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Environmental Assessment & Remediation (EAR)

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The Environmental Assessment and Remediation (EAR) program strives to study, advise and educate all persons on soil, surface water and groundwater quality and quantity issues and policies that will best protect the environment for the citizens and the interests of their communities.

Proje​cts

This program provides technical and administrative support for the Gilbert and Mosley and North Industrial Corridor groundwater contamination projects. Staff operate the Certificate and Release for Environmental Conditions (CAR) Program. Applications can be found at the bottom in the gray boxes in the right column of this web page.

The program also investigates soil and groundwater contamination on parcels involved in redevelopment projects or under consideration for purchase by the City, and coordinates routine monitoring of remediate pollution sites.​​

The WATER Center treatment facility that houses six hydraulic venturi air strippers that aid in the treatment of the contaminated groundwater from the Gilbert & Mosley and North Industrial Corridor extraction wells. The treatment center is described in more detailed in more detail below. 

Public Requests

Staff also responds to public requests for environmental information and processes environmental record reviews upon request. 

A public repository of Gilbert and Mosley and North Industrial Corridor Site information is maintained at the WATER Center. The information may be reviewed by appointment only and cannot be removed from the building.​ 

To request a file search, please submit your request online ​through Next Request.

Submit Open Records Request Form Online

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Gilbert and Mosley Project

"The Gilbert and Mosley Project is considered to be one of the most innovative public-private partnerships ever created to solve the complex environmental problem of groundwater contamination. This project has earned the City of Wichita national recognition for its development to avoid Superfund intervention and the impacts upon public health, environmental risks and the local economy."​

Former City of Wichita Mayor Carlos Mayans - October 16, 2003

Hist​ory

Groundwater contamination was originally discovered in 1986. In 1990, the Kansas​ Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) submitted the results of its Limited Site​ Investigation data to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The site was dubbed the Gilbert and Mosley Site. In 1991, the City of Wichita signed a Settlement Agreement with KDHE that kept the 3,850-acre Gilbert and Mosley Site out of the Superfund program. The City agreed to conduct a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) effort and implement certain site-wide groundwater remedial actions. Other actio​ns included the creation of a tax increment finance district and a CAR program. A significant portion of the site included the downtown area. The City's actions facilitated the protection of human health and environment within the site while also allowing development to proceed that may have otherwise been inhibited by the stigma of a designation as a Superfund site. ​

Tod​​ay

The City of Wichita's Gilbert and Mosley Project includes the operation of a groundwater treatment system, an environmental education building, a plaza area, and several site improvement items in Herman Hill Park. The groundwater treatment system remediates large volumes of groundwater that have been contaminated by various chlorinated solvents such as perchloroethene (PCE) and tetrachloroethene (TCE). The original extent of groundwater contamination above national drinking water standards (maximum contaminant levels = MCLs) was approximately 2,154 acres (3.3 square miles).

The groundwater remediation system started operations in 2002 with thirteen groundwater extraction wells and 5.5 miles of piping. As of the end of 2022, over 7.2 billion gallons of groundwater have been extracted, treated, and discharged to the Arkansas River. The total area of groundwater contamination exceeding drinking water standards has been decreased 83 percent to 371 acres and five of the original thirteen groundwater extraction wells no longer need to operate.  The figure shows the current plume extent and the gray area on the figure shows the original extent of groundwater contamination at the startu​p of the remediation program.

​ Gilbert and Mosley Fall Semi-Annual 2022 Monitoring Map​​
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Additional information can be found at the ​KDHE Identified Sites List Website at this link below.

​ Gilbert and Mosley Site - KDHE​​
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Certificate and Release Program

The City of Wichita has reestablished the financial lending in the Gilbert and Mosley area through a legal agreement with local lending institutions.

The Agreement states that the institutions will not refuse to lend on the security of real properties located within the Gilbert and Mosley site which are owned or operated by person or entities who have obtained a Certificate and Release for Environmental Conditions.

Certificate and Releases are granted by the City to property owners who have demonstrated through documentation or investigation that they have not contributed to the contamination in the Gilbert and Mosley site.

​ GM Certificate and Release Application​
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North Industrial Corridor Project

Hist​ory

Groundwater contamination was identified in the 1980s near the intersection of 29th and Mead in a highly industrialized area. The 29th and Mead site was declared a Superfund site by the EPA in February 1990. In July 1994 the City of Wichita petitioned the EPA to remove the 29th and Mead Site from the National Priorities List (NPL) in order to implement a local/state/federal cooperative partnership modeled after the successful strategy employed at the Gilbert and Mosley Site to the immediate south.

