5.3.23

Wichita’s Northwest Water Facility Hosts Annual Project Update Event

There were several big reasons to celebrate this week at Wichita’s Northwest Water Facility. Wichita Water Partners, the joint venture team of Alberici and Burns & McDonnell, reached a major project milestone of 1 million labor hours worked. The $500 million project is the largest capital investment in Wichita’s history and will replace the City’s 80-year-old water treatment plant.

Wichita’s Northwest Water Facility is set to provide safe, clean drinking water to Wichita residents and surrounding areas upon completion and startup in 2025. The facility willtreat 120 million gallons of water per day and will require approximately 1.6 million labor hours to build. The project is estimated to generate $2 billion in economic stimulus for Wichita and will provide vital water security for the City.

To celebrate the achievement of 1 million labor hours completed, the project team hosted an event on site to update elected officials and participating design and construction firms on the project’s progress. Thousands of people have contributed to this legacy project to date, including numerous local contractors, service providers and small businesses.

“Lots of exciting activity is happening at the future home of Wichita’s Northwest Water Facility where we are making huge strides towards reaching our 2024 completion date,” says John Smith, construction manager for Wichita Water Partners. “Our team has worked hard to reach this milestone and we are excited to work on such an important project here in the City of Wichita.”

A project of this magnitude and duration requires an intentional focus on safety. Coincidentally, the celebration event coincided with National Construction Safety Week. Project leadership showed their appreciation for crews by serving a BBQ lunch for nearly 400 people. Wichita Water Partners is proud of the strong culture of safety built that will live beyond the lifetime of this project.