Cheney wants more water

CHENEY – Cities, like plants, need water to grow.

The city of Cheney has temporarily put a stop to that growth so officials can re-evaluate the amount of potable water available for new developments, drawing the ire of some developers.

City Council members voted July 24 to prohibit new building permits for subdivisions and property parcels of five acres or more. Community Development Director Tom Richardson said potential water usage came too close to output capacity.

“The main issue is the city has seen a rapid increase in development,” Richardson said.

The moratorium is intended to hold off further development so new water resources can be explored, he said. The policy could last until January but will face a public hearing with the Planning Commission on Sept. 10.

“The sooner we can resolve this moratorium and water-supply issue, the better,” Richardson said.

Acting City Administrator Jeff Sale said the city wants projected water usage to stay below 95 percent of the city’s daily output capacity. The last 5 percent is reserved for emergency services.

“We don’t want to get ourselves in trouble with water,” he said.

Richardson said expected developments, including a 192-unit apartment complex, could put a strain on the available water supply.

“The size of these developments is something we haven’t seen before,” he said.

The city can see about 300 building permit applications a year, Richardson said. Sale said Cheney has 255 equivalent residential units of water available.

With new developments, demand is expected to use approximately 251 of those 255 ERUs, he said.

“There is no crunch on existing residences in the city of Cheney,” he said.

Cheney estimates the average home uses 579 gallons of water a day.

The city is evaluating several short- and long-term solutions for increasing the amount of available water, he said.

Those solutions include adding an eighth well for the city, Sale said. A test drill has been approved for next month to estimate output potential. A couple of the city’s wells were also rehabilitated recently.

New water reclamation facilities would help cut water usage in the long run, he said. Educating the public about conservation methods and habits is also important.

Sale said city officials have been working with upset developers to address concerns about the moratorium. Some developers have had to reprioritize their projects to accommodate the temporary ban.

Concerns and solutions will be addressed during the public hearing next month, Sale said. Public testimony can help officials create a plan for providing sufficient water to projects for years to come.

“We need to plan out into the future what this city is going to look like,” Sale said.

City officials regularly review water availability as part of monitoring growth, Richardson said. The moratorium was the result of concern building throughout a couple years until it reached a point where it had to be addressed.

“We did see it coming,” he said. “We just didn’t see it coming as fast as it did.”