During the same period in which the waterworks formed in Wichita, the sewer system also evolved. In many ways, its growth was a much more complex and intricate process because it did not rely on a private company with a profit motive making many of the decisions. Instead, it was entirely organized and implemented with governmental restrictions by city officials without expertise in sewer systems. The completion of the sewer began in a patchwork fashion and slowly grew into a systematic approach.

Initially, sanitation of the city occurred by curbing and guttering the streets, relying on surface drainage and the clear air to keep the city clean. The gutters were made to drain into ditches leading away from town, toward the river. The city engineer had the important job of determining the proper grade for streets to enhance drainage. The streets would be curbed and guttered as a result of petition from the majority of owners in the area. Bonds would be issued to finance the work, paid through assessments charged to the property. If a majority of the owners protested the assessments made, and filed another petition, action could be stopped. Construction contracts were awarded to the firms submitting the lowest bid price. In many ways, work today is implemented through the same general procedure.

During the early 1870's, when Wichita was a small cowtown, there was little problem with sanitation. Dirt streets with shallow trenches sufficed. Larger ditches, which were dug privately or ordered by the City Council, served to carry off excess water. When more action was necessary, private citizens would petition the council to build a culvert, and at various times the council would have ditches cleaned out or extended to improve the drainage. In addition, when private businesses caused nuisances they could be ordered to make necessary improvements.

Initial steps were taken to enhance drainage on April 29, 1871, when the council voted to have E.B. Allen, Wichita's first mayor, appoint a city engineer to establish grades on Main Street. This preceded more extensive action in grading streets and alleys throughout the town, as well as building street crossings, usually made of cottonwood lumber, and sidewalks.

Various ditches already existed along many of the dirt streets, developed when the streets first were made, prior to the incorporation of Wichita, but they were not part of an official plan. Ordinance 27, passed on May 25, 1871, established grades on Main Street and measured the height above the river from the center of the street to the center of the ditches, with the streets made to run slightly downhill to the river.

The city began more planning for drainage on May 1, 1872, when it ordered the city clerk to advertise for culverts to be built on Main and Douglas streets. Ordinance 62 specified that the culverts be stone, laid in quick-lime mortar, with walls 18 inches thick, with an oak plank covering, 11/2 inches thick, from sidewalk to sidewalk. A contract to H. H Johnson, the lowest bidder, was granted for the work on May 20. The council had officially incorporated the procedure for letting contracts to the lowest bidder in Ordinance 24, passed May 11, 1871.

By the middle of 1873 more activity was necessary. On July 2, the council approved a resolution calling for the guttering of Main Street. And on the 9th, the Committee on Public Improvements, which had been formed earlier that year on April 16, was ordered to drain a big slough in the English Addition to Wichita by a ditch on the west side of Main Street across Douglas and out of town. On the 23rd the committee was told to cut a ditch from the culvert on Main, east to the alley and south to the natural course of water, as well as to remove certain culverts which apparently caused problems on Main Street. Ordinance 100, passed on May 24, called for the excavation of gutters on Main from north of Third Street to south of Williams.

The continued guttering of Main Street was hindered on August 6, 1873, by a petition of 48 land owners opposed to guttering and curbing the street, most likely because of the cost. Soon after, the council delayed such activities, deferring the grading of Market Street until the city was in better financial condition, and tabled a motion to grade and gutter the north end of Main Street.

The sanitary condition of the city also prompted citizen concern, although it was not nearly as vital an issue as in the years to come. Ordinance 8, passed on April 29,1871, called for fines between $5 and $50 for anyone putting "filth, litter, manure piles, or dead carcasses in streets, alleys, or lots"; fines of $5 to $20 for allowing hog pens, stables, privies, or outbuildings to become offensive; fines up to $25 for anyone causing damages from digging ditches or leaving them unguarded; and fines not less than $5 for leaving ignitable substances, such as hay or wood, lying around or in alleys; as well as liability for all damages. (City Council Minutes).

The next year, on June 19, 1872, the city went further and initiated action to curb pollution of the river. Ordinance 70 established a fine of not less than 50 cents for anyone bathing in the Arkansas River, north of Park Street and south of Waterman Avenue, between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. On July 2, 1873, Ordinance 104 established a Board of Health Committee, made up of three City Council members, to inspect streets and alleys in the city and to do what was necessary to protect Wichita from filth and offensive matters.

Until 1876, the general procedures were followed in regard to sanitation and health, but later more action was spurred. On May 22, 1876, a petition to the council asked for work to be done on the big slough on Topeka Avenue to eliminate standing water. The council responded on July 10 by calling for the slough to be cleaned and extended as far as necessary, with the excess dirt to be used to fill the streets. This problem would eventually be a major impetus for the first real sewer system in Wichita.

Over the next few years the city continued improving the streets, and when necessary, built culverts, ditches, street crossings, and sidewalks, usually in response to citizen petitions.