Public Wholesale Water Supply District (PWWSD) No. 26 began with several communities separately pursuing engineering reports to upgrade their aging water supply, treatment, and distribution systems. After coordinating and listening to the needs of each entity, BG Consultants prepared a comprehensive, regional water study. In the report, BG recommended that Cottonwood Falls, Strong City, and Chase County RWD No. 1 form a public wholesale water supply district to the regional area. Thus, PWWSD No. 26 was born.

Treatment and Storage 

One of the main components of PWWSD No. 26 was the design of a treatment and storage facility, located in Strong City, to serve the newly formed district. Raw water from the existing Cottonwood Falls and Strong City wells will now be treated by a new 0.5 MGD treatment plant, which includes greensand plus pressure filtration, followed by reverse osmosis filtration. Finished water is diverted to a new 0.5 million gallon storage tank. A unique aspect of this project is that the District will own and operate the new regional storage structure, which will directly serve all three entities. This reduces operational costs of each entity maintaining smaller separate storage structures.

Water Transmission Lines

To support the regional treatment facility, new water transmission lines also had to be designed. Two of the participating entities had existing infrastructure in close proximity to the proposed tower. However, supplying Cottonwood Falls required 10,000 feet of waterline, which crossed Cottonwood River via directional bore.

Public Engagement

A project of this type and magnitude required a long-term and steady public engagement endeavor. Due to the culture of the area, public meetings were the method of choice. The meetings mostly informed the public of the benefits, associated cost and major technical design aspects, but were also used as forums to receive input from residents on current pressure, taste, and odor issues.

Separate projects are currently underway that will improve the aging infrastructure within Cottonwood Falls, Strong City, and Chase Co. RWD No. 1. These improvements will reduce water loss by replacing over 100,000 feet of existing distribution mains.

PWWSD No. 26 is the first CDBG Regional Grant in Kansas.

What does it take to regionalize a water supply system in Kansas? See what BG’s experts have to say on our blog.