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Response To West Wichita Groundwater Contamination Winding Down

Kansas Department of Health and Environment

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced on Monday they’ve completed the bulk of their work to address groundwater contamination found in West Wichita. 

KDHE first notified residents back in March that their private water wells were contaminated by a large plume of tetrachloroethylene—or PCE—a likely carcinogen. The organization has since spent over $2.5 million connecting 197 homes to city water lines. 

“We’re fairly certain that the (PCE) plume is very well established and it will not be moving,” Ashton Rucker of KDHE says. “But, we have 12 monitoring wells installed and we’ll continue to monitor the situation.

PCE was first found in the area in 2009, when the Environmental Protection Agency helped fund an investigation of radium at 7920 W Kellogg.

Best Cleaners and the former Four Seasons Dry Cleaners have since been identified as the sources of the contamination. KDHE used funds from the Kansas Dry Cleaning Trust Fund to pay for the water hookups. The program collects a surcharge from dry cleaning purchases, as many use PCE in their processes.

Click here for KDHE's interactive 'identified sites list' for all of Kansas. Are there contaminants near you?