Cheney leak provides preview of next grant project

Cheney water department crews spent the earlier part of this week patching — actually repatching — what might be part of the city’s next application for Community Development Block Grant funds.

Department staff were notified late last week of a water leak bubbling up at the intersection of North Third and Oakland streets. The leak produced a sizeable amount of water on the roadway, the exact amount of which Public Works Director Todd Ableman said he would have a better calculation once repairs were made.

According to several individuals who contacted the Cheney Free Press about the leak, including a post on a resident’s Facebook page with extensive comments, this isn’t the first such occurrence at the location. Ableman didn’t dispute this, noting it’s become almost an annual event due to the fact that the piping in the area is old, likely originally laid in when the neighborhood was developed, undersized and wearing out.

“We patch it, and then after that patch is in place, another section goes down,” he added.

The issue isn’t with the 8-inch water main that runs under Oakland Street, Ableman said. It’s likely the piping under North Third Street, which is four inches in diameter from Oakland south to Elm and a more appropriate six inches from Oakland north.

Posts on a resident’s Facebook page indicated city crews were onsite last Thursday to assess the situation, but left. Ableman said the reason was because the department did a “one call” to notify other utilities of the situation, the planned work and a request they be contacted to reveal the possible location of other lines in the area before the city began digging. The only utility that didn’t respond was Avista.

“We’re not going to jump in (and dig) and then risk hitting a line,” Ableman said.

On Aug. 16, crews with Geo Engineers hit a previously unknown Avista gas line while doing soil work at Betz Elementary School — 3-4 blocks west on Oakland of the current water leak. The area was cordoned off and residents asked to shelter in place for over an hour until the leak was located and plugged.

Ableman said crews were onsite Monday working on the problem at North Third and Oakland. The initial plan was to “put down” gravel to see if that contained the leak.

Once the gravel settles, and remains dry, crews will place a patch. If it settles and remains wet, they will have to look elsewhere along the line for other leaks.

Ableman said they have had similar issues with other intersections in the area, most notably North Seventh and Clay streets where a repair was just conducted. The city also had recurring problems with a leak of mains at North Ninth and Oakland streets — a problem hopefully being rectified right now through major construction work.

At it’s Aug. 22 meeting, Cheney’s City Council approved a $171,030 contract with Red Diamond Construction for water system improvements along Oakland Street from North Ninth to North Eleventh streets. The work involves installation of 700 lineal feet of new eight-inch water main, and is funded through a $175,624 award from the Community Development Block Grant program.

“North Third, Fourth and Fifth streets between Elm and Oakland will likely be our next CDBG application (for funding),” Ableman said.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].