City says its weekend drought-restriction violation most likely was a malfunction

Hillside Nursery president Mark McHenry has been frustrated with the city’s handling of drought restrictions since they began last year, so he was particularly unhappy — he used a stronger word — to see sprinkler systems watering green space in city medians Saturday night.

McHenry was attending Automobilia at Century II when he stopped to shoot video of the sprinklers, which also seemed to be watering city sidewalks with their overflow. That was along Waterman between Water and Main streets, although the irrigation happened in a larger area than that.

According to a city watering schedule, there is “No outdoor watering allowed” on Friday, Saturday and Sunday due to Stage 2 drought restrictions.

Also, McHenry noted, it had rained that morning and had rained numerous inches only a couple of weeks before, making watering “totally unnecessary.”

City spokeswoman Megan Lovely said most likely something went wrong with the irrigation system.

It’s difficult to ascertain exactly what happened, she said, in part because both the city and the Hyatt Regency Wichita have access to the control box in the area that regulates the system. That’s because the city used to own the Hyatt.

“It would be wildly expensive to remove the technical control system to another area,” Lovely said.

She said city staff confirmed no one has been there to turn on the system.

“They’re suspecting it was a malfunction.”

She said sometimes power surges or other things can impact the system.

“They’ll monitor it to make sure it doesn’t go on again. They’ve confirmed it’s all been turned off.”

Zero to 60

McHenry, who initially was concerned about the optics of the city not doing what it’s telling everyone else to do, said Lovely’s explanation sounds reasonable.

However, he and frustrated fellow nursery owners still are disappointed with city’s overall handling of the drought, particularly its messaging to not plant trees and shrubs this year.

He called it “poor leadership on the city’s part.”

“It’s to the point where it’s aggravating and affecting our livelihoods,” he said.

“We should look seriously at having a better plan rather than being knee-jerk. I don’t think Cheney Reservoir went from full to 8-foot below normal overnight,” McHenry said. “We went from zero to 60 like that. It never should have come to that. . . . They were reactive rather than proactive.”

McHenry and other nursery owners have preached the value of planting in times of drought.

“We’ve tried to work with them,” Lovely said. “There’s always lessons to be learned. This is the first time our community has ever faced this situation.”

She said it’s a situation that is in flux.

Until only recently, Lovely said it looked like Stage 3 drought restrictions were imminent.

“It’s so frustrating in our industry that they are threatening Stage 3,” McHenry said. “That’s always the threat on the horizon.”

He said the city seems to have an almost cavalier attitude about it.

“It would eliminate this industry, and I feel they’re nonchalant about the impacts that Stage 3 might have.”

He said other businesses, such as car washes, would be hurt or eliminated as well.

McHenry said it’s particularly irritating to see his industry penalized while at the same time watching as “they have bungled the rollout of the water treatment plant.”

The time to act is while there is not a water shortage, he said.

“I would be more than happy to work with them on guidelines going forward.”

Lovely said the threat of Stage 3 has eased.

“We’ve had a lot of rain . . . and that has been effective.”

Still, Lovely said with summer heat, Cheney Reservoir can lose 2 feet to evaporation in one month.

“Things are better now, but she’s right,” McHenry said.

“We still have to be very careful, and we still have to conserve. . . . I don’t think water should ever be taken for granted. None of us do in this industry.”