In their separate meetings next week, the Wichita City Council and the Sedgwick County Commission will consider matching funds to access money from the state for the testing of residents who live in a groundwater contamination site.
The city and county are looking to access $2.5 million in funding approved by the Kansas Legislature last year for the testing of people who live in a contamination area at 29th Street North and Grove. Matching funds will have to be provided to access $1 million in funding, and the city and county will provide $125,000 each. Private funding will be raised to cover the rest of the match.
Wichita, Sedgwick County and the Kansas Health Foundation are working on a program to provide immediate and long-term cancer screenings for residents in the contamination area. The contamination is from a Union Pacific railyard, and it involves chemicals including Trichloroethylene (TCE), a solvent commonly used for metal degreasing, that have
contaminated the soil and groundwater, creating a contaminated plume of groundwater that extends approximately 2.9 miles south from the UP railyard to Murdock Avenue.
The Wichita City Council will consider using some of the funds left over from the 2016 sale of the Hyatt Regency Hotel to provide the city’s share of the match. Sedgwick County Commissioners will consider a memorandum of understanding with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment for the full $2.5 million.
