City presents utilities budgets and infrastructure updates; water, stormwater and wastewater projects highlighted
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Summary
Department leaders outlined the proposed 2026 utility budgets and recent accomplishments including reduced water-main breaks, lead service-line work, increased storm-sewer cleaning and wastewater treatment improvements.
City utility directors presented the proposed 2026 budgets Aug. 19, detailing operations, recent accomplishments and capital projects for water, stormwater and wastewater utilities.
Sylvia Davis, utilities director, said the water utility serves approximately 174,000 people and produces about 7.8 billion gallons annually. Staff reported an operations-and-maintenance cost benchmark of roughly $4.1 million per 100 miles of main, which Davis said is near the American Water Works Association median for systems of comparable size. The water budget request shown to the council was about $62 million for personnel, contractuals and capital-debt items; staff cited a roughly 10 percent increase in chemical costs as a major upward pressure.
Davis highlighted accomplishments in 2025 through July, including a marked decline in water-main breaks (269 reported through July, down about 155 from the same six-month period the prior year), replacement of nearly 600 shutoff valves, nearly 9,000 linear feet of water main replaced in 2025 to date and replacement of 88 fire hydrants that had been out of service.
On stormwater, staff described a $12.6 million budget request and noted responsibilities including inlets, pipes, levees and regulatory compliance for post-construction best-management practices. The city said it had increased storm sewer cleaning substantially in 2025 (72,000 linear feet cleaned by July versus 2,700 at the same point last year) and that the city had successfully resolved an EPA order of compliance.
For wastewater, staff described annual throughput of roughly 5.2 billion gallons, responsibilities for 820 miles of sewer main, 16,000 manholes and 47 pump stations, and operating costs near national medians at about $2.7 million per 100 miles of main. The wastewater budget shown to the council totaled just over $45 million. Staff described projects under way including digester repairs, biological nutrient removal upgrades at the North Topeka plant and odor-control projects at key pump stations.
Councilmembers asked for follow-up data on call volumes (as part of fire discussion) and on coordination between street projects and underground utility replacements; public-works staff described ongoing efforts to coordinate paving and utility work and invited further review of bid results where projects came in higher than expected. No votes on the utilities budgets were taken at the meeting; staff said the presentation would inform the formal budget hearings and adoption schedule.
