Voters asked to approve bond issue to renovate water plant

Saturday, February 8, 2020

Editor's Note: Parts of this story are compiled from articles that previously ran in the Daily Mail.

In the upcoming April election, the City of Nevada will be asking voters to approve a $15 million dollar bond issue to renovate the city’s water plant.“The plant was constructed in 1984. The structure itself is designed to last from 70 or 90 years, so it’s not about the structure, it’s in excellent condition,” Jim Winger of Black and Veatch told the Nevada City Council in June 2019. “But when you start looking at the internals, or the equipment, it has a life of about 25 to 30 years. When you start looking at the electrical systems - the power distribution systems – it’s usually about 20 to 25 years. Instrumentation and controls is usually around 10 and 15 years...” ​

“I know infrastructure is not sexy or exciting and folks would rather talk about the airshow and other services but if we’re serious about attracting new business and adding to our housing stock, it’s absolutely critical that our sanitary sewer and water systems are maintained and ready to meet future demand,” former Nevada City Manager JD Kehrman told the Daily Mail’s Johannes Brann in a September 2018 interview. “Along with police and fire protection, a city’s most important job is to provide sanitary sewer and clean water to its residents and working with the mayor and city council, that’s what we intend to do.” ​

Brann wrote in a September 12, 2018 article in the Nevada Daily Mail, “So the word radio in Radio Springs Park refers to what are called radionuclides, that is, there is a small amount of naturally occurring radium (radium 226 and 228) in the ground which has eroded and leeched into the groundwater from which the city of Nevada sources its water. ​

So yes, there are radionuclides in Nevada’s untreated water and no, the water will not instantly do harm. ​

But as local Alliance Water director, Eric McPeak, explained to the Nevada City Council at a special meeting following a tour of the city’s water plant in July, “Over a lifetime of consumption, such water could result in some negative health effects which is why we filter it out.” ​

And what is the best way to remove such radionuclides? ​

“Almost every filtration method will help some,” said McPeak, “But the only one that removes over 95 percent of it is reverse osmosis.”” ​

The Reverse Osmosis system required by Nevada’s water is second in cost only to a desalination plant – that is one that converts salt water to drinking water. ​

​“Just as barren soil is soon filled with ground-cover so water separated by a permeable membrane will seep through until the water is equalized on both sides; this is osmosis,” Brann wrote. “Reverse osmosis is the forcing of water through a series of filters until what comes out is clean water and what is left behind are various solids, which in the case of Nevada’s water includes calcium carbonate (chalk/limestone), metals (iron, copper, zinc), nitrates/nitrites, other things and most importantly, the radium.” ​Constructed in 1984, Nevada’s water plant can produce 1.4 million gallons of clean potable water each day while relying on four wells spread across the city as a supply. ​

Winger's June 2019 presentation ruled out the possibility of performing the renovation in several small phases. ​

Current plans call for replace of the reverse osmosis system, addition of a cleaning system for the reverse osmosis system, replacements of chemical feeds systems and electrical components and control systems. ​

Improvements to the system will provide a redundancy in case the reverse osmosis system must be taken offline for maintenance. ​

Interim city manager Mark Mitchell said recently, “If voters don’t approve the revenue bond, we will have to go back to the drawing table and look at other options. One of the options would be to put it back on the ballot in 2021.”

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