From that point, the discussion on sewering the city intensified. Healy reported on July 27, 1885, for the Special Committee on Sewers, favoring the sewering of the Topeka Avenue ditch. When that report was referred to the mayor for further study, the committee looked into private contributions. At the same meeting, a letter from Hacason and McIntosh, sanitary and hydraulic engineers, was read which provided a general plan of sewerage for Wichita. This would be the first of many coming to the council in the years ahead. The mayor was asked to compensate the firm for its work. The next month, on August 10, Richey gave the Health Committee's recommendation to sewer the Topeka Avenue ditch. Although Councilman N.A. English tried to have the report rejected, it was accepted.

No direct implementation was begun until the following year, but study of the sewer needs continued. A petition asking for city sewerage was presented on November 9, and on December 14 a letter from J.W. Robinette was read offering to perform preliminary work on an engineering plan for sewerage. The communication was referred to the Health Committee, which reported on February 8, 1886, that it wished to employ Robinette to make the preliminary sewer plan surveys. The council approved his hiring for not more than $150, and two weeks later the work was completed. Nothing was done with his study, however. At the birth of Wichita, just as now, the government would order study after study, but fail to follow-up.

However, the problems in the Topeka Avenue ditch were becoming too great to ignore. On May 3, 1886, the council reported that firemen had been used to flush the ditch. The first step toward a city sewer was finally taken on May 25, when the council authorized the city clerk to purchase between 2700 and 3000 feet of sewer pipe, of not less than 18 inches in diameter, to place in the ditch. Richey voted no, claiming the project was impractical, but the majority disagreed. The same day, the marshal was ordered to arrest any person throwing filthy matter into the river.

Installation of the sewer pipe commenced. On June 14, the city clerk reported $500 in private contributions had been collected, and the council approved a $3000 bond to pay the Killeen and Hockinger Company for the sewer pipe.

In addition, the council took the first action to begin controlling the sewer system. Upon the suggestion by Healy, chairman of the Public Improvements Committee, a resolution was passed which read, "To wit: Resolved, that no person be allowed to tap or connect with the Topeka Avenue sewer without paying the sum of at least $100 for the privilege and that the same be under the supervision of the Street Committee." Two days later the council also decided, upon Healy's suggestion, that the sewer be built in a straight line south from Wichita, rather than following the "meandering of the old ditch." (City Council Minutes).

As work continued on the Topeka Avenue sewer, the city was also encouraged to place pipe elsewhere. Healy recommended on June 28 that a portion of the ditch on Water Street be repaired by pipe, and the Street Committee suggested on August 16 that the Topeka Avenue sewer be extended further north past Douglas Avenue. It was also recommended that pipe be laid connecting the city mill to the sewer and that sewer tiling be purchased for culverts.

The community got into the act as well, although the sewering effort was not unanimously supported. A book describing Wichita, Wichita 1886: An Illustrated Review, published in August, 1886, saw a danger in the sewers. "What wastes we have heretofore had has been sufficiently cared for by surface drainage, comparatively unaided," it stated. "Sometimes unsightly to the eyes and maybe unsavory to the smell, yet, by reason of air and sunlight, we have been saved from its poison. We are beginning a system of underground drainage that, completed, will make us more comely to look upon, and, if built so as to afford rapid and unobstructed transit from our waste and filth, will give us protections from disease and death; but if constructed to hide instead of to carry away filth, will be harboring of disease and death, and not of life and health. The Big and Little Arkansas rivers, in their sweep half encircling the city, furnish ample facilities for making Wichita a clean and healthy city." The article concluded by claiming it was better to be in the open and "swept away than penned up to form dangerous gases." Despite such fears, most people in the city supported the sewer work.

A petition was received by the council on August 24 to extend the sewer north to First Street, and on September 13, 1886, it was granted, upon the recommendation of the Public Improvements Committee. The council also began to plan ahead as it passed a motion to lay sewer pipe prior to installing curb and guttering on the south side of Douglas Avenue from Water Street west.

On November 22, 1886, the Public Improvements Committee reported the final cost for the completed project: $4,090.70, or $1.375 per foot. It went from First Street down Topeka Avenue to the south end of Wichita, ending in a broad catch basin. It did not end at the river. Firemen were required to flush the sewer twice a week and to clean the catch basin at least once a week, under the supervision of the street commissioner. On December 13, Healy advocated the further extension of the sewer west to Lawrence Avenue and south to the river. But, after considerable discussion, the matter was referred for further consideration. Despite this, much had been accomplished.

In the last meeting of the year on December 29, 1886, the Public Improvements Committee announced that during the previous eight months 3,084 feet of 24 inch sewer pipe and 1,520 feet of eight-inch pipe had been laid, and many culverts constructed. The system was growing larger to match its city.

The new council convened on April 11, 1887, electing J.P. Allen mayor and establishing a new committee. For the first time the city had a permanent committee on sewerage, with Allen appointing B.K. Brown, C.F. Derby and Healy. A week later the committee’s first report was given by Brown, the chairman. He said, "The nice little ditch on Topeka Avenue, the question of utilizing which was referred to this committee, was examined by us and we would recommend that tiling be put in from the present terminus of the ditch, south to the river. Here we get a good fall and we could easily settle the sewerage question in Wichita." This sparked the debate of the big issue. (City Council Minutes).

Healy argued for extensive sewering, but claimed that if bonds were not issued soon, it would be too late to pay for sewerage that year. English added, according to the Eagle's account on April 19, that "This nuisance never was so bad before and the first thing to do was to get a survey and find out the cost of building and relieve the city as soon as possible." The city engineer had already studied the area and suggested the best location for the fall.

Then Healy rose again with "the big gun of the session." The big bear of sewerage is the supposed large amount it will cost," he said. "Several years ago the legislature passed a bill especially for the benefit of Wichita, allowing companies to sewer cities of the second class, and a St. Louis engineer named Robert Moore made an estimate that is entirely erroneous." (City Council Minutes). Healy went on to protest Moore’s figure that sewering Wichita would cost $576,000, claiming that he could do the same amount for $126,000 and said that extending the sewer with 12-inch pipe to the river would not be more than $22,000. Apparently, Healy convinced the council.

The city attorney was authorized to draw up an ordinance on the Topeka Avenue sewer. The council also voted to divide the city into sewer districts with each district paying for its own sewers. On May 2, 1887, the city engineer reported plans to extend the sewer, and the resolution passed. The clerk would receive the advertised bids by the following week, and obtain blank bonds for a sewer contract.

Also, in order to temporarily abate the nuisance at the end of the current sewer, the council ordered lime to be scattered along it until more permanent measures could be taken.

In preparation for future action, Ordinance 427 was passed, splitting the city into sewer districts for issuing bonds. But by May 23, Ordinance 438 was passed, repealing number 427 because City Attorney Jason Dyer concluded that the bonds could not be issued by districts, but only by the entire city. Construction bids were opened on the 9th, and awarded to Mr. Timmons, the low bidder, at $1.74 per lineal foot. The next day Brown notified the council that Timmons would not comply with the contract or the engineer's plans. So, the next lowest bidder, Wichita Construction and Supply Company, was given the contract for $22,400. Sixty days were allowed to complete the sewer and a bond of $25,000 was to be drawn for financing the project. During the same period, the right-of-way was obtained from Mr. Kinkaid, the largest land owner, who agreed to allow the sewer to run through his property.

A Beacon editorial on May 26, 1887, discussed the plan to extend the Topeka Avenue sewer and make it the main sewer of the city, claiming that no one really knew who could handle the job. The paper also called