Utility Projects

Water Meter Upgrades:

Beginning June 2022, the City will begin replacing and upgrading all water meters. These new, modern meters are more dependable with higher accuracy than the current aging meters. The new meters will also allow for remote meter reads which allows staff to quickly respond to questions and concerns about usage volumes.

During the removal of the old meter, you will experience a brief outage (about 10 minutes). You will not receive notice prior to the brief outage. This upgrade is part of your water service. There is no additional cost to you as a customer. The entire replacement project should take approximately 6 months to complete, depending on weather.


Water Plant:

The current water plant went into service in the 1950's and is in excess of 60 years of age. The 2019 Water Master Plan consisted of a review of existing water treatment, distribution, and capacity/supply currently provided to the City of Bonner Springs. This Master Plan included review, input, and public engagement. In 2019, following continued complications with the existing water plant, the City began review of water plant alternatives including building a new plant, wholesale purchasing of water from another utility, and a do-nothing scenario. In June of 2020, based on these alternatives, the City Council directed staff to pursue a project to build a new water plant that would provide soft water and maintain the City's ability to produce water. Since that time, the City has contracted with Burns McDonnell-CAS Constructors, LLC on a Design/Build project to engineer plans for a new water plant. This plant will feature water softening and higher capacity volume.

Final design and permitting will take place in 2022 with construction scheduled to begin in 2023 and an anticipated completion date of late 2024. The cost for the project is $29,187,812, and the City has applied for grants, American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, and will continue to pursue future additional funding opportunities. Building a new water plant is less costly than purchasing water from another water utility or funding continued emergency breaks and repairs.

Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrades

New solids handling equipment was installed to improve treatment, safety, and efficiency at our Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) over the last few months. Wastewater flows include paper products, such as toilet paper, and other solid materials that we normally remove from the water prior to the biological treatment process. The WWTP Screening Upgrades included a new in-channel grinder at the headworks (where flows enter the to remove these solids and deposit them in a dumpster where they are then transported to the local landfill.  A new air handler was also installed in the Screening Building to improve air quality and avoid equipment deterioration. 

Work was also completed on one of the clarifiers, large basins used for treating water prior to discharge in the Kansas River. The concrete floor of the clarifier was refurbished, the steel structure was painted the main drive that operates large rotating equipment within the clarifier was rebuilt for preventative maintenance purposes. 

Total Project Cost was $270,000

Storage Tank Painting

Painting work has been completed on one of our 1 million gallon storage tanks (ST1) to restore interior paint protection. The tank was cleaned and a section of the exterior was painted last fall. It was during this process that we discovered severe paint delamination on the roof panels and upper side wall sections and subsequently scheduled the repainting process. The tank was constructed in 2000 and normal life expectancy for industrial paint is 20-25 years, so since the tank was in its 17th year, repainting the interior provides the best solution rather than just painting the roof area.

Staff authorized some additional repairs to the upper beam structure and column pipe, both of which provide support for the steel structure.  This additional work increased the project cost, but the benefits to ensure sustainability of this vital infrastructure outweighs the expense.  The tank was placed back in service extensive testing to ensure safe Drinking Water. 

Project cost was $150,000.


New Pressure Control Valve Installations

Two (2) new Pressure Control Valves (PRV) facilities were installed within the northern pressure zones of our water system. One PRV facility was installed on 134th Street, just south of I-70 to control flow on an emergency basis between the north pressure zone and central pressure zone. The other PRV facility was installed in the far northeast section of the north pressure zone where we have an interconnect with Board of Public Utilities (BPU) water system. This PRV will provide flow control from the BPU system during an emergency situation or if high demands require additional water flows.

These PRVs facilities were installed to improve water supply sustainability thus ensuring that water can flow freely from our emergency interconnects with BPU. The central and northern pressure zones are maintained by pressure regulated pumps located at our storage tank facility. If the pumps were to fail, for any reason, the PRV facilities will operate automatically to maintain flow and pressure into these pressure zones. We regulate flow and pressure when needed during high demands to ensure that our residents maintain acceptable water pressure, especially in cases of a waterline break


Total Project Cost for both PRV facilities = $125,000

Replacement Waterlines (Cornell, Emerson, Sheidley & Clark)

This project is currently under delays due to bidding irregularities taking place in late 2017.   A public meeting is being planned to allow input on the Complete Street design planned for Cornell and Sheidley Avenues where new sidewalks are planned.  This large waterline replacement project was ultimately designed to include new sidewalks and make improvements to the sanitary and storm sewer systems along with anticipated replacement of the Clark waterline.  The Project encompasses Cornell between Morse and Spring, Emerson between Morse and Murphy, Sheidley between Murphy and Pine (Insley), and Clark between Morse and Murphy.  New sidewalks will be constructed on Cornell and Sheidley.  The existing four-inch (4") cast iron and older PVC pipes will be replaced with new six-inch (6") and eight-inch (8") pipes, which will improve flow, pressure, and fire protection. The Project is expected to take 20-26 weeks to complete. Sidewalks will provide "walkability" and safety for the area residents and especially our City's children.   The project is expected to be completed in Spring 2018. 

The Total Estimated Project cost is $900,000 to replace 3500 feet of pipe and the associated service lines to the meter service for each house, including new meter pits, new sidewalks, improved stormwater inlets and street repaving. Once completed, this new construction will provide years of reliable water service for residents, safe walking, and good roads. Eventually, the entire area in this section of the City will have similar work completed to provide clean, safe drinking water walk-able areas and safe, good roadways of the citizens of Bonner Springs.