Walker Lake General Improvement District Water System Improvement Project
Town of Walker Lake.
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BACKGROUND
The community of Walker Lake lies on the west shore of Walker Lake, about 12 miles north of Hawthorne and 120 miles south of Reno on US 95. The water system serving this community was privately owned by "County Water Company" for more than twenty years. At the time of the original grant request, the system was in the process of being purchased by the newly formed Walker Lake General Improvement District (District).
The "County Water Company" system served approximately 600 persons on 202 connections, and was in serious need of extensive repairs and source improvements. The system relied on two wells with different but significant problems. Both wells were situated on the east side of the highway. The groundwater level decreased below the pumping level of both wells because of a lengthy drought in the area during the early 1990s. The shallower of the two wells (the Mallet Well) was unproductive following these periods of drought and became non-functional. The deeper of the two wells (the Sanderson Well) had been deepened during the drought period and, as groundwater levels rose, influence from Walker Lake increased the TDS in the water beyond established state health standards. At a later date, this well had the bottom thirty feet cemented in to eliminate the influence of Walker Lake. This became the only well in production. Consequently, water for this community was highly unreliable.
Walker Lake relied on two unsanitary storage reservoirs. One was a concrete tank with a wooden roof having a capacity of 100,000 gallons. The Health Division found numerous drowned rodents in this tank. This condition caused the Health Division to order the community to isolate this tank and to boil their water. The other tank was a plastic lined, bolted corrugated steel reservoir containing 115,000 gallons. This tank was reported to be susceptible to rodent entry as well.
This community's chlorinator, which was intended to inject chlorine concurrent with pump operation, was improperly plumbed and had not functioned well enough to be left on line. It was ordinarily disconnected from the system.
The residents reported that there were numerous leaks in the 4-inch, 6-inch, and 8-inch ACP and PVC pipeline network distributing the water. Some estimated that as much as one-third of the pumped water was lost to line leakage. Additional problems were reported due to dead end lines and water stagnation.
The District was formed on October 21, 1996, by the Mineral County Commission. The water system was under an ongoing boil water order and was under pressure from State Health to resolve its problems. Financial resources were apparently not available to the private owner. The District purchased the privately owned County Water System from the County Water Company in January 1997. Upon transfer of the ownership of this system to the District, the system was eligible to receive State grant funds.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The District proposed a major overhaul of the system to correct as many of the deficiencies as possible. The community retained an engineer and a hydrogeologist. To remedy the well source deficiency, the hydrogeologist recommended drilling a well at the north end of Cottonwood Canyon, along the west side of town, near the storage tank site. This site would be higher than the lake and intercept water moving toward the lake from the west.
The District proposed to demolish the two existing storage tanks and replace them with a new 225,000-gallon steel storage tank constructed to American Water Works Association standards.
Distribution system improvements proposed included several isolated replacement projects and a small amount of new line intended to improve looping of the system and eliminate some dead end lines. In addition, the District sought funding to include new pipelines to connect the Cliff House system to the District's system.
The Walker Lake General Improvement District applied for a grant under the AB 198 program to assist with a water system improvement project. The grant was approved by the Board for Financing Water Projects (Board) on December 10, 1997, for $671,371 (85% of the total eligible project cost of $789,849). The project involved the construction of a new supplemental water well with well house and chlorination system, a replacement water storage facility, various distribution system improvements, and associated facilities and improvements. Portions of the project, namely the fire prevention portion of water storage tank volume and certain fire hydrants, were determined to be ineligible and did not receive the financial participation of the State. The match for this project came partially from the USDA - Rural Development in the form of a loan and partially from the CDBG as a grant. The well drilled as a part of the project proved to be a very poor producer. Bids for the distribution system came in too high for the original project funding.
On September 16, 1998, the Board approved an increase in the total grant amount to $900,237 (85% of the total eligible project cost of $1,059,103). On February 2, 2003, an extension of time was granted that extended the State grant until February 2, 2005.
On September 18, 2003, the Board approved $86,259 in additional grant funds to drill a new well for the Town of Walker Lake. The scope of the total project was now to construct a new well with a well house and chlorination system; construct a replacement water storage facility; various distribution system improvements; and construct associated facilities and improvements. The first amendment to the original scope of work was to drill and equip a new well. The second amendment to the original scope of work was to drill and equip a new well close to the old well with the damaged well casing. The amount of this grant was amended to $986,496 (or 85% of the new total eligible costs of $1,428,531). At this point in the project, the District had abandoned the project piece that included connecting Cliff House to the District's system in favor of using the remaining grant funds and this small increase in funding to drill and construct a much needed new well.
In June of 2004, drilling of the new well started. After drilling to a depth of 800 feet the drill hole was dry. An E-Log was performed on the dry hole and the results sent to a hydrologist for evaluation. The Town of Walker Lake had one questionable source of water at that point. At the July 20, 2004, meeting, the Board approve additional emergency funding of the District in an amount not to exceed $85,000 (85% of the eligible cost of $100,000). Due to the failure of the Mallet Well, the Board Chairman approved the drilling of a new water well next to the old well with damaged well casing for a total cost of approximately $50,000. This brought the total grant amount for the Walker Lake GID to $1,143,477 (85% of the total eligible project cost of $1,345,267.06).
PROJECT STATUS
The District opened bids in July 1998 for the construction of a new water storage tank, water distribution pipe lines and transmission water mains; for the elimination of all dead-ends water lines; for the replacement of faulty gate valves and fire hydrants; for the rehabilitation of existing wells and general upgrade of the water storage and distribution system. This project was completed in the spring of 1999.
Welsco Drilling of Fallon, Nevada, was retained to drill test holes for the development of domestic wells. Three test holes were drilled in late 1998 and early 1999 without finding water and the drilling program was temporarily suspended.
In May 2004, Aqua Drilling and Pump Company was retained to drill an exploratory well in the hope of findings a source of groundwater. A test hole was drilled to a depth of 800 feet without success. The test hole was later abandoned.
In November 2004, the Mallet Well was failing and needed to be reconditioned. A sounding of the well was inconclusive so the decision was made to bail the well. Humboldt Drilling and Pump Company was hired to bail the well. This was unsuccessful, and it was determined that the well casing had collapsed. It was decided to abandon the existing well and drill a new well in the same right of way. The District worked with the Board's Chairman to secure emergency funding in the amount of $50,000 for the replacement of the Mallet Well. The new well was successful and is currently the primary well for the District. The Sanderson Well, was failing at the same time the new Mallet Well was drilled. The District reconditioned the Sanderson Well and installed a new pump. Unfortunately, both the Mallet Well and Sanderson Well are under the influence of the aquifer under Walker Lake and recent declines in water levels are threatening the water quality and production viability of the wells.
The District worked with the Department of Defense (DoD) to secure land for drilling a new well near the new storage tank at the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon on property owned by the DoD. In addition, the District had hoped to secure federal funding for a deep well near the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon; however, it appears that that funding will not be available. Based on futher hydrogeologic review, the District made a plan to drill another well of similar depth to the Mallet Well but on the opposite side of the highway.
In July 2008, Humboldt Drilling was awarded the contract for the drilling of the new well. Drilling was completed in July 2008, however, an insignificant amount of water was found and the borehole was abandoned. The District is reviewing options for alternative sources.
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