Wichita released its annual Water Quality Report on Wednesday, looking at the city’s water usage and quality compared to state and federal standards.
The most important takeaway is that the city’s water is safe, said Laura Quick with the city’s public works department.
“We have no violations, as usual,” she said. “The city of Wichita’s water is great and safe to drink.”
Testing for Environmental Protection Agency standards is done once a year. The new report compiles testing data from 2025.
Wichita used around 17 billion gallons of water during the year, according to the report — a decrease of about 1 billion gallons from 2024. There was a similar decrease in usage from 2023 to 2024.
Quick said the decline is happening nationwide, partially due to conservation efforts and new plumbing fixtures that use less water.
“For example, a toilet that you might buy 10 or 20 years ago used to use gallons and gallons of water for every flush,” she said. “Now they use 1.6 gallons every flush, so it’s conservation efforts at the local level as well as changes at a nationwide level.”
Wichita’s efforts include the creation of its Water Reuse Master Plan, which aims to build a sustainable water supply for potential droughts. The plan is in a pilot phase, said Megan Lovely, the city’s communication manager.
She said several cities have launched similar plans, and Wichita wants to be next.
“We’re in the High Plains. Droughts will happen,” Lovely said. “We want to be prepared for when that comes up next.”
The report also outlines the city’s outdoor watering schedule, which is based on residents’ house numbers with no watering on Mondays. The initiative was made permanent in September 2025 after being implemented as part of Wichita’s drought response plan.
In terms of water safety efforts, Quick said the next step is opening the new water treatment plant, which was originally slated to open in April 2025.
The plant is now in a testing phase, she said.
“And then there’ll be a period of time where employees operate it before it ever comes online, because we want to make sure that it's running consistently, and we can maintain a consistent water quality and safe water quality before we ever bring it online,” Quick said.
She said it is unclear when the new plant would become active.
