affect the City’s use of the land.

Councilman Winkie Wardlaw was concerned of the source of the water, and wanted to know if it lies on the river.

“What we did is we secured a negotiated contract with the Hoelscher family and we’re going to be buying groundwater from their…private wells,” Collins responded. “There will be no water coming out of the river, it will be all water coming out of the wells. That well water will be transported across to our production lines and we’ll be able to irrigate our entire golf course without using any city water or water from Lake Nasworthy.”

Having explained the purpose of the project, Collins was commended for his efforts to save water. “I believe this is a great deal for the city,” Councilman Rodney Fleming said. “Looking for second options, and I wish more companies could try and find this. [This is] especially [good] for the lake residents as the lake’s dropping every single week.”

Mayor Dwain Morrison agreed. “We’re trying to do everything we can to keep the river water in the river,” he said.

Following his brief presentation, council members unanimously voted in favor of granting Bentwood the easement. Collins said, “We plan on starting construction as soon as we get the easement in place.”

How long construction is anticipated to take was not mentioned at the meeting.