Wichita City Council members have agreed to modify the city’s current water treatment plant so it can be used in emergency situations. The plant, located in the city’s Museum District, will go offline when the new water treatment plant in northwest Wichita becomes fully operational later this year.
Laura Quick with the city’s Public Works Department presented the results of a study by staff and a steering committee that looked at future options for the current plant. She said there is no zero-cost option, and the city can’t just lock the doors and walk away from the plant because that would create safety concerns, a risk of vandalism and there is still critical underground infrastructure on the site that will continue to be used.
When the plant goes offline, construction will begin to reconfigure the plant for emergency use, and it will have the capacity to produce 45 million gallons of water a day. The construction will take about two years but when it’s completed, the plant would be maintained in a standby mode and it could be brought back online in one to two days.
The Council has approved the start of the project with an initial cost of $1 million for initial design and staff costs. The city’s Capital Improvement Program has $24 million for the project, and it will be funded with future revenue bonds or water utility cash reserves.
The Council voted 6-1 to move ahead with the conversion. Vice Mayor J.V. Johnston voted no, saying the new plant has redundant systems and is not likely to go offline in a disaster. He said someday the current plant will be disassembled, and the cost “will never be cheaper than right now.”
