By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
Visible progress is underway for the wellfield design of the long-term water supply for the cities of Hays and Russell at their jointly owned R9 Ranch in Edwards County.
John Braun, project manager, recently presented an update to the Hays City Commission.
The project is split into two areas, the 67-mile pipeline from the ranch to Hays' Smoky Hill wellfields south of Schoenchen, and the R9 wellfield itself.
The wellfield
The cities' design engineer Burns & McDonnell, Wichita, has subcontracted with Hays engineers Driggs Design Group to survey the wellfield. That work began Oct. 9.
Burns & McDonnell has completed a desktop environmental review of the property and will conduct environmental field surveys as the project moves forward in conjunction with the pipeline project.
Bids have been received for drilling test wells for the 14 municipal water wells that will eventually be drilled.
The short-range schedule has test hole borings to be completed by the end of the year so that water sampling and selection of the well locations can begin in early 2024.
The pipeline
In August, the city hired 4-D Acquisition and Consulting, Onsted, Mich., to assist in the final selection of the pipeline route. By the end of the year, the firm will provide estimates for what the land acquisition costs will be.
The final route recommendation was expected to be completed by the end of October with selection at the end of November.
Next will be the hiring of a right-of-way consultant in December to perform the easement acquisitions and to acquire survey permissions from property owners along the route.
Once that's done, surveying of the pipeline route will begin in 2024.
"Environmental assessments will begin once we have the permissions to get on the properties to see if they find anything culturally or historically significant," Braun said.
"Both projects take us to the summer of 2025, when we would actually be going out for bids for construction of both the pipeline and the wellfield," Braun said.
The project is big, the biggest ever completed for the city of Hays.
The survey itself will take six months, Braun estimated, "so we're going to get it in chunks.
"They're going to survey six miles, and we're going to get that and design that while they're designing the next [miles], and then we're gonna get that.
"So, it's going to be lots of things happening at the same time."
There are still a lot of unknowns, including how it will be put out to bid.
"I think we can have some things done sooner than the summer of '25," Braun told commissioners.
Alaina Cunningham, commissioner, asked how many property owners will need to be worked with along the 67-mile pipeline.
"I don't know that exactly because we don't have the exact route, but we're probably talking between 150 and 200 property owners. We have about eight or nine months just for making offers for purchasing easements."
"Do we have any idea how long construction will take?" asked Mason Ruder, commissioner.
"We're not going to build it in less than two years," Braun said. "We're going to have to have more than one contractor with multiple work zones at the same time in order to get it done."
Braun said the city is looking at different strategies for the project, including pre-purchasing materials and bidding out construction separately.
"That way we'll have the same materials and supplies for the whole thing," he said.
"I appreciate you guys looking that far into the future for these kinds of solutions, because that's exactly what this project is going to need," Ruder said.
Braun and several other city staff visited the city of McPherson on Oct. 31 to meet with the town's board of public utilities. McPherson has a similar, but shorter, 20-mile waterline project underway.
Walk-in hunting area
The R9 Ranch's 6,800 acres is the seventh-largest contiguous walk-in-hunting-area in Kansas, said Chris Smith, property manager.
Established by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks in 1995, the walk-in program provides landowners an additional revenue source while providing hunters access to private lands.
It also provides an important role in supporting local communities and businesses.
Most recent numbers show hunters annually contribute roughly $600 million to the state's economy and much of that activity occurs in the western half of the state.
Two hunting area entrances and parking areas have been established at the R9.
The north entrance to the property is approximately five miles south of Kinsley along the Arkansas River. The south entrance is eight and a half miles south of Kinsley along U.S. Highway 183 and a mile and a half west on County Road T.
There is 25 miles of perimeter fencing marked with signage. A safety zone is delineated around the work site trailer.
"The property is ready to go and should be a good addition to Edwards County and the surrounding area," Smith said.
The R9 property is one of the top five quail survey locations in the state, Smith said, adding he's been surprised by the number of pheasants he's seen, along with deer.
Hays purchased the Edwards County R9 Ranch in 1995. Russell bought an 18 percent interest in the ranch a year later. The regulatory process of working through the Kansas Water Transfer Act kicked off in 2014.