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Page 1 of 2 <br /><_return tooriginal page <br />HEHuTCHINsoNNtm <br />onfine edifiori <br />Equus approves Wichita storage, recovery <br />project <br />By Amy Bickel <br />They might not agree on all issues, but the city of Wichita and Equus Beds Groundwater <br />Management District board members have come to an understanding after a longtime battle about <br />Wichita's recharge project. <br />And with a unanimous vote, too. <br />After discussion and the airing of a few remaining concerns, board members Tuesday voted 8 -0 to <br />approve a memorandum of understanding with the city of Wichita about the first phase of Wichita's <br />aquifer storage and recovery project - one step to get the project under way. <br />Jerry Blain, a board member who works for Wichita's water department, abstained. <br />"I still have reservations, but I want the project to work," said Clarke Dixon, a board member and <br />farmer from Sedgwick, as he gave his verbal yes to approve the agreement. <br />Reaching the agreement, unanimously or not, wasn't easy. <br />For more than a year, the project has been under scrutiny by board members, who even hired their <br />own consultant to get a second opinion on the project. <br />The project calls for the diversion of up to 100 million gallons a day of water from the Little <br />Arkansas River when there is excess flow, treating it according to federal water quality standards, <br />then injecting it into the Equus Beds aquifer for later use. <br />Phase one, which includes seven aquifer storage and recovery wells, would inject water near Burrton <br />to slow the movement of a salt plume from old oil - drilling pits there. <br />Board members' concerns included everything from water quality to well depth. <br />At the end of a heated debate in July, David Warren, director of Wichita's water utilities, asked <br />board members to try to compromise on the water recharge project. <br />Two board members met with Warren and city officials a few weeks later - putting all the issues and <br />concerns on the table to create the memorandum. <br />http: / /www.dailynews. net/ hutchinson /cgi- bin/printerpage.pl 8/23/2004 <br />