Wichita’s nearly $1 billion water and sewer overhaul could be finished by 2027
Wichita is moving dirt for a new water treatment facility and planning to upgrade its sewage treatment plant by 2027 in a nearly $1 billion infrastructure overhaul.
The Northwest Water Treatment Facility — near the Sedgwick County Zoo at 21st and Hoover — is still being designed by Wichita Water Partners, a group of contractors awarded the project in a controversial selection process. The new plant is needed to replace the city’s existing plant, which is 80 years old and has a high risk of failure, city officials have said.
After rushing to approve the contract with a single bidder, and amid questions about the selection process, the city waited to close on a $280.9 million loan from the Environmental Protection Agency before moving forward with site clearing and construction. The EPA loan and additional funding from the State Revolving Fund Loan program are expected to cover around 99% of the $602 million project.
On the sewage side, Wichita plans to apply for another federal loan to help fund more than $355 million in sewage treatment upgrades, called the Biological Nutrient Removal project. The project is expected to cut down on the raw-sewage stench that permeates from the existing plants and help clean up the Arkansas River, where the city dumps its treated wastewater.
The city has to upgrade its sewage treatment to comply with upcoming federal environmental regulations. Wichita currently discharges more than three times the amount of nitrogen and four times the amount of phosphorous into the river than will be allowed by 2027.
Those two chemicals can cause massive blue-green algae blooms that harm water quality, food resources and habitat. The blooms can also kill a large number of fish and other aquatic creatures and produce toxins and bacterial growth that can make people sick and kill pets, according to the EPA.
“If you put too much of that nutrient into a river, it creates a problem for the ecosystem, and so we’re going to be restricted in the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus that we can put into the river,” said Alan King, the city’s Direct of Public Works & Utilities.
The Wichita City Council approved an $850,000 contract with Burns & McDonnell, one of the lead contractors on Wichita Water Partners, Tuesday to develop a preliminary design of the Biological Nutrient Removal project in anticipation of applying for federal and state loans.
Burns & McDonnell is expected to return to the City Council in November with concept recommendations and options for new treatment methods to meet the new regulations.
“We want to make sure that we have the right treatment process,” King said. “This is especially important for this project.”
This story was originally published July 12, 2020 at 7:01 AM.