Water on Wheels Cart Emergency Response Demonstration – Sept. 18
(July 24, 2026) – The Environmental Protection Agency Region 7 and the Kansas Rural Water Association invite you to attend a water emergency response demonstration including on-site emergency water treatment using the Water on Wheels Cart. The KRWA reports that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, EPA and Red Cross calculate that one gallon of water per person per day is needed for drinking, food preparation and hygiene when preparing emergency drinking water plans. Each hospital's emergency preparedness plan should have contingencies to provide water for their organization and the patients they serve.
The demonstration will be in Lawrence on Sept. 18. The plan for this event is to use WOW Carts to pull raw water from the river, lake and from tanks for treatment for potable use. This event will also include EPA Region 7's water mobile lab and mobile command center, as well as equipment and resources from nongovernmental partners WaterStep and the Kansas Rural Water Association.
For more information and if you would like to attend, please email Elmer Ronnebaum at KRWA@KRWA.net. The KRWA also asks that if the invite is forwarded to others who might be interested, to include the contact information so they can send meeting updates and have a head count of participants. Please reach out to Larry Van Der Wege at lvanderwege@kha-net.org if you have any questions.
--Larry Van Der Wege