Two equipment failures caused sewage water to pour into Wichita creek, spiking E. coli

Two failures at a Wichita sewage site caused 1.7 million gallons of sewage to overflow into a nearby creek, spiking the levels of E. coli in the water, Wichita Public Works and Utilities Director Gary Janzen said Tuesday.

“There’s no public health risk expected but residents are being urged to stay out of the creek and pond areas and keep their pets away from the water,” he said. “There’s no public health risk to the city’s drinking water or anyone walking or living by the creek, nor is there any anticipated impact to aquatic life or local wildlife.”

A resident reported the overflow of sewage Sunday morning. It happened in northeast Wichita.

On Saturday, a pump failure at a sewer lift station west of North 127th Street East, near Founder Circle, caused a manhole to overflow and pour into Four Mile Creek, near the Redbud Path. The pump has been fixed and is working properly, he said.

“To add to that … our alert system that would normally alert staff that there was a problem was also not working at the same time, resulting in this overflow, unfortunately,” Janzen said during a news conference. “To provide a little bit of perspective on the size of the event, the basin that this drains into ... that ends up at our main sewer treatment plant at the south end of Wichita usually takes on about 30 million gallons a day ... we estimate based on average flow about 1.7 million gallons that discharged before we were able to get things stopped.”

The water was tested Sunday. The results on Monday “tested positive for elevated levels of E. coli,” he said. Residents in the area were alerted Monday night. The city also sent out a news release.

The news release, and Janzen, said that the level of E. coli tested greater than 2419.2 colonies per 100 ml.

“A typical test for this time of year is 2000 or fewer colonies per 100 ml,” the news release said.

The city did not say the exact number the test showed.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment issued an advisory Tuesday morning about the heightened level of E. coli, saying that “residents and animals should not enter the water at this time.”

Janzen said they would continue to test daily and keep the public aware of when the levels drop back to normal. He said he hoped it would not take more than a couple of weeks.

This story was originally published December 5, 2023 at 10:34 AM.