Ar-Kansas River
Before we get too far, it’s important to understand “the river” in Wichita. The Keeper of the Plains marks the confluence (like that word, big vocab over here eh?) of the Little Arkansas River and the Arkansas River.
Ar-Kansas River
When I think of the Ar-Kansas River running through Wichita, a few things come to mind.
- No one wants to swim in it cause it’s “so dirty”
- What activities can we currently do on it?
- It’s one of our greatest natural assets in town and we need to take better advantage of it.
So, we asked Wichita –
How does Wichita feel about the River?
 Wichita Life @wichitalifeict How do you feel about the Arkansas River in Wichita? – do you consider it dirty? – would you swim in it? – favorite activities on or around it? – how can we take better advantage of this asset? 📸: @drone_tography316 pic.twitter.com/RqYhbdybAQ  June 30th 2022 0 Retweets 13 Likes |
 Keaton Taylor @keaton_taylor @wichitalifeict Scary dirty but right by my house so that’s nice.  Wichita Life @wichitalifeict How do you feel about the river in Wichita? #wichita June 29th 2022 0 Retweets 0 Likes |
Many people share this sentiment about the river being dirty,
But how dirty actually is the river?
The Arkansas River is a federal waterway therefore sampling along the river is done and monitored by USGS (U.S. Geological Survey).
In our segment of the watershed (an area of land that drains all the streams and rainfall to a common outlet such as the outflow of a reservoir, mouth of a bay, or any point along a stream channel), our city monitors the flow rate and surface conditions which inform if we can safely hold river activities.
The City of Wichita also does test sampling at effluent discharge stations and partners with KDHE and US Geological Survey (USGS).
The City of Wichita also tests the water daily and posts flags to let you know if it is safe or not:
- blue flag = okay for recreational use
- green flag = river is suitable for uses like boating
- orange flag = public use of river is not recommended
In 2016, KSN wasn’t going to let USGS have all the fun, so they hired a lab in Wichita to test the water for e.coli.
They did find e.coli due to animal waste, but the level was 355 CFU’s per 100 ML or for every 100ML of water there were 355 colonies of bacteria. This was down from 4000 CFU’s in 2015.
The drop in bacteria was likely due to the heavy rainflow that preceded the testing.
One reason the river is contaminated is due to stormwater runoff where sediment, fertilizers, and other pollutants get flushed into the river.
The Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks recommends that you limit your “bottom-feeding fish” meals to one meal per week form the Little Arkansas (from the Main Street Bridge west of Valley Center to the the confluence of the Arkansas river in Wichita) while recommending you do NOT eat specific fish or aquatic life from the Arkansas River (from Lincoln Street dam to the confluence with Cowskin Creek near Belle Plaine.
At the end of the day, a big part of the lack of cleanliness is the litter and trash that people throw in. We can fix this in two ways: 1. stop the littering and 2. pick up the litter
Clean Up Efforts
There are a few different efforts throughout the year.
Ark River Clean-Up
The Ark River Clean-up has collected tons of litter since 2002. It happens every year (except the last couple due to pandemic), but is a great way to get involved. It took place on May 7th this year, so keep an eye out next year.
Wichita RiverWalk Cleanup Crew
This is a group of people (with a facebook group) that get together once a month to clean up along the river. So far they’ve picked up 94 bags of trash this year.
Other
There are other clean ups from time to time, including a Wind Surge hosted clean up.
Arkansas River Activities
Kayak
If you want to make it out onto the river, kayak paddling is a great place to start.
You can rent them from WSU Bikes & Boats next to River Vista Boathouse or the Gander Mountain Dock (coming soon). You can also drop in the water on your own (you still need to sign a waiver and no motorized crafts allowed).
Don’t miss the Sunset Tour or Glow Tour.
Ride the River
Every year the Wagonmaster offer rides during Riverfest. One of the newest options is to hop aboard the ICT RiverRides and take a float.
How can we better take advantage of the River?
So far we’ve not lived up to what our river could be. To understand what we can could do, it’s important to look at how other cities have succeeded. Such cities as San Antonio and Tulsa.
San Antonio
The San Antonio River Walk is one of the coolest attractions in Texas. There are 3.51 miles of walks all along the river right in the heart of the city (sound familiar)? It is lined with restaurants, hotels, shopping and more. I’d say it’s a great north star for us to look up to.
Tulsa
Tulsa is our brother from another mother that also happens to sit on the Arkansas River. Tulsa dove in deep in 2014 to build a 66.5 acre world-class riverfront park called The Gathering Place. This one might be a little closer to where we’re at now. We could do this on a much shorter time frame.
What do YOU want to see us do in with the river?
