WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The head of Wichita's water system says he hears many ideas about how to keep the city's water supply from drying up. On Tuesday, he told city leaders why some of those ideas would not work and proposed some ideas the city has never considered. Gary Janzen is the director of Wichita Public Works and Utilities. He told the Wichita City Council that the city is still in Stage 2 of its drought response plan and will likely stay there for the rest of the year. People can only water lawns and flowers once a week. (Courtesy City of Wichita) "This isn't just so people can keep watering their grass," he said. "This is about the future of our city and the ability for us to grow, to help with economic development." The water level at Cheney Lake determines the drought stage. The snow and rain over the winter raised it a foot, but it is still down 7.5 feet from normal. Aerial view shows the effect of the drought at Cheney Reservoir, March 2025. (Courtesy City of Wichita) "Our goal right now is to hold off Stage 3 as long as we can," Janzen said. "The inflow over the last year or more into Cheney Reservoir is the lowest it's been in almost 60 years, which goes back to all the way when it was built." Stage 3 would mean no outdoor watering. Ideas that are 'not viable' El Dorado Lake Janzen says people ask him almost weekly why Wichita does not get its water from El Dorado Lake. He said the city does have some available water rights at El Dorado. "At the point in time when we would need water from El Dorado during a regional drought, so impacting Cheney also, the water is not going to be there," he said. "What we would need, we would drain the reservoir in a very short period of time. It's not viable." He said the watershed that feeds El Dorado Reservoir is much smaller than Cheney's and takes longer to fill back up. "Even if we could find what seemed like a reasonable cost to bring a pipeline, pumping, and everything else, the water's just not there," Janzen said. Dredge Cheney Lake The other question he often gets is, "Why don't you dredge Cheney Lake?" Janzen said the watershed protection programs in place have limited the amount of sedimentation at Cheney. "The last study that the Kansas Water Office did showed that it might be somewhere around five to seven percent of the capacity has been lost from sediment, which is pretty unheard of, especially for a reservoir this size," he said. He said dredging Cheney is a lose-lose situation because of the cost and finding a place to take the material. Janzen said the city did some cost estimates. The estimated price was "extremely" high, while the city only gained an additional month and a half of water. "It's not viable. It's not even something we're going to evaluate going forward," he said. On a positive note, Janzen said the drought is allowing workers to make repairs on Cheney's dam. KDOT to begin drainage survey on US-54 in Butler County Wichita's new water plant Wichita gets 55% to 60% of its water from Cheney and the rest from groundwater from the Equus Beds Wellfield. Janzen wants to use more groundwater to take some of the stress off Cheney, but Wichita's current, older water plant cannot handle that much groundwater. The new water plant, Wichita Water Works, is almost ready. It will be able to treat a lot more groundwater. "It is feasible at some point in time, if water's not available from Cheney, that we could treat 100% groundwater through this plant," Janzen said. "That would not be done on a regular basis. There's a lot of reasons why it makes sense for us to still balance our water use." Wasted water? The new plant is north of the Sedgwick County Zoo. Drivers on Interstate 235 may notice large amounts of test water pouring from it into the floodway. Janzen says it is a necessary part of the testing process to ensure regulatory compliance and ensure the plant can consistently produce safe water. "I'll tell you what is happening with that water that's going to the floodway. Some of it is helping to recharge the aquifer in northwest Wichita," he said. "The rest of that water makes its way all the way down the floodway and back into the big Ark River. It doesn't necessarily allow us to utilize that as a water resource, but it is making its way downstream, where others will be able to utilize that for the same reason that we are." But Janzen said the city will soon shift the test water to Hess Pump Station, where the city hopes to open a fill station in the next 30 to 45 days. Botanica and contractors will be able to fill tanks with the water. "(We) didn't have the opportunities we wanted to early on to capture some of this test water and be able to reuse it, but we are going to be able to do that now," he said. Timeline for putting the plant online The city is projected to take ownership of Wichita Water Works in April. "As Wichita Water Partners is moving through to finish the performance and acceptance testing, showing that they can make spec water, our staff is there, but we don't have hands-on operations. We can't and we shouldn't," he said. