It’s been nearly 30 years since Dorthea Jackson signed up for her first rural water meter near Baldwin — and if it takes another six weeks to make the transaction official in the eyes of the law, so be it.

“Water is something that should be available to everybody,” Jackson told Douglas County commissioners Wednesday night.

At issue is a request from Douglas County Rural Water District No. 4, which wants to expand its boundaries to include Jackson and 107 other customers who live outside the district.

Without such inclusion, such customers conceivably could be squeezed out of the system they’ve been drawing water from for years, as new residents continue to move in and are added to the district. The district’s waiting list already has at least 125 names on it.

“We are trying to eliminate a ‘poor cousin,’ or ‘second-class citizen’ status for our members,” said John Nitcher, an attorney representing the district.

The district currently serves about 900 customers, who together account for about 3,000 residents. The district generally covers the rural area east of U.S. Highway 59 to near the Douglas-Johnson County line, between the Wakarusa River and U.S. Highway 56.

District officials expect to double their customer list within the next 20 years, and they are working on plans for a $1.25 million system upgrade that will tap into a Johnson County water system to meet the growing needs.

The plan before county commissioners would clean up a paperwork problem in the works since the district was formed in 1973. Members of the district’s governing board have sold meters to Jackson and others, even though such customers lived outside the district’s boundaries.

Commissioners said they would wait until June 2 to consider the district’s request, giving members of the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission enough time to assess the effects such a change would have on the county’s future land use.

Also Wednesday, commissioners approved:

• A conditional use permit for Lone Oak Sporting Trap, to be located about 1.5 miles northwest of Stull.
• A final plat for Oak Grove Estates No. 2, an 11-lot residential area along the east side of U.S. Highway 59, just north of County Road 458.