‘A systemic failure of communication’: Elected leaders call for legislation in wake of health...

City, county and state elected officials condemned the state’s communication surrounding a contaminated site northeast of downtown Wichita and called for improvement going forward.
State, county and local officials are calling for legislation to improve communications around toxic sites, following the release of a study that showed disparate health outcomes among people living above contaminated groundwater in Wichita.

The source of the contamination is the Union Pacific railyard at 29th and Grove, which has a chemical in its soil and groundwater known as trichloroethene. The chemical has infiltrated a 2.9-mile long plume of groundwater south of the rail yard site, through several of Wichita's historically Black neighborhoods.