When will Wichita roll back drought restrictions? How June’s rainfall factors in
It’s been Wichita’s sixth wettest June on record, and previously low water levels at Cheney Reservoir, which supplies the city’s water, are rising.
Wichita has been under phase two of the city’s drought response plan since August 2024. The restrictions in place limit Wichita water customers to outdoor watering only once a week.
Kansas has been under a drought distinction in recent years due to low rainfall that’s caused Cheney’s low water levels and aquifers in Kansas to dry up. While the Wichita area and much of the state is no longer considered in a drought as of June 17, the city’s watering restrictions remain in place.
Cheney was 62% full when the city went under phase two drought restrictions last year. But June’s heavy rainfall has provided some relief: it’s now 97.5% full, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The reservoir now sits less than a foot below normal, and more rain is expected in the area this week. So when will Wichita lift its drought restrictions?
It won’t be this month, and it probably won’t be this year.
According to the city, the earliest Wichita could lift the phase two drought restrictions is March 2026. That’s according to calculations run June 18. Here’s how the city measures levels and re-evaluates drought restrictions.
When could Wichita lift drought restrictions?
The city determines drought stages by looking at the 12-month rolling average of the conservation pool. The city calculates the rolling average by recording the percentage full at the start of each month and calculating the average based on those numbers over 12 months.
“Staff is working on a projection for when that average will exceed 90%, but we anticipate we are months away from the pool being at the trigger to discuss lifting drought restrictions,” city spokesperson Megan Lovely wrote in a Friday email.
According to the city’s drought response plan, once-a-week watering restrictions won’t be lifted until the 12-month average is 70% or higher. That average at the start of June was 60.1%.
Lovely said while Cheney’s levels are looking good in June compared to previous months, that could change due to evaporation and weather patterns.
“We don’t want to lift watering restrictions early because of one pattern of regular rainfall and then have to go right back into stage 2 if the levels can’t be sustained,” Lovely wrote.
The city will only consider Cheney’s conservation pool “full” when the level reaches 100%. The conservation pool would be considered empty only if it reaches 0%.
Lovely said the reservoir would need to see a consistent pattern of high levels in order to begin the discussion of lifting drought restrictions. The city’s website says the city will speak about it nonetheless in September, a year after the city first went under the phase.
Previously, phase two would begin automatically after Cheney’s levels reached a certain point. But due to changes approved by the city council in June 2024, it’s now up to the city manager, at the recommendation of the public works and utilities director, to decide to enforce the watering restrictions.
How much rain has Wichita seen this month?
From June 1 to June 26, Wichita has recorded 10.72 inches of rain — including 4.19 inches that fell June 17. This means the city is sitting at more than 6 inches above average for this time of the month.
For the year, the city has received a total of 23.28 inches, compared to the 16.97 average the city usually has seen at this point of the year.
Eagle reporter Chance Swaim contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 24, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
