Effluent Export Pipeline Replacement Project
One of the largest capital improvement projects in the history of IVGID, the Effluent Export Pipeline Replacement Project (project # CIP2524SS1010) is a multi-year effort to replace the aging infrastructure that conveys the treated effluent from the District’s wastewater treatment plant out of the Lake Tahoe Basin, per federal requirements.
Q: What is the Effluent Export Pipeline and why do we need it?
A: 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) – aka the sewage treatment plant – treats approximately 800,000 to 1.5 million gallons of wastewater 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.
To understand what the Effluent Export Pipeline is and why we need it, you need to know a bit about the history of Incline Village and Crystal Bay and the sewer system that serves it…
In 1961, the community of Incline Village was being developed by the Crystal Bay Development Company. In order to pay for improvements, The Incline Village General Improvement District (IVGID) was created by Washoe County on June 1, 1961, authorizing the newly created District to levy taxes to pay for improvements and for five elected Trustees to set up and run the District.
The District’s first job was to construct, maintain and operate the District’s sewer and potable water systems. In 1963 the District’s original wastewater treatment plant was completed and designed to handle wastewater originating from commercial and multi-family residential areas only. The original design of Incline Village was to permit each single-family residential lot to construct individual septic tank systems, therefore, capacity was not designed into the original plant for single family residential wastewater.
In 1969, Incline Village Inc. proposed to develop an additional 4,000 equivalent residential lots in Incline Village. The Incline Village General Improvement District commissioned an engineering study to determine the water and sewer system improvements to serve all of the present and planned development within the District. During the development by Incline Village Inc., the water and sewer system improvements were constructed according to the original plan to serve the developable lots.
A regulation that was passed in the late 1960s necessitated the construction of the effluent export system to pump treated effluent out of the Tahoe Basin. This was necessary because of a state and federal mandate that the use of septic tanks in the Tahoe Basin be discontinued, and that all treated effluent be exported out of the Basin.
By 1971, the District had complied with the federal mandate and the treated effluent was exported via pipeline to a ranch in Douglas County during the irrigation season and to the Carson River during the non-irrigation season.
New regulations on the disposal of wastewater required IVGID to either upgrade its treatment facility in order to continue disposing of the treated effluent in the Carson River or to have a year-round land-based disposal system. In 1983 IVGID completed the purchase of 900 acres in Douglas County to be used for development of a disposal site for its treated effluent. Construction of the effluent disposal facility was completed in 1984 with local and federal funding, and this is where the treated effluent is exported to this day – creating a wetland area in the Carson Valley that serves as wildlife habitat and open space.
The actual Effluent Export Pipeline is, at its most basic, just that – a big pipe in the ground that treated effluent flows through. The effluent flows by gravity from the east end of Incline Village to the Spooner Pump Station near Sand Harbor State Park. From there, the effluent is pumped over Spooner Summit on State Route 50, and then southeast down to the IVGID wetlands facility in the Carson Valley.
But as you can imagine, the design and engineering that go into that pipeline are complex given all the distance it must traverse, the nature of that terrain and environmental sensitivity of that zone.
Q: What happens to the treated effluent after it’s pumped out of the Tahoe Basin?
A: The treated effluent is ultimately released into IVGID’s 900-acre effluent disposal facility – a man-made wetland located in Minden, Nevada.
This artificial wetland serves as a wildlife refuge and is also home to IVGID’s Wetlands Waterfowl Hunting Program, which offers IVGID residents the opportunity to hunt on the property. The program follows the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) regulations for the hunting of waterfowl, and is operated through the IVGID Utility Department in conjunction with the IVGID Parks & Recreation Department. You can find further information on the hunting program by searching for “wetlands hunting” on the District website.
Q: Why does the Effluent Export Pipeline need to be replaced?
A: 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.
Q: How long will the project take? What are the phases of the project?
A: The project is scheduled to be finished by the end of the 2026 construction season.
