HUTCHINSON, Kan. — It’s been a little over seven years since the city of Hutchinson opened the Reverse Osmosis water treatment facility at the round-a-bout at 23rd and Severance.

And while the $34.4 million price tag shocked many, it has done everything it was expected to do according to plant Superintendent Don Koci. The plant was built due to the large amount of contaminated groundwater on the city’s southeast side. A large amount of this water was polluted due to the large number of grain elevators in the area, and how they operated in the past. The water also suffered from salinity which created a whole different set of problems for treating the pollution.

The plant treats the polluted water and mixes it with water from the city’s well system. Sixty percent of the water coming into Hutchinson homes is treated water. Koci says that in the past seven years more than 4.8 billion gallons of polluted water has been treated. No only is it cleaning up the groundwater under the city it’s also saving the use of the city’s well supply according to Koci. Koci says the plant has been so successful in treating the groundwater that they have shut down one of the pollution wells because the plume of contamination on the southeast side of the city has actually decreased in size.

The plant was paid for by companies responsible for the contamination to the tune of $12.2 million dollars, federal grants totaling $3.3 million and the rest was paid for by the city in the form of a TIF district, CIP funds and a low interest loan from KDHE.