On October 30, 2003 a public meeting was held at the South Junior High to present the findings of the Water and Wastewater Master Plans. The following questions were asked at the meeting that required additional investigation to answer.

Question: What is the minimum separation distance from a Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) discharge to a Water Treatment Plant (WTP) intake per KDHE Standards?

Answer: Upon review of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) Policies, General Considerations and Design Requirements for Public Water Supply Systems in Kansas, the minimum separation distance is not specifically addressed. Therefore, KDHE does not currently have an established guideline pertaining to this issue.

Black & Veatch has recently addressed this issue in the Kansas City metropolitan area and presented our opinion to KDHE that it is not a prudent decision to allow the same system to discharge its wastewater upstream of its own public water supply intake due to the potential to recycle contaminants that may build up within the system, should there be an outbreak. KDHE is currently reviewing this opinion, but to our knowledge, has not made an official policy decision regarding this issue.

Question: What is the minimum flow released from Clinton Reservoir to the Wakarusa River and how does it compare to the potential discharge from the proposed Wakarusa River Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP)?

Answer: The United States Corps of Engineers contractual minimum discharge from Clinton Reservoir to the Wakarusa River, during non-drought conditions, is 7 cubic feet per second (4.5 million gallons per day) in the fall and winter and 21 cubic feet per second (13.6 million gallons per day) in the spring and summer. The projected annual average discharge from the Wakarusa River WWTP in year 2025 is 10.7 cubic feet per second (6.9 million gallons per day). The projected WWTP effluent limitations provided by KDHE were calculated based on low flow drought conditions in the Wakarusa River using the 7Q10 stream flow of 0.6 cubic feet per second (0.4 million gallons per day) and 30Q10 stream flow of 1.9 cubic feet per second (1.2 million gallons per day) to determine water quality impacts.