You get used to the smell of sewage, but that doesn’t make it any more pleasant. That’s one thing Chauncey Kemp has learned from living in Plainview for 63 years. “If the wind is blowing from the west, we’ve got to stay in the house. Let all the windows down,” Kemp said. Two south Wichita wastewater facilities — plant 1, situated between I-135 and K-15, and plant 2 at 57th Street South and Hydraulic — process 90% of the city’s raw sewage. Blades at the bottom of massive circular digester tanks break up roughly 30 million gallons of sludge a day, sending it through a suction system for refining. The stench rises from vats of waste and chemicals, enveloping parts of the south side like an invisible fog.
Source: Wichita Eagle
