Wichita halts water plant testing over mechanical issues, causing further delays

Wichita city officials have directed contractors to stop testing the water at the new $574 million Wichita Water Works treatment plant amid what they called “performance mechanical issues.”

The water plant is more than six months behind schedule and tens of millions of dollars over budget.

The latest issues were discovered in the plant’s clarifiers — large tanks where unfinished water is churned and allowed to settle to separate solids and contaminants from the water before it is treated further. They are an essential part of the water treatment process needed to make sure the water is safe to drink.

The unscheduled testing pause further delays the most expensive project in the city’s history and limits the city’s ability to respond to a drought that has lowered water levels at Cheney Lake, the city’s primary water source, to more than 8 feet below normal.

City officials did not say what is wrong but indicated Wichita Water Partners contractors, a joint venture between Burns & McDonnell and Alberici that was the sole bidder on the city’s water plant in 2019, is still working through the problem.

“As a result of performance mechanical issues with the clarifiers that are part of our new water treatment plant, staff has directed that the plant be paused until an appropriate solution has been found,” Gary Janzen, director of public works and utilities, said Thursday at the mayor’s weekly news conference.

The city’s 2019 contract for the plant called for it to be completed in September 2024. After the contractors missed that deadline, the City Council moved it to April 1 and agreed to pay an additional $4 million for the extended schedule along with millions more in change orders.

They missed that deadline, too. Nearly two months later, the water treatment plant has not been officially handed over to the city.

Janzen said he thinks the plant will come online by the end of the year and the city doesn’t expect the latest delay to cost more.

“Ensuring that the clarifiers meet performance metrics and regulations prior to the plant coming online remains the responsibility of Wichita Water Partners, and the city does not expect to incur additional costs for any of those improvements or additional testing,” Janzen said.

He said it’s too soon to know when testing will resume.

Water demand will likely be too high — and lake levels too low — during the summer to continue testing while trying to reach peak demand. That’s one of the reasons the city pushed back the timeline last year.

Wichita Water Works is expected to allow the city to treat more groundwater than the existing plant, which is heavily reliant on Cheney Lake.

The city has also drawn criticism for allowing Wichita Water Partners to pour tens of millions of gallons of testing water a day into the Big Ditch while the general public faces fines for watering their lawn more than once a week. The testing is necessary to prove the water is safe to drink.

Janzen said when testing resumes, the city will pump the test water to the Arkansas River near the existing water plant in Riverside. He said some of that water could be reused by Botanica and others.

“While an extended timeline to bring the water treatment plant operational is not ideal, a project of this size and complexity must be done right,” Mayor Lily Wu said at the news conference. “And the city looks forward to having a fully operational plant come online later this year.”

This story was originally published May 22, 2025 at 4:55 PM.