Cheney awarded water grant

The city of Cheney is taking preliminary steps to building a reclaimed water system for irrigation only, thanks to funding from the state Department of Ecology.

The city has received $112,000 in what Public Works Director Todd Ableman referred to as a “50 percent principle reduction” payment. That means half, $56,000, takes the form of a grant while the other half is a loan to the city at 1 percent interest.

Ableman said the city has between 5 and 20 years to repay the loan, but expects they will take the quicker route to repayment.

The money will fund creation of an extremely detailed reclaim...