As the population of Johnson County, Kan., grew, turning it into the most densely populated county in the Kansas City metropolitan area, its main wastewater treatment facility, the Tomahawk Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility in Leawood, failed to grow alongside it.
The plant, built in 1955, was able to treat up to only 19 million gallons a day, forcing burgeoning Johnson County to send most of its 450,000 citizens’ wastewater to neighboring Kansas City, Mo., (KCMo) for costly treatment. Tomahawk Creek could only treat about 150,000 local flushes.