Posted on June 16, 2025
Barr Engineering is working on solution to maintain irrigation for the grounds of Lakeview Golf Course and the sports complexes
MITCHELL — Many of Mitchell’s outdoor facilities rely on Lake Mitchell for irrigation.
With the upcoming lake drawdown and dredging project, city leaders are uncertain how irrigation needs will be met in 2026 and beyond, as water availability will be limited.
In continuation of utilizing Lake Mitchell’s water, the city uses pumps to send lake water to irrigation lines at Lakeview Golf Course, Cadwell Sports Complex and the Pepsi-Cola Soccer Complex. The future of utilizing Lake Mitchell for irrigation is on the minds of park staff.
“I don’t have exact answers right now,” Sports Complex Superintendent Jeremy Nielsen said. “Engineers are working on it. It’s part of all their plans to make sure, as much as they can, that we have enough water.”
Mitchell Public Works Director Joe Schroeder told the Mitchell Republic that Barr Engineering, which has been contracted for the lake dredging project, is working on a solution to feed the city’s various irrigation pumps while Lake Mitchell is drawn and dredged. No solution has been finalized at this time to maintain the grounds used by golf patrons and athletes.
The lake is scheduled to be drawn down in the fall, with dredge work starting in the spring or summer 2026, according to Schroeder.
City-owned facilities rely on lake water for nightly irrigation. Golf and Cemetery Superintendent Jason Gunnare said that Lakeview Golf Course uses an average of 400,000 gallons of water per night from Lake Mitchell. In comparison, that amount is about 15% of the daily usage allowed for Mitchell residents by B-Y Water, who supplies the city with piped drinking water.
Parks and Recreation Director Kevin Nelson compared the water usage at the golf course to an outdoor pool at the Mitchell Aquatic Center at Hitchcock Park, which holds 400,214 gallons of water with a 14,791-square feet surface area.
Course staff use a moisture gauge — similar to a large meat thermometer — to measure soil hydration. This helps Gunnare determine how much water the course needs each night.
“Greens and tees have to have what they need,” Gunnare said.
A computer software program displays irrigation information for Lakeview Golf Course, as pictured on Thursday, June 12, 2025 in Mitchell.
Gunnare’s system enables him to monitor the golf course sprinklers from a radio-enabled receiver as well as from an app on his phone. He can toggle on or off a zone with the click of a button. Problematic sprinklers are flagged for maintenance by the irrigation software, making problems easier to detect.
If lake water becomes less available in the future, water saving options on the table for the golf course include a chemical treatment and cutting down on filling ponds and roughs. Gunnare tries to not water as much in October to prepare the course for the winter.
Sports facilities utilize lake water
Nielsen estimated that the 13 ball fields at Cadwell Sports Complex use about the same amount of water as the golf course.
The city’s irrigation distribution lines supply irrigation-specific water to Innovative Systems and Mitchell Christian School. The lines at Cadwell Sports Complex also send water to Mitchell Middle School’s football field, according to Nielsen.
A software system and new pumps from Dakota Pump will give Nielsen a clear understanding of the daily uses at Cadwell, set to be operational sometime this summer.
In the future, Nielsen will be able to put Cadwell Park stadium field sprinklers on and be able to gauge how much water passes through the sprinklers. Typically, the ball fields are watered on a rotation basis. Weather is also a factor, Nielsen said. Unless he knows there will be enough rain, the sprinklers will be on during the night inside the fenced-in ball parks.
In preparation for winter, the whole line from the lake pump to Cadwell are blown out with air compressors over the course of two days. The process is lengthy, according to Nielsen.
The Pepsi-Cola Soccer Complex has nine fields, which Nielsen said also receive irrigation from Lake Mitchell. A pump at Camp Arroya supplies water to the soccer fields, while a pump near Kiwanis Woodlot Park pumps to Cadwell Sports Complex. Nielsen estimated that there were 3,200 feet of irrigation lines at the Cadwell stadium alone.
Gunnare has discovered mussel shells in the golf course irrigation lines, though he’s unsure if they are zebra mussels, which were first identified in Lake Mitchell in 2021.
While a shell may get trapped in a filter, Gunnare said that the spawn are typically microscopic and a chemical injection once or twice a year would kill what makes it past the filter.
Mitchell cemeteries do not have sprinklers. However, lake water is still pumped to spigots throughout the cemeteries and to a waterfall, according to Gunnare.
Portions of these facilities do not utilize lake water. The Mitchell community gardens, golf course and cemetery office and maintenance shop, and the Cadwell bathrooms and entryway courtyard are on city water.
Water source history
The city switched years ago from using Lake Mitchell’s water to surface water from B-Y Water, Schroeder said. The population of Mitchell often exceeds the maximum daily capacity of 2.6 million gallons per day from B-Y Water.
The Lake Mitchell treatment plant was capable of processing lake water until 2017, but was rarely used, according to Schroeder.
Lake Mitchell is an untreated but sustainable source of irrigation water. Schroeder called it “cheap water.”
The city previously considered the costs related for making Lake Mitchell’s water drinkable again, which included revamping the Lake Mitchell water treatment facilities for $43 million. Ultimately, it was determined that 4.5 million gallons per day of lake water would have to go through reverse osmosis treatment to receive 2.5 million gallons of drinkable water. This would waste 44% of the water, according to Schroeder.
Since then, the city has moved forward with the Randall Water Community District regional pipeline project as a secondary source of water at a cost of $68.7 million for the city.