On November 14, 1995, the City of Wichita signed a Settlement Agreement with the KDHE under which the City agreed to assume responsibility for the completion of an RI/FS effort and the remedial design and remedial action (RD/RA) of the site-wide groundwater contamination. In return for this commitment, the 29th and Mead Site was removed from the NPL and the North Industrial Corridor (NIC) Site was created. The NIC Site is approximately four miles long and 1.5 miles wide (4,011 acres) and is the result of the consolidation of three groundwater contamination sites: 29th and Mead, Northeast, and 13th and Washington. Like the Gilbert and Mosley Site, this site also utilized a Tax Increment Finance (TIF) district within the site boundaries to generate finances to help fund the investigation and remediation. On April 29, 1996, the 29th and Mead site was deleted from the NPL allowing the creation of the North Industrial Corridor site and the TIF district.​

Tod​​ay​

The City of Wichita's NIC Project includes the operation of a groundwater treatment system and a pipeline to convey extracted contaminated groundwater to the Gilbert and Mosley Treatment Building. A total of 8,384 feet of 6-inch diameter pipeline and 12,393 feet of 8-inch diameter pipeline was installed in the NIC Site and an additional 6,380 feet of 8-inch diameter pipeline was installed in the Gilbert and Mosley site as a replacement for existing smaller diameter pipeline. In total, 3.9 miles of pipeline were installed within the NIC Site and 1.2 miles of replacement pipeline was installed in the Gilbert and Mosley Site for the remediation effort. The four NIC wells were turned on in January 2022 and extracted just under 155 million gallons of groundwater for treatment in 2022.

The groundwater contamination at the NIC Site is primarily from chlorinated solvents such as PCE and TCE. The overall areal extent and concentration of groundwater contaminants has significantly decreased since the mid-1990s. The reduction in groundwater contamination is largely due to the source control efforts by various companies to reduce the degree of groundwater contamination and, in several instance, contain the contamination within their property. Natural attenuation by biologic activity (bacteria) and abiotic materials (natural minerals) have also helped reduce the overall level of contamination in the groundwater. Between source control efforts and natural attenuation, the overall level of groundwater contamination associated with PCE and TCE contamination has decreased from greater than 1,000 micrograms per liter (µg/L) to less than 100 µg/L. The groundwater extraction wells have been positioned to address the areas of most significant remaining groundwater contamination. The maps show the 2022 groundwater contamination extents in both the upper portion (shallow) and lower (deep) portion of the aquifer within the NIC Site. The 2022 areal extent of contamination exceeding drinking water standards is approximately 139 acres in the shallow aquifer and 695 acres in the deep portion of the aquifer. ​

​ NIC 4th Quarter 2022 Monitoring Ma​p - Shallow​​ NIC 4th Quarter 2022 Monitoring Map - Deep​​​​
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Additional information can be found at the KDHE Identified Sites List Website at this link below.

​ North Industrial Corridor Site - KDHE​​​
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Certificate and Release Program

The City of Wichita has reestablished financial lending in the North Industrial Corridor area through a legal agreement with lending institutions.

The Agreement states that the institutions will not refuse to lend on the security of real properties located within the North Industrial Corridor site which are owned or operated by person or entities who have obtained a Certificate and Release for Environmental Conditions.

Certificate and Releases​​​​ are granted by the City to property owners who have demonstrated through documentation or investigation that they have not​ contributed to the contamination in the North Industrial Corridor sites.

​​ NIC Certificate and Release Application​​​​​​​​​

WATER Center Treatment Plant​​

The Wichita Area Treatment, Education & Remediation (WATER) Center includes the​​​​​​​​ treatment plant for the remediation of the extracted groundwater from the GM and NIC sites. It is capable of treating approximately 1,200 gallons per minute (gpm) of groundwater contaminated by chlorinated solvents. The treatment process consists of series of hydraulic venturi air strippers located in sequence. The extracted groundwater enters the plant through an 8-inch diameter high density polyethylene (HDPE) pipeline where it passes through a magnetic flowtube which senses the rate of flow in the ​pipeline and transmits that information to a computer for monitoring and record keeping purposes. The water next passes into a basin and through a series of baffles. At each baffle, a pump draws a portion of the water up into a hydraulic venturi air stripper which forces air through the water to remove (strip out) the volatile organic contaminants such as the dissolved chlorinated solvents. The water is then discharged back down into the basin and can be drawn up again as many as five additional times for further treatment. After the air stripping treatment, a portion of the water is passed on to operating fountains and water features outside the treatment building where it can be enjoyed by visitors to the park in which the WATER Center​ is located (Herman Hill Park). Another portion of the water is routed throug​​​​h up to three aquariums located on the premises: two inside the WATER Center building and one is a free-standing aquarium located at the head of an artificial creek that discharges to the Arkansas River bordering the southern edge of the park. During facility maintenance or creek maintenance efforts, the water can be routed directly to the Arkansas River, bypassing the water features described above. The air used for removing the volatile contaminants out of the groundwater is collected and discharged to the atmosphere from a stack well above ground level. The volatile compounds removed from the treated groundwater will break down in sunlight to their basic components of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and chloride. The treated water leaving the plant is tested monthly to ensure that treatment to below National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) requirements are being met.
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