Frequently Asked Questions

Nationwide, homes use 57% of publicly supplied water. Public use and unaccounted for losses average 11%; the rest goes to businesses and industries. In Dallas, almost 50% of the water is supplied for domestic home use; and 50% is used by business and industry during the winter. However, in the summer, homes consume over 70% and business and industry use 30%; the average household in Dallas consumed 270 gallons of water per day in the winter (December) and 850 gallons of water per day in the summer (August).

Properly designed "rain gardens" can effectively trap and retain up to 99 percent of common pollutants in urban storm runoff, potentially improving water quality and promoting the conversion of some pollutants into less harmful compounds.

American Chemical Society journal, Environmental Science and Technology.

A rain gardens is a shallow basin or depression planted with native plants. The native plants have deep roots that allow water to infiltrate into the soil.

First, rain water only stays in a rain garden for a few hours--not nearly the time needed for mosquitoes to breed a new crop of pests. Second, if mosquitoes do lay eggs during the short time that any water stands, the water will drain and the eggs will dry out and be destroyed.

Before you plant the garden, fill the bed with water from a garden hose to test the drainage. The water should drain in 6-12 hours, no more than 24. If the water in your bed does not drain in that time, you may need to amend the soil with a mixture of sand, compost and topsoil. Over the first two or three years, the roots of your deep-rooted rain garden plants will increase, creating more channels for water to seep into the ground. This also works to loosen and generally improve the soil.

Currently in Kansas City, the stormwater fee on the water bill is low, less than $5 per month. Any incentives offered at this time would not be worth the administrative cost to the City nor be of much benefit to the recipient. To reduce your water bill, collect water with rain barrels to use for your lawn and garden; plant low-maintenance, perennial native plants that need less water to thrive and come back year after year. You'll be helping yourself, your neighbors, rivers and streams, and wildlife.

The cost of a rain garden depends on its size, complexity, amendments and types of plants. A good estimate is $10-12 per square foot if you do your own design, installation and maintenance. If that expense seems like a lot start with a small garden, community garden, or a rain barrel. Native plants can even grow in containers to provide food and shelter for butterflies and birds. If your budget allows, consider hiring a professional landscape designer to help plan and site your garden. This is a good investment in a landscape feature that will reward you for years.

A watershed is an area of land that drains to a common body of water, such as a nearby creek, stream, river or lake. Watersheds vary considerably in size. For example, when it rains, all the water from a small watershed may travel to a local creek. That creek will flow into a larger stream, like Brush Creek, which in turn collects water from an even larger watershed. Brush Creek flows into the Blue River, which then deposits water into the Missouri River.

The Missouri Watershed Information Network (MOWIN) is a partnership of state and federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, local government, business, industry, individuals, citizen-based watershed and natural resource interest groups working together to facilitate in locating and accessing information relative to Missouri watersheds. For more information, Clickhere.

Related websites include:

Missouri Watershed Initiative - Clickhere.

Missouri River Basin Association - Clickhere.

Missouri River News Index - Clickhere.

Kansas Water Office - Clickhere.

Rain To Recreation - Clickhere.

River Network - Clickhere.

Most pollution in rivers and streams is "nonpoint source" pollution, meaning that it comes from many places, not from a single source, such as an industrial plant. Rain gardens improve water quality and reduce flooding. They also look beautiful and attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Planting a rain garden is like recycling; if we all do a little, it makes a big difference.

Like large and small cities across the country, Kansas City has an outdated sewer and stormwater system. We've also had relatively low sewer and stormwater rates. The Environmental Protection Agency is requiring cities to make major investments in sewer and stormwater improvements. For most cities, it will be the largest project that they've ever undertaken. If we take action now, we will be more educated about water quality; have the ability to solve some of our own water concerns; and we'll make the most of our infrastructure by reducing the volume of water entering our storm sewer system during frequent storms.

Other cities are installing rain gardens, but none has committed to planting 10,000. Our metropolitan area is stepping out and taking the lead. How soon we get there depends on your enthusiasm, interest, and love for beautiful gardens. In our first two years, several hundred have been installed and registered but we know there are more out there. Don't forget to register your rain garden or bioswale and help us track our progress!

