The city of Kent’s Riverbend Golf Complex moved a step closer to getting a new irrigation well.
The City Council approved a $135,106 contract on April 5 with Graham-based Charon Drilling, Inc., to drill nearly 450 feet for a well to replace a failed well to water the 18-hole course and the par-3 course.
“The last number of years the well production has continued to lose its performance,” Parks Director Jeff Watling said to the council. “We have made efforts to rehabilitate that well and we were not successful in that.”
Work is expected to start this spring, Watling said.
The council last year set aside $400,000 in the 2015-16 budget to cover the potential repair costs after Watling informed members in spring 2015 of the ongoing problems with the well.
For the last few years, Riverbend has spent between $100,000 and $150,000 each year to buy water from the city to irrigate the golf courses because of problems with the well. The water purchased by the golf complex from the city’s water department is supplied by two fire hoses connected to two separate water meters, which are connected to a fire hydrant adjacent to the parking lot at the 18-hole golf course.
“The payback on this will be quite immediate given our average cost of water has been about $150,000 the last couple of years,” Watling said.
Charon Drilling’s bid came in under a city’s engineer estimate of $150,000.
The city hired Tacoma-based Robinson Noble for $12,919 last year for design work about what it will take to drill a new well and install a new pump or use the existing pump. The council will be asked later this year to approve a contract for a new pump system.
“Once the new well is drilled, we will then need to connect to the existing water line, connect the electrical service and install the pump,” Watling said in an email to the Kent Reporter. “The estimated cost of that work is $110,000, however the actual location of the drilled well may reduce the actual cost significantly.”
Riverbend requires a minimum irrigation water source of 250 gallons per minute to meet the peak irrigation season requirements of the two golf courses, according to city staff. Water from the well is pumped into two ponds located on the 18-hole golf course. Utilizing a separate pump station on the 18-hole course, the water is then dispersed through the irrigation systems of the two courses.
Silt and sand have clogged the well several times over the last 15 years since the 2001 Nisqually earthquake damaged the system.
The city continues to try to sell the par-3 course along West Meeker Street to a developer in an effort to raise money to pay for more than $6 million in capital improvements across the road at the 18-hole course. Five developers submitted requests for qualification applications to the city earlier this year for potential mixed-use projects. A city advisory committee expects to pick a developer as a potential finalist later this year.
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