The Wichita City Council unanimously approved an agreement that will fund 49 percent of the costs of the new northwest water facility project.
Federal funding will total $280 million, capital interest excluded.
State funding should be finalized in late summer and will cover 48 percent of the cost. The rest will come from a 5 percent water and sewer rate increase, to be voted on later this year. The city says this will add roughly $2 to $7 to a resident's average monthly bill.
City Manager Robert Layton thanked city staff and the federal government.
"I also want to thank EPA," Layton said. "Sometimes we forget that if we didn't have a great work relationship with the agency that's responsible for the funding, that we probably wouldn't be able to move very far with this."
Phase 2 of the project will begin in October. It should be completed in early 2025 with a final price tag of $494.2 million.
The EPA estimates that the city will save around $69 million by using federal funding, as compared to using municipal bonds.
