The Wichita City Council approves changes that will increase the cost of the Northwest water treatment plant. An additional $7 million in changes will now bring the total cost to roughly $509 million.
Gary Janzen with Public works says the increase in the plant’s cost so far is less than 2 percent. By comparison, a water plant in Texas has seen its cost increase by 10-12 percent during construction.
One of the changes includes a new 64-inch pipeline, which will dispose the water used in the plant’s performance testing starting in November. Up to 60 million gallons of water per day will be run through the system for 5 days. The city says all of the testing will be completed before the plant officially comes online in April 2025.
Janzen says the current plant is limited to treating a 55/45 blend of Cheney water versus groundwater. The new plant will be able to treat up to 100 percent groundwater, if necessary.
The council has approved additional equipment for its new Patrol East Police station.