When Wichita tried to act on the order, however, "It was discovered that the state legislature of 1927 had taken away the power of cities the size of Wichita to finance a sewage disposal plant or even to pay for the necessary engineering report." (Eagle, 9/22/28). Therefore, before acting, the legislature had to be approached.

The Wichita city attorney, with the help of the Board of Health, prepared a bill in January, 1929, which soon passed the legislature, authorizing Wichita to issue bonds of up to $25,000 to pay for the engineering expenses in the project and to hold an election to vote on bonds for the construction of a disposal plant. With this legislation, the city was able to proceed.

On August 6, 1929, the city signed a contract with Black and Veatch, consulting engineers, to complete the studies begun by the city engineer and to recommend the best type of disposal plant, while preparing estimates to be used in a bond election. The engineering firm presented its report on July 21, 1930, and a copy was filed with the board in August.

The board met on September 19 to reconsider Wichita's situation, and it adopted three resolutions on sewage disposal. The first resolution granted a temporary permit to Wichita to discharge untreated sewage until September 1, 1931, at which point the preliminary part of a complete treatment plant was to be in operation. The second granted a temporary permit to allow the city to construct various sewer extension projects, contingent upon the plant being built. The third approved the Black and Veatch report, and granted Wichita permission to discharge partially treated sewage into the river from September 1, 1931, to September 1, 1933, when complete treatment works would be operational. The Eagle described the decisions as approving "the method of sewage disposal recommended by the engineers and authorizes the city to construct a sewage treatment plant for preliminary treatment, anticipating that the complete plant will follow later." (Eagle, 9/29/30).

Although not acting with speed sufficient to please the state, the city finally set a vote for the bonds to finance the disposal plant during the November 4, 1930, general election. The City Commission took the initial steps to begin the campaign for the project on October 21, as it planned to get the issue before the public and civic organizations throughout Wichita. At the meeting the City Commission passed a policy statement on the bond issue. "We are not urging that this bond issue must be approved or disapproved;" it said, "we desire to place the matter fairly and impartially before the citizens of Wichita and await their verdict. However, it would seem from all our investigations and engineering reports that the sewage must be at least partially purified before being discharged into the river; that the communities below Wichita and the State Board of Health have the right and authority to demand and compel that to be done, and that it would be wise to install a preliminary treatment plant now at a cost of $700,000 rather than wait until the state forces us to install a complete treatment plant at a cost of $1,365,700." (Eagle, 10/22/30). E. Black and N.T. Veatch of the Kansas City engineering firm spoke to the Kiwanis Club on the 24th, to launch the city's campaign.

The bond, originally set at $700,000, was raised to $750,000 for the election. The proposed project included $250,000 for three sewer line extensions; the west side sewer emptying into the river one half mile south of Harry would be extended across the river to the plant; the College Hill sewer would be extended one half mile west to the plant; and the central district sewer, built in 1918, with the main terminating at Franklin, would be continued one mile south. The plant itself, to be located two miles south of Harry and one half mile east of Hydraulic at the point where the drainage canal joined with the river, was estimated to cost $450,000 for a 100-foot settling tank, digesting tanks, dry sludge beds, and a pump station to lift the sewage some 20 feet. The proposal allowed for complete facilities for secondary treatment to be added at a later time, but a primary plant alone would satisfy the state.

The actual ballot read, "Shall the City of Wichita, through its board of city commissioners, issue $750,000 of its internal revenue bonds to pay for building sewage disposal works?" City officials tried to minimize the impact of the costs by comparing the per capita figures to those in other cities. Designed to serve an estimated 163,000 people, the plant would cost $4.30 per person, much less than similar projects in other cities in Kansas and around the country. "The officials say," the Eagle quoted on October 2, 1930, "the cost of the sewer will be lower now than it would have been at any time since 1914."

The campaign was relatively mild, with most sources supporting the plan. On the request of City Manger Bert Wells, the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce endorsed the project on October 28, and agreed to write the members supporting the plant. Costs were down because of the economic depression and many were unemployed, desperately needing work. This became one of the key themes in the push for the bonds, with supporters arguing that many of the needy citizens could be employed with the new construction. Little controversy was raised over the matter. The most controversial issue in the election, which caused one of the biggest campaign fights in the history of the city, was over whether Sunday movies should be legalized. (Eagle, 9/29/32).

The election was held on November 4, with the final count showing the bond issue passing overwhelmingly, 22,428 to 9,745. The Eagle's November 6 report on the election results recounted the reaction of the city, "Probably the most surprised persons were city officials who had feared the proposal, coming at this time, would be killed by the voters. The fact that people saw the need for the plant, and also that the state had ordered it and there was nothing to do but vote bonds, is responsible for the large majority." Sunday movies also passed, 18,737 to 17,243.

Immediate steps were taken to begin construction of the plant with Black and Veatch notified to prepare the detailed plans and specifications for the job as soon as the final election tallies were in. Throughout the next year, work on the project continued. The state's deadline passed, but, as usual, if some action was being taken the state was hesitant to push too hard. Considering the depression, it knew better than to expect too much. Preliminary work was completed by August of 1931, and on August 26 the first concrete was poured for the plant. Finally, by mid-1932. it was completed.

In a special supplement in the 60th Anniversary edition of the Eagle on May 29, 1932, the new plant was described. Pictures displayed the project, and the text proclaimed its benefits. "There may have been--probably was--criticism of the project at its inception," it read, "but the city as a whole has been strong in its support of the plan. Today the sewage disposal plant stands, a positive and definite forward step, a distinct addition to Wichita, and a silent but capable guardian of the city's health and weal." It also quoted Wells on the effort, "Woven into this massive fabric of concrete, stone, and steel, are the earnest thoughts and the physical exertions of many men. It is not unreasonable to state that no structure created through the agency of the city of Wichita has had more integrity built into it than this Sewage Disposal Plant."

Soon after, the plant was finished. The Eagle reported the successful completion of the first tests, during the previous week, of the plant on July 17. Shortly thereafter it was ready for operation. But it was not used immediately. The Taxation Committee of the Chamber of Commerce and the Taxpayers Union both asked that the sewage disposal plant not be operated in the fall or winter. The nuisance created by the sewage during these times was minor, they felt, and thought operating costs would be saved by waiting until the next year to begin. The Chamber took the matter to the State Board of Health and on July 5 a permit was received by the City Commission and filed, granting Wichita the right to dump the sewage into the river until January 1, 1933, at which time the plant was to be in full use. As a result, Wichita did not begin actually using its first sewage disposal plant until 1933, months after it was ready.

The delay in the operation caused quite a controversy later in 1932 during the discussion of the proposed industrial sanitary sewer. A few years earlier the city had asked the industries located north of Wichita to discontinue placing refuse in the city's sewage system since the acids and salt water ate away the pipes. On September 20, 1930, the last two companies, Barnsdall and Derby refineries, were requested by the City Commission to stop the dumping. As a result the companies began pouring their wastes directly into the drainage canal, which was to serve flood control, not waste disposal. The canal had been built in the early 1900's under Ordinance 2615, which allocated $54,262.19 in bonds to be sold for construction. According to the annual report by City Engineer