Wichita Mayor touts new sewer main

About three years ago, the City of Wichita examined the underground main that carries more than half of the city's wastewater, and it was found to be in early stages of failure.

Mayor Jeff Longwell says the City has now built a new 54-inch sewer main, and he says construction on that is "substantially completed." He says the three-mile-long pipeline criss-crosses underneath the Arkansas River, a closed solid-waste landfill, two major roadways, the Kansas Turnpike, all while carrying 30 million gallons of raw sewage to the City's largest wastewater treatment plant.

The new sewer main was originally slated as a $38 million project, but is has come in significantly under budget at $22 million, saving the City about $16 million.