A grant request was recently approved to build a well on the Laramie, Wyo., golf course at the University of Wyoming with a goal of reducing the course’s use of public, potable water, though there is no current timeline to begin drilling. The funding coincides with an update to the property’s irrigation system.
The Jacoby Golf Course in Laramie, Wyo., could begin saving money and drinkable water after upcoming irrigation upgrades, the Laramie Boomerang reported.
According to city documents, in 2014, the golf course used just shy of 58 million gallons of treated city of Laramie water for irrigation—totaling about $88,561 after a 75-percent discount on the standard city water rate of $6.11 per 1,000 gallons, the Boomerang reported.
“The general consensus is watering a golf course with potable water is not the best use of resources,” said Chad Baldwin, University of Wyoming director of institutional communications. “That’s the key point. And generally, you don’t want to irrigate with water treated for drinking.”
During a July work session, the UW Board of Trustees approved submitting a grant request to the Wyoming Water Development Commission to build a well on the course after receiving funding from the Wyoming Legislature, said Rep. Kermit Brown, (R-Laramie).
“It was an appropriation of the last legislative session,” Brown said. “It was an item I put in and was at the bottom of a very long list of projects contingent on money coming into the state. There was enough money to fund all of the line items on the list.”
Besides saving the golf course money from water payments, it will also eliminate its copious use of city water, the Boomerang reported.
“By (drilling a well), we free up a lot of treated water capacity for the city, which should allow the city to grow without going down to Cheyenne fighting for money for water treatment plants,” Brown said.
The well funding comes at a good time, Baldwin said, as other construction has already been approved at the course, the Boomerang reported.
“Very shortly, Jacoby is getting a new irrigation system which should be more efficient than the current one,” Baldwin said. “But it’s not related to this well drilling. These improvements need to happen whether we use city water or our own well water.”
However, the new system would be made to easily tap in to a future well. Brown said he hopes the golf course well is the beginning of making the university self-sufficient, the Boomerang reported.
“The master plan is to get all of the university irrigation off of city water,” Brown said.
The university has already drilled a well for irrigation, Brown said, but city water is still needed to meet its needs. When the course was first built, water was provided for free by the city, Brown said.
“The original deal was, the city would provide the water for free and members of the public could be able to play on the golf course,” he said. “Otherwise, this was going to be a university facility, closed to the public. Now, the deal’s been shifted around and shifted around to where the city is charging the golf course for a lot of money.”
Brown praised the city’s current initiatives to update its infrastructure, saying it was needed after 50 years of doing nothing. “I give our city a lot of credit,” he said. “They’re taking a lot of flak, but they’ve got a long-range view and have the tenacity to stick with it.”
Currently, there is no set timeline to begin drilling—the project is in the permitting stage with the Wyoming Water Development Commission, Baldwin said. Overall, Brown said a successful well at Jacoby Golf Course is the best course of action for both the city and the university, the Boomerang reported.
“The city’s going to be in great shape if we get these other wells done in and take that much of a load off,” Brown said. “They’re going to have quite a load taken off.”
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