ShawneeDispatch.com

Shawnee — Work is well under way in a massive construction project in Wyandotte County.

The Phase V Expansion Project by Water District No. 1 of Johnson County, known as Water One, includes 17 miles of a five-foot-wide water main that goes through Bonner Springs, Kansas City, Kan., and Shawnee, and a new water-treatment plant in Kansas City, Kan.

The water main goes along 115th, 118th and 121st streets in Kansas City, Kan., and Bonner Springs, and along Kansas Highway 7 in Shawnee. The water main construction has closed 121st Street between Kansas Avenue and Kansas Highway 32 in Bonner Spring through Feb. 28. The main's route will go under the Kansas River through a tunnel shaft being dug by the contractor Southland.

The project will initially expand the water district's capacity from its current maximum of about 180 million gallons a day by about 15 million gallons per day, said Eileen Koutelas, director of communications for Water One.

Rod Perry, a project manager for Water One, said the water main was projected to be substantially finished in November this year, and the entire project should be finished by the end of 2009. The approximately $180 million project is financed through bonds and cash on hand, Perry said.

The need for the new treatment facility and transmission line was determined in a master plan study conducted by the engineering firm Black and Veatch to determine Johnson County's needs with projected population increases. The study determined that the district would need to expand its capacity as soon as next year.

The treatment plant is located in north Kansas City, Kan., between Sam Clark Lane and Marxen Road, and uses water from the nearby Missouri River. The expansion project will add to the total capacity of Water One for its approximately 375,000 customers in eight cities

The plant is the first facility of Water One to be built outside Johnson County. The agreement with Wyandotte County for the route includes an emergency interconnect provision for the Board of Public Utilities and a facility to handle such connections.

"It's part of the give and take of coming through the Unified Government of Wyandotte County," Perry said.

Such emergencies aren't limited to situations where water-treating capacity is lost, Perry said. It also covers the times when BPU may need to take a portion of its own system off line to make repairs, and the emergency interconnect facility would also allow BPU to do the same for Water One.