By Grace Hills, Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — A proposed House Bill would require the state health secretary to lay out guidelines for the recycling and use of treated wastewater, meaning the water that goes through toilets and showers could — after extensive treatment — return to Kansans as tap water.
House Bill 2462 is widely supported by water resource personnel, but they raised concerns about timing and funding.
Proponents gathered Thursday before the House Water Committee to testify in support of the bill. There were no opponents.
They said legislation to allow the reuse of wastewater is a step in the right direction for Kansas’ future — especially with the rapidly depleting Ogallala Aquifer in western Kansas — but they were worried by the July 1, 2028, deadline and state funding of just $600,000.
“We’ve been talking about reuse for a while among municipalities, and we agree there’s a great value in systems to be able to reuse wastewater and to conserve and extend available water supplies,” said William Carr, director of the Bureau of Water for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. “But KDHE is really going to need some specialized staff, and additional financial resources to make this happen. Especially in the timeframe allowed.”
Carr said the agency would need at least two extra staff members to meet the deadline — a project manager and an engineer — and two contractors to conduct studies.
“We don’t know how much this will cost, because we don’t know how much research we’re going to have to do,” Carr said.
Carr looked at four other states that have implemented wastewater reuse regulations: California, Florida, New Mexico and Colorado. Carr said it took those states between six and 10 years to outline regulations.
Republican representatives, including Rep. Sandy Pickert from Wichita, who introduced the bill, questioned proponents about why they would need more time and money.
“It’d be an opportunity for Kansas to be a leader, right? We’d be out front, and maybe use some of the guidelines that the other states have developed, and if this takes longer, I bet we could get an extension, but it sounds like you’re ready to start with reservations,” Pickert said.
Carr confirmed Pickert’s assessment, and said the KDHE staff has combed through the other states’ studies but hadn’t conducted a formal evaluation on if other states’ plans would make sense for Kansas to follow.
“Of course, I have a busy staff already,” Carr said. “So I’m not sure we are going to make the time if we have this deadline.”
Rep. Duane Droge, a Republican from Eureka, said he doesn’t understand how the project even would cost the proposed $600,000. He suggested asking a water engineering Ph.D. student to conduct studies.
Rep. Lindsay Vaughn, a Democrat from Overland Park, offered support for Droge’s Ph.D. idea but emphasized the importance of resources for this project with the water crisis in western Kansas.
“We need to do this correctly,” Vaughn said. “We have a chance to be a leader here. I want to make sure that we’re protecting the public health of Kansans here. We are talking about reusing wastewater, so that is not insignificant.”
While some people like to call the process “toilet-to-tap,” other state officials say that’s not a fair nickname. If passed, the purification process would be extensive. California’sregulations ran the length of a novella — 62 pages.
The “yuck” factor of reusing wastewater can be difficult to stomach. Fred Jones, the water resource manager for Garden City, is part of a trade association dedicated to advancing water reuse. A large part of WateReuse is to work toward public acceptance, he said.
“The ability of a community to better understand the infrastructure, costs and processes required to implement these types of reuse will reduce the time and cost required to complete such projects,” Jones said. “The goal of reuse feasibility is to find the best fit for a particular community or industry.”
