Eudora ? Representatives of Douglas County Rural Water District No. 4 have filed a lawsuit in federal court in an attempt to protect its boundaries from the city of Eudora.

The suit comes after several meetings between city and water district representatives to discuss water service in areas south of Kansas Highway 10 and east of County Road 1061. The lawsuit follows a series of annexations by Eudora in the last year.

Steve Harris, water district attorney, said at issue was the protection federal law provided those water districts participating in a federal guaranteed loan program. The water district borrowed $227,400 through a federal loan program in 2004 for water line improvements and the installation of a pump station.

Federal law protects water districts taking part in the guaranteed loan program from competition in their service areas from cities or other public bodies, Harris wrote in a brief filed last Thursday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan.

Harris said the water district went to court after city officials threatened legal action against the district if negotiated progress wasn’t made.

“That left the water district no choice,” he said. “It was clear there was going to be litigation.”

Eudora is defending its right to expand, City Attorney Curtis Tideman said.

He maintained the city had a right to negotiate a fair price to provide water to the area as part of a Kansas law.

The water district’s suit will cause delays to projects south of K-10, Eudora City Administrator Cheryl Beatty said. Work on the 22-home Fairfield Addition has already ceased because of the dispute, she said.

“It could be extremely harmful to the growth of the Eudora and our ability to serve our customers,” Beatty said.

In addition, the suit could delay work on Lawrence Memorial Hospital’s planned medical plaza and a possible assisted living community in the area south of the highway, Beatty said.

The ability of the water district to provide service to the area shouldn’t be a concern, water district administrator Scott Schultz said. The water district has plans to serve the Eudora’s southern growth, he said.

“I think our plan is to serve our territory as development comes in whether they be rural or urban,” he said.

The commercial development included in LMH’s plans should not be a problem, Schultz said.

“Those look like fairly standard commercial business buildings to me as opposed to, say, a full-scale hospital,” Schultz said. “So that water usage will not be substantially high on a per-meter or a per-unit basis.”

The district obtains water from Lawrence, Baldwin City and Consolidated Rural Water District No. 6 in Johnson County, Schultz said.

Eudora Mayor Tom Pyle said he wondered whether the large water district could plan for the concentrated growth coming to south Eudora.

“They’re too far-flung,” Pyle said.

The water district provides service to about 70 square miles in rural eastern Douglas County.

It extends from the Johnson County line in the east to County Road 1055 in the west and from K-10 and the Wakarusa River in the north to U.S. Highway 56 in the south, surrounding Baldwin City on three sides.

Pyle also questioned the water district’s ability to provide adequate water for fire protection in the area.

Both sides indicated they were open to negotiation as the judicial process moves forward.