Forum on Wichita water plan set for Thursday

The city of Wichita will hold a public forum Thursday on the water plan that’s included in the proposed 1-cent sales tax.

The meeting will be at 4 p.m. in the first-floor boardroom at City Hall, 455 N. Main.

The forum will include a five-member panel: Alan King, public works and utilities director; Ben Nelson, strategic service manager for public works and utilities; David Traster, an environmental attorney who is on the city’s water utilities advisory committee; and Ty McGown and Gerald Blain, engineers who have worked on the city’s Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) facility.

Of the $400 million projected to be raised from the proposed five-year, 1-cent sales tax on the Nov. 4 ballot, $250 million is targeted to expand the ASR. The expansion of the ASR, which pulls water out of the Little Arkansas River northwest of Wichita and stores it in the aquifer, would meet future water needs and protect against a severe drought through 2060, city officials say.

This story was originally published October 21, 2014 at 5:31 PM with the headline "Forum on Wichita water plan set for Thursday."