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Water Utility Improvements in Lawrence, Kansas
An aerial view of the Wakarusa Wastewater Treatment Plant.
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Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position. Mike Lawless: In 1992, I started my first municipal job as an assistant city engineer in Raymore, Missouri; worked my
18 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | October 2020
way up to city engineer; and moved to Liberty, Missouri, as city engineer. My family then moved to Texas, where I was the city engineer for the City of Hurst. My wife had an opportunity to go to school at the University of Kansas in 2007, so I applied for a job building a wastewater treatment plant in Lawrence as a representative for the city. Not long after I was hired, the project was paused because of the downturn in the economy. Next thing I knew, I was hired as the assistant director for the utilities department. My duties included budget, rates, capital improvement plan development, and field operations. A couple of years ago, the City of Lawrence merged its utilities and public works departments into the MSO. After that merger, my new position was deputy director of the MSO. Municipal Water Leader: Would you give us an overview of the City of Lawrence’s water, wastewater and storm water services? municipalwaterleader.com
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CITY OF LAWRENCE.
awrence is a city of around 102,000 people in the northeastern corner of Kansas and is the home of the University of Kansas. The city’s water, wastewater, and storm water utilities serve the city and several outlying regions. Like many municipalities, Lawrence is working to install smart, automated meters. It is also working to reduce unwanted infiltration and inflows into older clay sewer pipes and addressing debris and nutrients in the source water for its reservoirs. In this interview, Mike Lawless, the deputy director of the City of Lawrence’s Municipal Services and Operations Department (MSO), gives Municipal Water Leader a comprehensive look at the department’s top issues and current work.
