Lawrence resident Dave Penny is building his business on a simple philosophy — people will want to continue drinking water in the future.

Penny is president and chief executive of De Soto-based Masters Dredging Co. This week his company is finishing a dredging project at Lake Dabanawa, a 100-acre lake about 10 miles north of Lawrence in Jefferson County.

But Penny thinks the approximately $300,000 project will end up being a small fish compared to what lies ahead. Penny is excited about the future of the dredging business because he thinks that large federal reservoirs — like Perry, Tuttle Creek and maybe someday Clinton — will need to be dredged.

He’s convinced that if the reservoirs are not dredged, cities like Lawrence that rely on the lakes for water supplies will face problems obtaining the quality and quantity of water to satisfy their growing thirsts.

“The problem with almost all the lakes in Kansas is that they’re sediment collectors,” Penny said. “The other problem is that people just haven’t thought about what would happen when these lakes fill up, and it is inevitable that they’ll fill up if we don’t do something about it.

Growing demand

That’s why Penny has decided to reinvent his dredging business. For about 25 years, Penny had spent his time dredging on the Kansas River and in adjacent pits for sand and gravel. He still has the permits and land to do that type of work, but for now that part of his business is on hiatus, he said.

Instead, he’s focusing on the restoration business.

The Dabanawa project is a first for Penny, a former Lawrence city commissioner, but he’s sure it won’t be his last. He has consistently received calls from lake associations in the Kansas City area that are concerned about their small lakes filling with silt and thus reducing their property values, he said.

Dave Penny, president and chief executive of Masters Dredging Co., is working on Lake Dabanawa in Jefferson County to give waterfront residents more access. The dredge used for the project uses a bit that grinds the material at the bottom of the lake and then pumps it out of the lake.

“If you have a $40,000 or $50,000 lakefront lot that no longer has a lake attached to it, your property value has really been hurt,” Penny said.

It was that type of concern that caused the approximately 80 owners at Lake Dabanawa to hire Masters Dredging, Penny said. The lake had gotten so shallow that people could walk across parts of it and never get their knees wet. That led to problems with boat docks and other recreational uses.

But Penny is building his company with an eye toward the bigger federal reservoir projects. He thinks contracts on such work could begin to surface in the next 10 years.

State and local governments, Penny said he believes, will be forced to address silting of lakes because it causes two major problems for them. One is that the silt promotes the growth of all sorts of organisms in the lake, with the most notorious perhaps being blue-green algae. The algae causes taste problems in water and forces cities to spend more on water-treatment options. The second problem is lakes with silt have less room to store water.

Penny said the problem won’t threaten the water supplies of cities in the near future, but it clearly is a long-term problem that hasn’t been addressed.

“There has been a lot of procrastination on this,” Penny said. “The bureaucrats say it is at least another 10 years away, so it won’t happen on my watch. But I guarantee you, it will happen on somebody’s watch.”

Penny is encouraged, though, that government leaders are starting to pay attention.

“I think some of the legislators are seriously looking at this for the first time now,” Penny said.

Government attention

A dredge works to deepen the north end of Lake Dabanawa. The company's medium-sized dredge is being used for the project to make the lake more accessible by boats.

Penny reached his conclusion after seeing several government officials on his job site.

State Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence, has been conducting tours of the dredging operation at Lake Dabanawa for fellow lawmakers and government officials.

“I’m trying to educate the public water policy people on what can be accomplished, and also what can’t be accomplished,” Sloan said.

He has already taken officials such as Mike Hayden, director of Kansas Wildlife and Parks; Joe Harkins, director of the Kansas Water Office; and Troy Findley, a former state representative who is on Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ staff, on tours.

Big project

But if government officials are to get serious about potential dredging projects on the federal reservoirs, there’s much to learn.

The projects would be mammoth in proportions. Penny estimates that at both Perry Lake and Tuttle Creek, a dredge would have to remove about 6 million cubic yards of silt per year to keep the lakes at their current capacity levels.

That means a large dredge — one that can clean out about 2,000 cubic yards per hour — would need to operate for about 3,000 hours a year or the equivalent of about 125 days a year.

