In this file photo from April 2013, Ryan Rubow pulls samples from the various tanks at the Kaw River Water Treatment Plant.

Cracks and other disrepair in several basins at the Kaw River Water Treatment Plant are calling for more than $1 million of repairs this year.

The City Commission approved a construction contract this week to fill cracks and make other repairs to degraded concrete in five basins at the plant, 720 W. Third St. Walkways and handrails at the plant will also be repaired as part of the project.

Jeanette Klamm, utilities department management analyst, said doing the repairs now will prevent larger problems and potential emergency repairs in the future.

“As with anything like that, if you let it go long enough then it can fail,” Klamm said.

The engineering services and the construction contract for the repairs will be about $1.1 million total, according to a city staff memo to the commission. Engineering will be done by Walter P Moore and John Rohrer Contracting Company will complete the repair project. The project is funded within the utilities department budget and rate model for 2017.

The repairs were not originally in the city’s capital improvement plan for this year, but Klamm said they were included in the utility department’s master plan and therefore accounted for in the utility department’s rate models. She added that the longer the city waits to make the repairs, the higher the risk that more degradation will take place.

The original structures of the Kaw River Water Treatment Plant were constructed in 1916, according to the city’s website. The plant was expanded with additional filters in 1954, and other maintenance and additions have been completed over the years. In 2013, a $3.8 million project built a new raw water intake in the Kansas River and improved the functionality of an existing intake.

Klamm said a structural assessment done in 2015 determined that the basin repair and other rehabilitation work is needed. She said that given its age, the plant is in great shape, but maintenance and rehabilitation are needed in order to continue use of the facility.

Other repairs for the plant are scheduled for coming years. About $1.2 million is included in the city’s 2019 CIP for additional basin infrastructure rehab. Klamm said those funds will be used for concrete work, roofs, outside brick repairs, coating and other infrastructure needs.