The City of Wichita has issued a 'boil water advisory' for its water customers. On Wednesday morning, power was lost at the main water treatment plant and Hess pump station downtown. Staff-members are investigating the cause.
The city’s current (in-use) water treatment plant is more than 80 years old. The city has taken over operation of its new water treatment plant on the northwest side of town, but the new facility isn’t scheduled to go online until the second quarter of 2027.
The advisory handed down Wednesday morning follows widespread reports about low and lost water pressure across the city.
The City of Wichita advised that with the advisory, its water customers should observe the following precautions until further notice:
- Boil water for one minute prior to drinking or food preparation or use bottled water.
- Dispose of ice cubes and do not use ice from a household automatic icemaker.
- Disinfect dishes and other food contact surfaces by immersion for at least one minute in clean tap water that contains one teaspoon of unscented household bleach per gallon of water.
Residents on the east and west sides of Wichita were experiencing lowered or lost water pressure early Wednesday morning, starting in the 5:00 a.m. hour.
The boil water advisory is affecting about a half-million City water customers, most of the Wichita Metro area; this is the first time in five years the largest city in Kansas has had to issue a boil water advisory. The water plant was being powered with backup generators after Tuesday night’s thunderstorms. City staff-members are trying to figure out why the backup generators failed.
- The outage occurred at roughly 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning; power was out for about 45 minutes.
- The city has 195 water testing stations across the community.
- Water tests will go to a lab to be tested for bacteria and chlorine levels; it will be 24 hours before the City gets results back from the time they are tested.
- Only state officials from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment can rescind the water boil advisory.