The estimated price tag would be about $25 million a year. Penny said that creates a sticker shock effect, but it still may be financially feasible.

For example, he said Lawrence generates about $25 million a year from city water and sewer bills. That means utility bills in Lawrence would need to double to cover the costs, if Lawrence paid for the project by itself.

Doubling the price of water wouldn’t be popular, but it’s not unfeasible either, he said. He said Lawrence would never be asked to fund the entire project since several other cities use the lakes for their water supplies, too.

Others aren’t convinced. Greg Wurst, a natural resources management specialist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Tuttle Creek, said he would be “very surprised” to ever see a dredge on any of the state’s federal reservoirs.

“Whenever I hear talk of dredging in the corps, it is always mentioned as being cost prohibitive,” Wurst said.

Wurst, though, doesn’t deny that the lake is filling with silting. Since the Tuttle Creek reservoir was built in 1964, he said, the lake has lost 1,500 acres of surface water.

There also may be some environmental issues created by large scale dredging projects.

Michael Campbell, chair of the Wakarusa Chapter of the Kansas Sierra Club, said dredging projects could disturb protected species, like eagles, at the lakes. In addition, he noted, dredging has the potential to stir up dangerous chemicals, including fertilizers that have made their way into the lakes from runoff from farming operations.

The projects may be workable though.

Campbell said dredging on the reservoirs probably would do less environmental damage than the dredging that takes place on the Kaw. Plus, he said, such a project wouldn’t cause red flags to be raised immediately.

“It is not like paving over a wetlands, where we almost automatically would have concerns,” Campbell said.

Penny is still convinced that the projects deserve serious study. And he said it would be wise for governments to do it sooner rather than later.

He estimated that the price to dredge a lake could more than double if governments wait until the problem becomes a crisis. At that point, dredging companies would be operating in “an emergency mode.”

If such an emergency occurs, Penny predicted it would cause major funding problems for state government.

“What would that do to education funding if water sucks up so much of our money?” Penny said. “If we don’t do something soon, it will cause a real financial problem because people will do anything for water.”

— Business editor Chad Lawhorn can be reached at 832-6362.By Chad Lawhorn

clawhorn@ljworld.com

Lawrence resident Dave Penny is building his business on a simple philosophy — people will want to continue drinking water in the future.

Penny is president and chief executive of Masters Dredging Co. This week his company is finishing up a dredging project at Lake Dabanawa, a 100-acre lake about 10 miles north of Lawrence in Jefferson County.

But Penny thinks the approximately $300,000 project will end up being a small fish compared to what lies ahead. Penny is excited about the future of the dredging business because he thinks the time is approaching that large federal reservoirs — like Perry, Tuttle Creek and maybe someday Clinton — will need to be dredged.

He’s convinced that’s the case because if they’re not, cities, like Lawrence, that rely on the lakes for water supplies will face problems obtaining the quality and quantity of water needed to satisfy their growing thirsts.

“The problem with almost all the lakes in Kansas is that they’re sediment collectors,” Penny said. “The other problem is that people just haven’t thought about what would happen when these lakes fill up, and it is inevitable that they’ll fill up if we don’t do something about it.

Growing demand

That’s why Penny has decided to reinvent his dredging business. For about 25 years, Penny had spent his time dredging on the Kansas River and in adjacent pits for sand and gravel. He still has the permits and land to do that type of work, but currently does not, he said.

Instead, he’s focusing on the restoration business. The Dabanawa project is his first, but he’s sure it won’t be his last. He said he’s consistently receiving calls from lake associations in the Kansas City area who are concerned about their small lakes silting in and thus reducing their property values.

“If you have a $40,000 or $50,000 lakefront lot that no longer has a lake attached to it, your property value has really been hurt,” Penny said.

It was those type of concerns that caused the approximately 80 owners at Lake Dabanawa to hire Masters Dredging, Penny said. The lake had gotten so shallow that people could walk across parts of it and never get their knees wet, leading to problems with boat docks and other recreational uses.

