Wichita Falls Water & Potable Reuse Timeline
This timeline brings together drinking water records, NDMA findings, potable reuse projects, treatment changes and the records that led me to begin asking new questions.
The records span more than a decade.
The events below are drawn from public records, laboratory results, engineering documents, regulatory materials and project records.
The timeline separates documented events from later questions and interpretation so the underlying record remains clear.
2009–2013
Federal monitoring detects NDMA
Wichita Falls participates in EPA's second Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule program. NDMA is detected in finished drinking water.
Potable reuse feasibility work
Wichita Falls evaluates emergency potable reuse during severe drought. NDMA is detected in treated wastewater during feasibility testing.
Engineers discuss NDMA before DPR
Engineering correspondence addresses NDMA, reverse osmosis passage and ultraviolet treatment before the direct potable reuse project begins operating.
2014–2015
Direct potable reuse begins
Treated wastewater becomes part of Wichita Falls' drinking water supply during the drought.
DPR system operates
The emergency system operates using advanced treatment before treated water is blended and returned to the drinking water treatment process.
UV treatment is added
Ultraviolet treatment is added approximately seven months after DPR operations begin.
Emergency DPR ends
The direct potable reuse system is taken out of operation after drought conditions improve.
Later pilot testing raises additional NDMA questions
Wichita Falls water is used in UV advanced oxidation testing. NDMA becomes an important part of the pilot results.
2018
Wichita Falls begins permanent IPR
Treated wastewater is discharged into Lake Arrowhead. Water from the lake is later withdrawn and treated for drinking water.
This system remains relevant to the current question because treated wastewater continues to enter a source used for the city's drinking water supply.
2025–2026
I begin reviewing the historical record
Laboratory results, engineering records, correspondence and scientific literature begin to be assembled and compared.
Records requests expand the available material
Additional city, regulatory and federal records are requested and reviewed as the history of NDMA and potable reuse is reconstructed.
Current NDMA testing becomes the immediate question
Historical records establish enough unanswered questions to support a request for current measurement of NDMA in the Wichita Falls drinking water system.
Timing helps establish sequence, not causation.
The timeline is useful for understanding when treatment, monitoring and potable reuse operations occurred.
A chronological relationship does not establish that one event caused another. The timeline is presented so documented events can be evaluated alongside the source records and scientific research.
Follow the timeline into the source records.
The records and research behind these events are available throughout the site.