Arkansas River’s low water levels good news for repair, construction crews

The Arkansas River in downtown Wichita is so low these days, it’s hard to find the water.

That’s good news for the City of Wichita’s storm water management team, which is working to replace a 72-inch storm conduit pipe near First Street that collapsed this summer and created a sinkhole. And it’s good news for the construction crews building the foundation for the River Vista apartments near Douglas and McLean.

The lack of water is “because we haven’t had much rain, but mostly because we lowered the dam to a lower level to give us access for emergency repairs,” said Jim Hardesty, interim manager for the city’s Storm Water Division.

City crews have been working on replacing the storm conduit pipe north of First along the east bank of the river. The pipe collapsed about three months ago.

It may take another three to four weeks to complete the repairs, Hardesty said. And if rains come before then?

“There is nothing we can do; it might slow down our repair work,” he said.

In the meantime, there is the construction of River Vista, a $35 million, 204-unit apartment project with commercial uses.

“They are shoring up the foundation walls,” said City Council member Bryan Frye. “The idea is to get that all finished ahead of time, and once they get that in place, the rest (of the work) is above ground.”

The last time Wichita received any measurable amount of rain was Oct. 9, when 0.36 inch was recorded at Wichita Eisenhower National Airport; 0.26 inch was recorded on Oct. 8, according to Jerilyn Billings Wright, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Wichita.

In addition, temperatures for October have been above normal, making this October one of the warmest since 1963, she said. That, combined with strong sustained winds of more than 30 mph on Oct. 19, 20 and 22, has helped to create a drier environment and less water in the Arkansas River.

This story was originally published October 26, 2015 at 7:41 PM with the headline "Arkansas River’s low water levels good news for repair, construction crews."