Wichita businesses, restaurants close as water crisis shuts down city

Wichita hotels, gas stations and restaurants had a scattershot approach to the city’s boil water advisory Thursday evening after a main water line broke around 4 p.m.

Restaurants, already suffering from staffing issues and supply shortages, were making tough decisions just before the dinner hour on Thursday about whether to remain open, and many decided to close.

In Wichita, all Chipotle restaurants closed for the evening. Fairmount Coffee Co. at 3815 E. 17th St. North also closed early, as did Buffalo Wings & Rings at 2636 N Greenwich Road.

Both Fuzzy’s Taco Shop and Social Tap, which operate at Braeburn Square on the WSU campus, closed those locations earlier in the day because they had no water at all.

The water service was eventually restored, said Social Tap owner Justin Neel, but he was glad he made the call earlier.

“I probably would have still shut down tonight to make sure we are doing everything correctly according to KDH or city guidelines,” he said. “This is certainly new to me in this industry, at least here in the Wichita area.”

The owners of many other restaurants opted to stay open and found themselves rushing around town, competing with residents for quickly disappearing water and ice supplies.

Side Pockets, the bar and billiards venue at 614 S. Tyler Road, was able to stay open, said spokesperson Jill Rose. Their ice machines had dumped a big supply before the water main break, and they had plenty of bottled water and juices to get them through the evening.

“They’re doing that so they can stay open,” she said.

Employees who washed their hands with tap water were instructed to use hand sanitizer, too. Rose said that the restaurant’s general manager, Lori Conner, said she’d never seen a situation like it in her 13 years there.

The pain was felt in Old Town, too.

“The punches keep coming and we are rolling with them,” read a Facebook post from River City Brewing Company, which had plenty of “clean beer and alcohol to drink.” The post asked customers to be patient if they visited on Thursday evening.

“We will do our best,” the post read. “Let’s keep our chin up and best wishes to the hard working folks trying to fix the problem.”

KDHE’s advisory included instructions for restaurants and other food establishments that had questions about the boil water advisory and its impact on business to contact the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s food safety and lodging program at kda.fsl@ks.gov or at 785-564-6767.

Hotels, gas stations, gyms

The Hyatt Regency Wichita has shut off its water, but front office manager De Williams said there is still a reserve of clean water for guests to shower and bathe. “Once the water tanks are empty, then we will be out of water like everybody else.”

The Hyatt is offering free water bottles to guests.

“We’re passing out bottles of water for them to brush their teeth,” Williams said. She said there will be “as many as they need until the problem is fixed.”Williams said water to ice machines also has been shut off, but the clean ice already in the machines is still available “so that has been very helpful.”

At QuikTrip, the drinks are still flowing, but they’re freshly made ones.

“We’re going to purge all of our ice, coffee, frozen drinks and tea and make them fresh,” said Aisha Jefferson-Smith, communications manager for the Tulsa-based corporation.

She said the company isn’t taking further action “because it’s an advisory right now.”

“So if our water isn’t showing brown, that means our water should be safe.”

She said each store is “flushing through all the water.”

“We’re definitely doing this out of safety precaution,” Jefferson-Smith said. “As QuikTrippers, we want to make sure we take care of our customers and make sure they’re safe.”

At area YMCAs, only drinking water has been affected at this point.

“Right now, we have just shut down our drinking fountains,” said Shamain Bachman, vice president of marketing. “That is the only change that we have made at this point.”

She said there is no problem with members swimming in pools or showering in locker rooms. “It’s just with actual drinking water.”At the Sedgwick County Zoo, water fountains are also shut down.

“We’ve got plenty of bottled water to sell at the restaurants and to use for food,” said Jennica King, director of strategic communications.

The zoo’s restrooms and food services use city water, but the water used in the animal areas is well water, so the animals are not affected.

This story was originally published October 7, 2021 at 6:29 PM with the headline "Wichita businesses, restaurants close as water crisis shuts down city."