SEQUIM — In a first step toward a pioneering water project, the Sequim City Council voted unanimously Wednesday evening to accept a $1.1 million grant from the state Department of Ecology.
The money will enable Sequim to design an expanded water reclamation system to pipe non-potable water around the city, to irrigate parks, green strips and other city properties, Mayor Laura Dubois said.
Earlier this week, the council hesitated to take the money, though the deadline to accept it comes at the end of this month.
Members worried aloud that Ecology would require the city to pour at least some of the reclaimed water into streams — Bell Creek, the Dungeness River — instead of keeping it for future commercial uses.
And the grant isn’t free.
The city must supply a 25 percent contribution of $275,817 to the state’s $827,453.
That’s just the beginning, interim City Manager Robert Spinks had said.
Sequim will have to invest much more to finish constructing the reused-water distribution system.
So “we want to make sure we still own the reclaimed water,” Dubois said.
“After spending all that money, we don’t want to lose it.”
The council sought help from City Attorney Craig Ritchie who, while on vacation this week, provided advice via speaker phone before Wednesday’s vote.
