Water has become so important for the western half of the United States that hundreds of millions of dollars are spent each year to find ways to extend its utility.
And perhaps nowhere are those efforts more apparent than in the Truckee Meadows of Northern Nevada.
In fact,water is so important in the greater Reno/Sparks area that engineers are discovering more ways to use it over and over.
One such project just completed was honored by the Nevada Water Resource Association as the state's wastewater project of the year.
"Basically, what we did was expand the wastewater pipeline from the original 6.8 miles to more than 24 miles extending out into Spanish Springs," says Douglas Buck, project manager for AMEC, the engineering firm that completed the $13.1 million design and construction.
User fees will eventually repay the loan provided by the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection.
There were some challenges encountered along the way.
Buck says there was extensive de-watering necessary in one area of Spanish Springs where the ground water table was only about three feet below the surface, yet the trench for the pipe needed to be about seven feet deep.
"Peavine Construction did an excellent job of pumping out the water while this trenching project was under way," he says.
Another hurdle was successfully met when engineers discovered the area selected for the wastewater storage tank near Wingfield Springs contained bedrock.Dynamiting the site was avoided when large boring equipment was able to break up the bedrock.
"We also had to be very careful when we trenched along Vista because Sierra Pacific Power has a high pressure gas line adjacent to where we were digging," says Buck."One nick and we would have been all over the front page of a lot of newspapers."
Today, more than 3,900 acres of public and private land are irrigated with sewage waste that has been treated in the Reno/Sparks treatment facility.
The pipeline and pump station project thus cuts the amount of nutrients that would have otherwise been released into the Truckee River and, ultimately, Pyramid Lake.
Buck says this provides other benefits as well, including a decrease in funding that would have otherwise been needed to make improvements in the Truckee Meadows Water Reclamation Facility; a reduction in the demand on potable water systems; and a reduction in irrigation costs for users while, at the same time, providing the presence of more public green spaces.
Construction actually began back in 1996 following three extremely difficult drought years.
The first phase resulted in treated effluent being piped to the Don Mello Sports Complex, the Wildcreek Golf Course, and the Shadow Mountain regional park in Sparks.
Water reclamation designers initially planned for a build-out that called for pumping 10,000 gallons a minute of wastewater.
"Growth in the area caught everyone offguard," says Buck."It came so rapidly that we have been racing developers to get new pipe trenched before the houses arrive.
"Our original pumps were capable of 3,500 gallons per minute, and we were targeting over the next 10 years needing pumps capable of 10,000 gallons per minute.As a result of this project, we now have four vertical turbines capable of pumping 22,000 gallons per minute," he says.
The project took the extension from Shadow Mountain Regional Park out to Pyramid Highway and as far north as Eagle Canyon in Spanish Springs.
The final phase in this build-out began in 2002 as the pipeline was extended east from the Kiley Ranch booster pump station to Vista Avenue, adjacent to the Red Hawk Golf course.
Behind one of the foothills east of the golf course, a 3.25-million-gallon storage tank was constructed."Red Hawk golf course uses ground water from wells today," says Buck, "but we did put in three Ts off the main pipeline so we could easily arrange to water their fairways and greens should they ever decide to become a customer.We have the capacity to serve all their recreational needs." Spanish Springs High School and Shaw Middle School, both located on Eagle Canyon Road, are currently using water from wells, but Buck says the two schools are exploring the possibilities of becoming customers of the wastewater effluent project.
The only high school currently a customer is Reed High School.
Current users include 14 city parks, six county parks, six golf courses, and nearly 3,000 acres of common area and open space.
The cost for reclaimed water customers is also attractive when compared to potable water."The reclaimed water ranges in price from $1.47 to $2.29 per 1,000 gallons," says Buck.
By contrast, the Truckee Meadows Water Authority rates range from $3.50 to $3.64 per 1,000 gallons.
There are two delivery options available.
One calls for treated wastewater being available 16 hours during the day.
A second option is 8 hours of overnight water availability, this use being cheaper because the power costs to pump it are lower overnight.
