CARSON CITY — Jack’s Valley Elementary School students learned a lot about clean water for their Earth Day Celebration on Friday. After taking their annual Earth Day aerial photograph, the fifth and sixth grade students’ day was focused on learning about water and wastewater treatment systems with staff from the Nevada Rural Water Association and the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development (USDA RD).

One thing they learned is that their water is now cleaner, thanks to a regional water system that is being developed from Douglas County all the way to Carson City. The regional water system meets long-term water supply needs, provides back-up supply in case of emergencies and, most importantly, helps reduce arsenic and uranium levels in drinking water across the region. By working together, Carson City, Douglas County, the Town of Minden and the Indian Hills General Improvement District have avoided costly arsenic and uranium treatments that are required to meet the standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act.

One focus for the Earth Day Celebration was on completion of the new water system just south of Carson City at the Indian Hills General Improvement District (IHGID) as well as planned improvements at the district’s wastewater treatment plant. The water system improvements are a small portion of the overall regional system, with a T-line to link the community’s water system that serves 1,868 commercial and residential customers, in an area with 6,000 residents.

USDA RD collaborated with a number of regional partners to develop support for the Indian Hills water system to join the regional network. USDA RD and Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) funds from the State Water Resource Grant (AB 198) paid to install a T-line to connect the Indian Hills GID water treatment facility to the transmission line, upgrade the water treatment plant and provide 10,550 linear feet of line looping within the service area.

In addition, the NDEP’s State Water Resources grant and its Nevada Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund provided the funds for IHGID’s participation in the regional transmission line, tank improvements and a booster pump. Overall, USDA RD provided a $900,000 loan and a $783,302 grant, and NDEP’s programs provided a $901,420 grant and a $1.11 million loan.

For the Indian Hills wastewater treatment facility, the USDA RD loan of $1.51 million with the IHGID provider match of $252,000 will be used to complete wastewater treatment improvements consisting of solar panels, an upgraded head works and a new sludge handling system. The 30-kilowatt solar panel system will allow the district to reduce power costs and the other system improvements will meet state requirements for disposal of waste. The solar panels are now complete and the remainder of the waste water treatment system is under design.

IHGID has already obtained an energy rebate from NV Energy to offset project costs.

For more information, call 887-1222 extension 130.