Rusty Jardine reported at the County Commission yesterday that TCID has successfully negotiated a proposed contract with the United States for the operation and maintenance of the Newlands Reclamation Project. The district is currently operating under a contract that was negotiated in 1996, specifically with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and that contract expires at the end of 2021.
The TCID board approved the negotiated contract at their meeting in early October and will next present the contract to the water right holders for their approval, holding a special election in March of 2021.
If water right owners approve the contract, the results of that election are then taken to the 10th Judicial District Court to have the local judge, Tom Stockard provide an order confirming the election and process. The contract will be in effect for 25 years.
Jardine said that one of the major issues during the negotiations was that of water measurement. “When we started the negotiations,” he said, “Reclamation was asking us to provide 30 percent of our budget, from every source, for the creation of new water measurement sites.” The district agreed to provide 12 percent of the assessments they receive and allocating that a conservation fund that will be used for water measurement.
He added that there is also a federal process that will happen concurrently. “This contract will have to work its way up the chain all the way to the Department of the Interior and ultimately being approved there,” said Jardine, “and will take effect in January of 2022.
“This valley continues to be green because we are seeing a lot of water being applied for beneficial use and we are very proud of that and we hope that will be the case for many decades,” he said.
Additionally, Jardine reported briefly that TCID also continues to pursue the congressional transfer of the Old Lahontan power plant and has just completed negotiations with NV Energy over a contract for the power from that plant that will conclude in five years.
The District is also expecting a Record of Decision from the DOI any day on the Truckee Canal Extraordinary Maintenance that will require a geo-membrane lining of sections of the canal with a concrete cover over it for safety purposes. The estimated cost for the complete project will be near $130 million, but because of cost limitations the district will do pieces over time.
TCID will conclude the water season this year on November 15th, with November 9th being the last day to order water. “Water right holders are exercising their rights and we should have some considerable amount of storage left when we conclude the water year,” said Jardine.
Commissioner Bus Scharmann expressed concern over lining the Truckee Canal. “I know that a lining is needed through the urban area in Fernley area to protect them from any floods, but the lining decreases in need as it goes out into the desert, and that is the only way to recharge the aquifer in that basin where we hope the Churchill Hazen Industrial Park will go.”
“That is no small matter,” said Jardine, “we are going to engage in those conversations, but before we can even think about any of that work, the district must repay $3.5 million just for the cost of the Environment Impact Statement.” He said this is an expensive process and will take a long time.
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