Spring & Summer 2024 Effluent Pipeline Project Work updates:

Please plan your travel and expect delays.

Updated: 5/14/24 

IVGID construction project will cause delays on State Route 28 

The Incline Village General Improvement District’s Effluent Pipeline Replacement Project will cause lane closures on Nevada State Route 28 between Sand Harbor and the Douglas County line this summer. Intermittent single-lane closures and alternating one-way traffic control is scheduled to begin on May 5, with construction taking place from Sundays at 7 p.m. through Fridays at 12 p.m. to facilitate the Effluent Pipeline Project work. Traffic delays of up to 30 minutes are expected along this stretch of SR 28 during the summer construction season.

“As we begin the summer construction season, IVGID Public Works will once again be impacting State Route 28 travel between Incline Village and Highway 50 with the Effluent Pipeline Replacement Project,” said IVGID’s Interim Public Works Director Kate Nelson. “This is an extremely important project for IVGID as it ensures compliance with TRPA, State and Federal regulations. We understand the frustrations with travel impacts and appreciate the public’s patience again this construction season. Travel Safe.”


Effluent Pipeline Project information:
The Incline Village General Improvement District (IVGID) operates a wastewater collection, treatment, and effluent export system that serves the communities of Incline Village and Crystal Bay, Nevada, and the Nevada State Parks (Sand Harbor, Spooner, and Memorial Point) located at Lake Tahoe. The Wastewater Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) treats approximately 800,000 to 1.5 million gallons of sewage each day. A critical component of this operation is the 20.5-mile effluent export pipeline, which protects Lake Tahoe’s water quality by exporting all wastewater effluent out of the Tahoe Basin.
The original export line pipe, now over 50 years old, has reached the end of its useful life and ongoing corrosion has resulted in pipeline failures at multiple locations in recent years.
Early phases of the pipeline replacement project investigated the entire pipeline and prioritized the replacement schedule to maintain this critical infrastructure. This project represents an extraordinary infrastructure investment for a small utility district. This challenge is also unique to the Lake Tahoe Basin in that the pipeline replacement helps ensure the protection of a national environmental resource.
Within the Tahoe Basin, this pipe is divided into three segments underneath State Route 28: Segment 1 is the low-pressure supply pipe from the WRRF to a pump station near Sand Harbor. Segment 2 is welded steel, high-pressure discharge pipe exiting the pump station. Segment 3 is the remaining lower-pressure jointed steel transmission pipeline within the Tahoe Basin running south to Spooner Summit.
Phase 1 work has been completed with the replacement of all four miles of Segment 1 pipe within NDOT right-of-way, as well as two miles of Segment 3 pipeline that crossed through State Park lands at Spooner Lake.

Phase 2 will replace all of the remaining Segment 3 pipeline (approx. 13,700 linear feet) and all of Segment 2 pipeline (approx. 17,300 linear feet). Phase 2 work will be completed along State Route 28 using open-cut construction methodology to relocate the pipeline within the center of the southbound travel lane, or into the northbound travel lane, where required. The short TRPA-mandated grading/earthwork season (May 1 – October 15) dictates that IVGID’s pipeline work be completed as a multi-year project of approximately four years total.
Construction on Phase 2A was completed in 2023 with the installation of approximately 5,400 linear feet of pipe in both Segment 2 (3,300 lf) and Segment 3 (2,100 lf).
This summer’s construction on Phase 2B began with daytime-only work on April 22, 2024, to establish traffic management, survey control, and asphalt saw cutting for the trench. Limited excavation and pipeline installation will start on May 1, with 24-hour construction beginning at 7 p.m. on Sunday, May 5, with lane closures and construction underway continuously until Fridays at 12 p.m.
Phases 2C and 2D are scheduled to take place during the 2025 and 2026 construction seasons.

Please see the maps below: