The Wichita City Council on Tuesday approved spending nearly $10 million on developing a direct potable reuse program and constructing a small-scale water purification plant to treat wastewater to drinking water standards. It would provide proof of concept that could be used to educate the public and inform regulators and elected officials to build support for a full-scale reuse facility. “This is going to be a proving ground,” Gary Janzen, director of Wichita Public Works and Utilities, said Tuesday. “It’s going to be a trial. It’s going to be a great place for regulators to see how this process is working.” Besides perfecting the complicated treatment process, the pilot project aims to get the water-consuming public to lower their guard to the idea of drinking treated sewer water. “When people talk about toilet to tap, I always say it’s not toilet to tap, it’s toilet to treatment to treatment to treatment to treatment to tap,” council member Becky Tuttle said. “So it’s being treated more than our water supply.” The city initially approved a $1.1 million contract with CDM Smith in May 2025 to develop a water reuse master plan. It expanded that contract Tuesday — adding an estimated $7 million to build and operate the small-scale plant. The council approved issuing revenue bonds up to $9.9 million for the project, which would purify about 70,000 gallons of water a day. Revenue bonds would be paid off by water and sewer user fees. The pilot project will not put any water into the city’s distribution system, Janzen said. Instead, it will go back into the wastewater treatment plant. The new treatment process is needed to combat future droughts and support expanding industries in the Wichita area, Janzen said Tuesday. “It’s an expensive endeavor,” Janzen said. “The technology, the implementation of