But Penny is building his company with an eye toward the bigger federal reservoir projects. He thinks those type of projects could begin happening in the next 10 years.

He said state and local governments will be forced to address the issue because the silting of lakes caused two major problems for them. One is that the silt promotes the growth of all sorts of organisms in the lake, with the most notorious perhaps being blue-green algae. The algae causes taste problems in water and forces cities to spend more on water treatment options.

The second problem is more simply stated. Silted in lakes have less room to store water, and less water eventually will create problems for cities that gobble up more of it all the time.

Penny said the problem won’t threaten the water supplies of cities in the near future, but clearly is a longterm problem that hasn’t been addressed.

“There has been a lot of procrastination on this,” Penny said. “The bureaucrats say it is least another 10 years away, so it won’t happen on my watch. But I guarantee you, it will happen on somebody’s watch.”

Penny is encouraged, though, that government is starting to pay attention.

“I think some of the legislators are seriously looking at this for the first time now,” Penny said.

Government attention

He thinks that way because he’s seen several government officials on his job site.

State Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence, has been conducting tours of the dredging operation at Lake Dabanawa for fellow lawmakers and government officials.

“I’m trying to educate the public water policy people on what can be accomplished, and also what can’t be accomplished,” Sloan said.

He’s already taken officials such as Mike Hayden, director of Kansas Wildlife and Parks, Joe Harkins, director of the Kansas Water Office, Troy Findley, a former state representative who is on Gov. Kathleen Sebelius staff and several state representatives.

When he is done with the tours, Sloan said he’ll probably have trotted more than 20 officials to the site to learn more about dredging options.

Big project

But if government officials are to get serious about potential dredging projects on the federal reservoirs, there’s much to learn.

The projects would be mammoth in proportions. Penny estimates that at both Perry and Tuttle Creek, a dredge would have to remove about 6 million cubic yards of silt per year to keep the lakes at their current capacity levels.

That means a large dredge that can clean out about 2,000 cubic yards per hour would need to operate for about 3,000 hours a year, or the equivalent of about 125 days a year.

The estimated price tag would be about $25 million a year. Penny said that creates a sticker shock effect, but still may be a feasible price to pay.

For example, he said Lawrence generates about $25 million a year from city water and sewer bills. That means utility bills in Lawrence would need to double to cover the costs, if Lawrence paid for the project by itself.

Doubling the price of water wouldn’t be popular, but its not unfeasible either, he said. Plus, he said in reality Lawrence wouldn’t ever be asked to fund the entire project since several other cities use the lakes for their water supplies too.

Others aren’t convinced. Greg Wurst, a natural resources management specialist for the Corps of Engineers at Tuttle Creek, said he’d be “very surprised” to ever see a dredge on any of the state’s federal reservoirs.

“Whenever I hear talk of dredging in the corps, it is always mentioned as being cost prohibitive,” Wurst said.

Wurst, though, doesn’t deny that the lake is silting in. He said since it was built in 1964 the lake had lost 1,500 acres of surface water.

There also may be some environmental issues created by large scale dredging projects, Michael Campbell, chair of the Wakarusa Chapter of the Kansas Sierra Club, said.

He said dredging projects could disturb protected species, like eagles, at the lakes and also had the potential to stir up dangerous chemicals that have flowed in the lakes, largely from farm fields.

The projects may be workable though. Campbell said they probably would do less environmental damage than the dredging that takes place on the Kaw, and they aren’t the type of projects that cause immediate red flags to be raised.

“It is not like paving over a wetlands where we almost automatically would have concerns,” Campbell said.

Penny is still convinced that the projects deserve serious study. And he said it would be wise for governments to do it sooner rather than later. He estimated that the price to dredge a lake could more than double if governments wait until the problem becomes a crisis because dredging companies would be operating in “an emergency mode.”

If that happens, Penny predicted it would cause major funding problems for state government.

“What would that do to education funding if water sucks up so much of our money?” Penny said. “If we don’t do something soon, it will cause a real financial problem because people will do anything for water.”