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment must provide the operational permit, which could take 30 to 60 days. Then city workers will need time to learn the system. "We need time to be able to be comfortable with that, to make sure that we can safely operate the plant," Janzen said. "I think it could very well be 90 to 120 days. That's why we especially want to be able to capture that test water as much as we can," he said. "Our goal is to have the new plant solely providing water to the distribution system by this fall so that we can optimize staffing and costs. I can't give you a pinpoint, a date, right now. I wish I could." Getting creative to fight the drought Modifications to the older treatment plant While the city waits for the new plant to pass testing, Janzen said some employees have figured out how to modify the current plant so it can treat more groundwater than before. "It's not sustainable for very long," he said. "But for right now, we are pulling more water from the Equus Beds, taking that stress off of Cheney while we're continuing this testing." Reusing water Janzen believes reusing treated wastewater could solve Wichita's water issues. He said the wastewater is already treated to drinking water standards, but it would have to go through even more advanced treatment before residents could use it. "There's 30 million gallons a day of treated effluent going to our rivers and streams that we believe we can capture and create an additional water supply for ourselves long-term," Janzen said. "It's going to take some time. There's costs associated with it. We have to develop regulations with the state, but I think we'll get there." Outside of the drought, Wichita's average water demand is 50 million gallons daily. "You could imagine what we could do long-term if we could create a water supply that's half of our demand," Janzen said. "That's why we are so excited to try to look to this option and stay really focused on direct potable. It could provide a sustainable and resilient water supply, truly for generations." The state does not have regulations for direct potable reuse. "We're going to start working with KDHE right away," Janzen said. "We've talked to them. They're on board with this. They want to see this move forward." The city will do a feasibility study and work with the Bureau of Reclamation on funding opportunities. Council member Becky Tuttle is very supportive of the idea. "I'm just really excited for Wichita to be the first city in the state to have direct reuse," she said. "I don't want us to stop. I want us to keep the momentum. There's only one city in the nation that does direct reuse right now, and I'm sure hopeful that we'll be the first in Kansas and maybe one of the top 10 in the nation." Treated contaminated groundwater Janzen said the Herman Hill Park facility treats a million gallons of contaminated groundwater daily. "We updated our permit to allow landscaping contractors to also utilize that water," he said. Starting April 1, landscaping contractors and nurseries with water trucks can go to the Herman Hill facility and get that water for free. Changing Wichita's lawn habits Janzen has been meeting with Wichita area builders and developers to encourage them to consider moving away from fescue grass in their new developments. "I've challenged them to start looking at more drought-resilient developments, doing something different, anything different," Janzen said. "I think there's some interest. I hope there is, because they're seeing the challenges of this prolonged drought." He also thinks it might be time to have zoning codes encourage more drought-tolerant grass and plants. Council member Brandon Johnson said the city may need to do more than just encourage it. "I think our job is to make sure that we can stretch water as far as possible," he said. "Maybe that's a policy discussion here where we just require drought-resistant plantings of yards and completely move away from fescue." Janzen also pointed out that many developers build their neighborhoods around lakes. He said those lakes could supply the neighborhood irrigation systems. Long-term water restrictions The city looked at how other cities handle the drought. Once the drought ends, Janzen would like Wichita to consider what Oklahoma City does, watering every other day. "Even if we came out of this drought tomorrow, I'm not sure that we should ever go back to allowing watering seven days a week," he said. Upcoming KANSASWORKS job fair will focus on construction What about well water? Janzen said the aquifer is 92% full. So far, people who use well water do not have to follow Wichita's watering restrictions. "We still encourage everybody to do the same. It is a source of consternation amongst neighbors. We've heard that," Janzen said. "It actually creates more work for us to try to verify who's got a well and who doesn't." Council member Maggie Ballard is concerned more people will start digging wells and put the aquifer at risk. Janzen said some people in west Wichita have started to see their wells go dry because groundwater levels are dropping. However, his department's modeling shows that domestic wells have little impact on the Equus Beds. "To that point, if we were in non-drought conditions, we'd be better off with a lot more wells, domestic wells," he said. "We could take a lot of the stress off of Cheney ... Long-term, there's no harm with more wells." He did say that if the drought continues, more people in west Wichita could struggle with dry wells. What about trees? One restriction of Stage 2 of the drought plan concerns trees. The city says people should not plant new trees or shrubs. Several council members asked if that restriction could be eased. City Manager Bob Layton said a possible solution is in the works. "One of the biggest problems is that people tend to overwater plant material and trees," he said. "When they have to replace trees, it's many times because the property owner didn't water appropriately." Layton said that he and Janzen are considering a proposal that would let landscapers plant trees as long as the landscaper is responsible for watering the trees with well water or reused water from the Herman Hill facility. Council member J.V. Johnston wants homeowners to be able to plant their own trees as long as they only hand water them. However, the city manager said that would need more discussion. "I'm really concerned with staring Phase 3 or Stage 3 in the face at some point forward," Layton said. "The more we send mixed messages, the harder it is for people to understand what it is that will keep us out of going to Stage 3." To learn more, visit the city's Save Wichita Water website. It has helpful information, including details about Cheney's lake level, the drought stages, restrictions, and drought-resistant plants. ...read more read less