City and school find way forward for ballfield irrigation

After several months of negotiations between the City of Gainesville and the Gainesville R-5 School District, officials with both entities have come to an agreement on the process in which the school will get water to the irrigation system for the new baseball and softball complex, which is currently under construction on land across from the high school at the former airport property, now owned by the school. 

In the current agreement, the city has granted the school permission to bore under a portion of High School Drive, a city street that separates the school’s current campus from the new ballfield complex, to run its own water pipes from an older well that is on the school’s campus, which will provide water to the irrigation system with a booster pump. 

The well that will be used was drilled in the 1960s prior to the city’s formation of a water district in the 1970s and its subsequent passing of an ordinance that prohibits the drilling and usage of a new well by city limit residents/entities. 

Superintendent Justin Gilmore said the well that will be used is more than 1,000 feet deep and was used to supply water for the entire high school prior to the city’s water district forming, therefore they are confident it will be up to the task of providing water for the extensive irrigation system. The well’s usage was discontinued when the city’s water district was formed, and the school then hooked into to municipality water supply, where it currently receives its water. 

The school will continue to use city water for all needs besides ballfield irrigation, which is an allowable use through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, officials say. 

The agreement came with a few stipulations from the city that the school board has agreed to: 

• A larger pipe will sleeve the school’s water line beginning 32 feet on the south side of High School Drive and exceeding 10 feet past the city’s water main and exceeding 10 feet past the edge of High School Drive on the north side of the road. 

A city official told the Times that the city requested this because the school’s water line will not be tested or treated as the city water system is. In the case of a water leak in the future, the sleeved pipe will eliminate the possibility of cross contamination between the two sources of water. 

• The district has also agreed to attach a tracer wire to their water line, which can be used with a metal detector for easy water line detection if needed in the future. 

School officials say the ballfield construction has been on delay due to the longer than expected negotiations concerning the irrigation water supply, but work has already resumed. The fields are scheduled to be completed sometime spring 2024.