Yes! In addition to area government, The 10,000 Rain Gardens initiative is guided by an advisory board composed of a broad variety of area leaders. These leaders bring a wealth of experience and passion to the cause and include elected officials, community leaders representing neighborhoods, business, education, environmental groups and other technical experts.

Co-chairs Anita Gorman and Ollie Gates will lead the advisory panel. The role of the board will be to guide the process of achieving Rain Garden initiative objectives while leveraging its successes.

Members:

Anita Gorman, Co-Chair & Ollie Gates, Co-Chair

Bob Berkibile, BNIM Architects

Terry Dopson

George Eib

Ann Garney

Gurnie Gunter

Mike Herron & Marci Jones , Parks & Recreation Department

Mary Lou Jaramillo, Hispanic Economic Development Corp.

Nancy Lee Kemper

Margaret May, Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council

Vicki Noteis

Jim Scott

Darby Trotter, Faultless Starch/Bon Ami

Jan Wallace, Twelfth Street Heritage Development

Thanks to our Water Services Department and top-notch treatment process, we are ranked first nationwide!

Drinking water for Kansas City comes from the Missouri River and adjacent alluvial wells and processed by the City's water treatment plant. The water treatment plant is located upstream of the confluence of the Kansas (Kaw) River and the Missouri River. The Missouri River is characterized as a relatively turbid river and can have extreme variations in turbidity.

In 2006, SustainLane, a for-profit organization that studies healthy living, ranked Kansas City's drinking water first in water quality tests. This was based on the non-profit Environmental Working Group who researched five years of water quality data that showed Kansas City had zero contaminants and pollutants above health limits established by the USEPA.

This achievement is the result of the Water Services Department utilization of a state-of-art four-step water treatment process (presedimentation, softening, stabilization and filtration).

Wet Weather Solutions is actually three programs in one: Overflow Control, Stormwater, and Waterways

Overflow Control Program (OCP)

The City of Kansas City, Missouri is working to reduce the impacts of sewer system overflows. A significant amount of work also has been done to study the sewer system. The City has invested millions of dollars to rehabilitate and repair sewers. The next step is to develop an overall plan to control and manage wet weather flows in the City's sewers. The Overflow Control Program will identify projects to correct overflow problems; devise a schedule and estimated costs; and, provide a funding strategy.

The mission of this planning process is to develop an Overflow Control Program that:
"Protects public health & the environment, and meets regulations at an appropriate cost."

The sewer overflow problem is one of Kansas City's most complex and potentially expensive infrastructure problems in its history.

1. Overflows are regulated by the state and federal governments.
2. Overflows can contribute to property damage and health concerns; and, both the combined and separate sewer systems overflow.

Regulated Overflows
State and federal regulations require the City to develop a plan and implement controls to eliminate overflows from the separated sewer system and to eliminate, relocate or control overflows from the combined sewer system.

Combined Sewer System & CSOs
Much of the City's combined sewer system is over 100 years old. The Main Street sewer, the City's first, was started in 1855, interrupted for the Civil War, and completed in 1871. Although the combined system was designed to overflow, Combined Sewer Overflows are currently regulated.

For more information, Clickhere.

Stormwater (KC-One Comprehensive Stormwater Management Plan)

KC-ONE is a Comprehensive Stormwater Management Plan for Kansas City, Missouri. The mission of the KC-One Project is to create "one Plan, one People, and one Voice for the management of stormwater throughout Kansas City." The Water Services Department has identified 35 watersheds within Kansas City for which master plans have been or are being developed. KC-ONE will bring these 35 master plans together into one comprehensive plan and detail the City's strategy, policy and administrative plans for the future of the stormwater management program.

Waterways

Waterways, a section of the Engineering Business Unit of the Water Services Department for Kansas City, MO, integrates project management and consensus building tools by using engineering, economic, and social resources to acheive non-traditional program goals. Waterways is comprised of large-scale projects accomplished in cooperation with various public and private partners.

Waterways' goal is to improve the use of streams, land around streams, and their amenities to enhance the use of the City's stormwater. Typical projects are new bridges, trail improvements, and parks along Brush Creek, Blue River, Town Fork Creek, and industrial districts.