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KC Water Celebrates Completion of KCVA Medical Center Green Infrastructure Project

Posted on July 14, 2022

(Kansas City, MO) – KC Water celebrated the completion of the latest a new green infrastructure project at the Kansas City VA Medical Center.

The green infrastructure project began in October of 2019 and is substantially complete. KC Water worked with KC Parks, the KCVA Medical Center, designers and contractors to develop a natural way to reduce combined sewer overflows and create an enjoyable space. The result, a green space where rain water can soak into the ground the way nature intended.

“When it rains here at the VA, it hits the building, the parking lot and all of that rain water shoots off that parking lot at a million miles an hour, rather than go into the sewer system, it’s going to come to these multi-channel basins and that water will store and infiltrate,” said KC Water Director, Wes Minder.

The space is complete with a new walking trail, three bioretention basins and a drainage channel to control the flow. Kansas City Council member, Melissa Robinson joined the celebration in this addition to the third district.

This project is one of many green infrastructure projects under KC Water’s Smart Sewer program. In 2010, the City of Kansas City, Missouri entered into a Consent Decree with the United States Environmental Protection Agency to reduce the volume of sewer overflows into the City’s waterways. KC Water’s Smart Sewer program is a 30-year effort to adaptively address this very challenge.

For more information contact Heather Frierson, KC Water Media Relations Coordinator, at heather.frierson@kcmo.org, phone 816-513-0280, cell 816-674-0211.

KC Water maintains and operates water treatment and distribution systems, stormwater management systems, and wastewater collection and treatment systems for residential and business customers in Kansas City and for wholesale customers in the Kansas City area.  KC Water is primarily funded by fees charged to customers based on their use or impacts on the three utility systems.

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