The Wichita City Council has approved an agreement to provide matching funds to help with health screening of residents living in a groundwater contamination area near 29th Street North and Grove.
The Kansas Legislature has approved $2.5 million in funding to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment for the screening. The agreement with the state calls for $1 million of the funding to require a local match. The City of Wichita will provide $125,000, Sedgwick County will contribute another $125,000 and the Kansas Health Foundation will provide $500,000 to access the local match funding. KDHE would provide $750,000.
The action by the City Council authorizes a payment to Sedgwick County for the city’s share of the matching funds. The city’s funding is coming from proceeds of the 2016 sale of the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
A KDHE study released in 2023 found higher rates of liver cancer among adults, and a higher rate of low birthweights among infants, in a study of the contamination site, which is along the north part of a Union Pacific rail yard.
Former City Council member Lavonta Williams urged the Council to continue to keep track of the environmental issues affecting the neighborhood. Council member Brandon Johnson said funding commitments will be finalized in the next few weeks and he’s confident that the city will get the $1 million match to conduct the screening, and there will be a committee that will get regular reports.
