Wastewater Management

HELP! The city's sewer system needs your cooperation. Septic sewer lines have been inundated with fibrous cleaning and disinfectant wipes. These items MUST NOT be flushed. Repairs are time consuming, costly, and parts may not be locally available. Continued flushing of these materials will lead to imminent failure of city facilities and ultimately sewer back-ups and possible loss of service. Help keep our pipes clean and flowing. The alternative is not something any of us or you want to deal with. Thanks for your cooperation.

The City of Maize is served by an extended aeration plant of 500,000 gallons a day capacity. Current flows average about 200,000 gallons per day. The design flow from the plant is 0.5 million gallons per day, and it is designed for a population equivalent of 4850 people. The effluent from the wastewater treatment plant flows to Big Slough after ultraviolet disinfection. Effluent from the plant is monitored daily to determine the efficiency of the plant and monthly samples are taken and sent to a certified laboratory for testing

Monthly reports are provided to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and the City Council. Residual solids, known as biosolids, are applied to farmland as fertilizer. Soil samples are taken to determine the nutrient and metal levels in the soil and determine the application area. If you have any questions, feel free to give Matt Meeks a call at the wastewater plant, 316-721-1458.

Missing Sewer Bill?

Maize City Hall sends out sewer bills on approximately the 5th of each month. If you lose your bill or never receive one, please contact City Hall, 722-7561.

Tips for Avoiding Sewer Problems:

• Do not plant trees over sewer lines. The roots will try to penetrate open pipe joints causing flow obstructions and/or structural problems.

• Avoid flushing materials that are non-water soluble down sinks, toilets, and drains that can cause plugging problems. These materials include fats and cooking oils, diapers, baby wet cloths, sanitary disposables, clothing articles, trash, etc.

• Check storm water discharge (roof drains, yard drains, sump pumps, etc.) to make sure it does not go into the sanitary sewer. These overload the sewer during rains by adding extraneous water to the sanitary sewer.

If you are in doubt about where your storm water drains or sump pump discharges, please call Water Pollution and someone will help you. You may consider installing a backflow valve that allows sewage to flow to the city sanitary drain, but does not allow flow from the sewer back through the valve. If interested, you may contact plumbing suppliers or contractors for types and costs of backflow valves.

Check your insurance to see if you are covered by sump pump failure and sewer backups. There are policies available with a rider to cover these occurrences.

Your Water and Wastewater Department

The senior water and wastewater operator for the City of  Maize, Matt Meeks, oversees the daily operations of both of these systems and insures regulatory compliance with all pertinent state and federal requirements. Matt has been operating water and wastewater systems since 1988. He is certified by the State of Kansas at the highest level as both a water operator and wastewater operator. He also holds a four year degree in environmental science and is certified as a backflow protection technician.

The public drinking water supply for the City of Maize began operations in February 2003. Its source of supply are two production wells that penetrate the Equus Bed Aquifer to a depth of 194 feet. The water produced is of such a high quality that it requires very minimal treatment. Chlorine gas is added immediately downstream from the wells to insure disinfection of the entire drinking water system. A polyphosphate is also added to prevent corrosion within the system. Currently, there are 1,100 service connections on this system of certifiably safe, healthy drinking water. There are also about 130 fire hydrants supplied by this system. Each is capable of flowing 1,200 gallons per minute to provide fire protection.

The wastewater system includes miles of sewer line, 6 pump stations and their standby generators, and the wastewater treatment plant itself. The plant was put into service in 1998, replacing an older, less efficient plant. It is an extended aeration activated sludge process with a treatment capacity of 500,000 gallons per day. Currently, average daily flow is about 200,000 gallons. The process is very stable and discharges a treated water that is clear and environmentally safe. The nutrients and biological components are collected and further broken down in a separate digestion process for final discharge to farmland as fertilizer.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about the City of Maize drinking water or wastewater operations, feel free to contact Matt. His office is at the wastewater treatment plant on North Maize Road. Hours are 7  to 3:30. Tours available by request. Matt is also working on a video library of water and wastewater processes that are available to the public. He currently has a video tour of the wastewater plant and explains how it works. He also filmed the repair of a sewer line damaged in a construction accident under Maize Road. Other videos are in progress.