The Wichita-Valley Center Flood Control Project, known as the Big Ditch, is one step closer to being renamed after the man who designed it, M.S. Mitch Mitchell.
The U.S. Senate passed a bill the week of Dec. 20 naming the flood-control project; the House of Representatives passed the bill in September. The bill must now be approved by the President.
Mitchell, who died in March 2017, was a local hero, affectionately known as Big Ditch Mitch.
He was the flood control and maintenance supervisor for the City Council Flood Control Office for Sedgwick County and Wichita from 1958-63. He supervised the innovative flood-control project, which diverted excess water around Wichita.
(Read more: Area | derbyinformer.com)