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KC Water Highlights Upgrades to Westside Wastewater Treatment Plant

Posted on May 17, 2022

(Kansas City, MO) – The Westside Wastewater Treatment Plant has been pumping, treating, and cleaning wastewater for nearly 60 years. Located in the West Bottoms, this treatment plant receives wastewater and stormwater from the downtown and West Bottoms area.

On average this plant receives about 16 million gallons of water per day. This older area of the City has a combined sewer system that also captures stormwater run-off… sometimes up to 70 million gallons per day. Thanks to a series of infrastructure upgrades, this treatment plant operates successfully to reduce overflows.

“We actually teamed up with Smart Sewer System, knowing that these combined sewer overflows were happening, we needed to be able to reduce those and be able to create a sustainable future,” said Jarrek Lucke, KC Water’s Utility Wastewater Operations Manager.

KC Water divisions teamed up to create a project that would meet consent decree goals. KC Water added several features to increase the capacity of the 1963 facility…new hydraulic systems, replacing pumps, sensors and other equipment. They also added new clarifiers to take on more stormwater, technology upgrades, and a more efficient disinfection process.

Customers may not notice the changes, but fewer wastewater overflows will mean a cleaner more sustainable environment for the community.

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

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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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