Wichita’s new water treatment plant will cost a little more

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.

The city says additional Axon body cameras and supporting IT infrastructure are a part of the upgrades, along with additional equipment, turf modifications and engineering and administration costs. The total cost is $400 thousand.

The council also approved purchasing police protective equipment and new radios. The total for these expenses is $900 thousand.

The final construction costs for renovations at Alford, Maya Angelou and Rockwell Libraries have been established.

The agreement with the Hutton Corporation sets the guaranteed maximum price at $5.985 million. The construction at the three libraries will be completed between March and September 2025.