Abandon the wells. Lose the cisterns.

Nearly two dozen properties southeast of Lawrence are joining Douglas County Rural Water District No. 4, and dozens more also could hook into the system in the coming years.

“We have churches, cemeteries, folks with failing water wells, folks with cisterns that are not having any access to a water source unless they haul it,” said Scott Schultz, district administrator. “(This) just makes their lives quite a bit easier.”

Douglas County commissioners agreed Wednesday night to expand the district’s boundaries to include 22 properties located within a mile of the system’s existing waterlines. Five of the properties already receive water from the district; the others are poised to do so.

But commissioners didn’t stop there. They also approved a “guidance” map to indicate which properties outside the district should logically receive service in the future, if the owners request it.

In all, commissioners endorsed plans that could add about six square miles of rural property to the district, enough to accommodate dozens of new homes without unleashing a torrent of new construction.

“It doesn’t open the floodgates,” said Commissioner Bob Johnson, who represents the 2nd District, which includes the growing cities of Baldwin and Eudora and the surrounding area. “There are some limits.”

The move comes nearly a year after commissioners agreed to help clean up the water district’s books. District officials had discovered that 108 of its customers had been paying for and receiving water from the district without being located within the district.

Five of the 22 properties added to the district Wednesday already receive water from the district. The 17 other properties were added at the request of their respective property owners,

Commissioners can’t force anyone else to join the district. They can approve an expansion only if enough affected property owners ask for it, and only then if the request comes by formal petition.

But commissioners went ahead and approved a map that includes “future attachment” areas, detailing which properties logically could expect to be added to the system. Many of the changes simply “square off” existing boundaries, said Charles Jones, commission chairman.

“It’s hard to explain why neighbors on three sides can get water and the other can’t,” said Charles Jones, commission chairman. “We think it makes sense for these areas to be annexed in. … As a matter of efficiency and equity, it makes sense.”

Commissioners dubbed the informal portion of the expansion map as a “guidance document,” intended to help future commissioners decide who should be in.

“It doesn’t guarantee it, but this should make it easier,” Johnson said.