The 35-acre lake at Heritage Park in Olathe has become heavily silted and is due to be dredged later this year, Johnson County Park and Recreation District officials have decided.
The dredging operation, which has been budgeted at $7.2 million, will involve draining much of the lake so that the lake bottom can be reshaped to include deep water zones and also so that an area of wetlands planting can be created.
The lake is an important irrigation source
Overall, the idea is to improve the lake’s ability to hold water for irrigating the park.
Heritage Park Lake is the sole source of irrigation for the park’s 10 soccer fields, 10 football fields, four softball fields and a golf course, Bill Maasen, the superintendent of parks and golf courses told the park and recreation board at its regular meeting last week.
“It’s the single most important irrigation source in our system. We have a lot of turf we have to keep alive and all of it is on the backbone of that one 35-acre lake,” he said.
The lake was built in 1980
Since then, there has been much development upstream, and the lake has become silted, said Georgia Sizemore, parks planning and development manager.
The silt is affecting the lake’s ability to have adequate water for irrigation.
The original dredging plan called for four areas of water to be kept in the lake during the dredging for that purpose. But the bids all came in substantially higher than the engineer’s estimate.
Final bid has not been picked
The board voted to reject those bids and begin again, with a redesign that would have only one water area available.
If it turns out to be another dry year, the district could buy from WaterOne, which has a main near the west side of the park that could supply the golf course.
Buying water would be a cheaper option than having the design that relied on more water in the lake during construction, staff said.
The project may also be able to get an $820,000 grant from the county’s Stormwater Management Advisory Council.
Board members hope to consider new bids in May.
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