Cheney plans plant expansion
CHENEY – Like an outhouse on the busiest day of the fair, Cheney’s wastewater treatment plant is ripe for change.
The city’s population explosion in recent years has increased sewage levels so much that city officials are planning to expand the plant. And demand on the city’s public water supply is so great that officials have reissued a moratorium on certain kinds of new building until more water can be found.
The city on Oct. 9 accepted an $11.5 million loan from the state Department of Ecology to expand the plant, and construction may start as soon as next year.
As more people move to Cheney, they’ve added more wastewater to the system, which can only handle two to three more years of such growth. The most urgent issue is the lack of space in the biosolid branch, which is operating at full capacity, according to Public Works Director Don MacDonald.
The biosolid branch is where processed sewage sludge is composted, further treated, mixed with yard waste and set in windrows to “cure” for eight weeks.
With the loan, city officials plan to double the space for curing.
“We’re out of room,” MacDonald said, noting that the plant is functioning at full capacity without breaking regulations.
“We’re not actually in excess or in violation of our permit or our discharge requirements,” he said.
Although the DOE gave the city the loan, the agency held back a $4 million grant because other projects in the state take a higher priority.
“It’s not as pressing as say, a facility that is in violation,” MacDonald said. “That’s going to complicate matters.”
More than 400 homes have sprung up in Cheney in the past 10 years. Many more students are enrolling at Eastern Washington University.
The population of 10,300 residents and an equal number of students continues to rise.
A rise in sewage is not the only result of the city’s growth.
In late July, city officials called a halt to several types of building development for fear new growth eventually could suck the water supply dry. They also needed time to find alternative water supplies.
Almost three months later, the moratorium is still in place after being upheld in mid-September. City officials say it will last until Jan. 24, unless the City Council decides otherwise.
A new well, in addition to Cheney’s existing seven wells, is already being drilled and could be ready by early 2009, MacDonald said.
Other options for more water include teaching people how to conserve water and reusing water from the wastewater plant. Acting City Administrator Jeff Sales stressed that the city is using only half its allowed amount for water; the city is not out of water.
“This is the city being cautious as it moves forward with growth and resources, one of them being water,” Sales said.