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 of the Effluent Export Pipeline Replacement project began in 2003 and wrapped up in 2013. Phase 1 work replaced all four miles of Segment 1 pipe within Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) right-of-way, as well as two miles of Segment 3 pipeline that crossed through State Park lands at Spooner Lake. Phase 1 also included upgrades to the Spooner Pumping Station and converted two State Parks wastewater plants into raw wastewater pumping stations with installation of a new force main pipeline to deliver that sewage to the District’s WRRF plant for processing.
Phase 2 of the project – which we are currently in – will result in the replacement of the remaining six miles of aging pipeline within the Lake Tahoe Basin during the 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 summer construction seasons.
Phase 2 will replace all 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 Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA)-mandated grading/earthwork season (May 1 – Oct. 15) dictates that IVGID’s Phase 2 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 linear feet) and Segment 3 (2,100 linear feet).
This summer’s construction on Phase 2B began with daytime-only work on April 22 to establish traffic management, survey control, and asphalt saw cutting for the trench. Limited excavation and pipeline installation started on May 1, with 24-hour construction beginning on May 5, with lane closures and construction underway continuously until Fridays at 12 p.m. This season’s construction will wrap up by November 1.
Phases 2C and 2D are currently scheduled to take place during the 2025 and 2026 construction seasons.
Q: What impacts does the project have on traffic and road construction?
A: During each of the summer construction seasons, the project will cause lane closures on Nevada State Route 28 between Sand Harbor and the Douglas County line. The construction travel impacts will be similar in 2025 and 2026 – the two remaining years of the Phase 2 construction. Traffic delays of up to 30 minutes are expected along this stretch of SR 28 during the summer construction seasons.
Q: Who is the contractor and how were they selected?
A: Granite Construction is the contractor for Phase 2 of the Effluent Pipeline Replacement Project, and they are working on the project in a collaborative process known as “Construction Manager at Risk” or CMAR.
History of the CMAR process for this project:
On May 6, 2020, the IVGID Board of Trustees approved Request for Qualifications (RFQ) documents to hire a qualified professional consulting firm for project review of the District’s Effluent Export Pipeline Project. The District did not receive an acceptable proposal through this process. It was then decided to pursue the option of using a Construction Manager At Risk (CMAR) for the project.
On January 28, 2021, the IVGID Board of Trustees approved a contract with Granite Construction to provide pre-construction services as CMAR for the Effluent Pipeline project. CMAR selection was based upon scoring and evaluation by IVGID Staff and a member of the Board.
CMAR is an approach whereby the Owner procures a construction firm early in the design and planning process, but separately from the design firm. The intent is that the CMAR will construct the project upon completion of pre-construction services.
The CMAR process allows the opportunity to engage the expertise of the CMAR firm and leverage any existing third-party relationships (such as NDOT) in the pre-construction phase. The design and planning phase allows the owner, construction and design teams to create a collaborative project environment before entering the construction phase that carries through the project duration. This allows the entire team to work through design revisions to alleviate potential construction conflicts with the intent to reduce project risks and costs.
It is through this effort that the CMAR works closely with the design team to ensure the Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) is fully aligned with the design intent. To achieve this alignment, the CMAR is responsible for thoroughly reviewing all construction documents including drawings and specifications, and for ensuring all scopes of work and materials are included in the project estimating process.
Throughout pre-construction services, the CMAR revises Opinions of Probable Construction Costs (OPCC) based on design and specification milestones (typically at 30%, 60% and 90% design). The next step for the CMAR is to establish the construction budget as a GMP. The GMP becomes part of the CMAR contract along with all other project documentation (plans, specifications, etc.).
Upon completion of the pre-construction services, the CMAR acts as the general contractor during the construction phase to select, schedule, and sequence subcontractors to complete the required construction work as included in the GMP. The GMP can include general allowances for elevated costs that do not qualify as change orders. The Owners can require approval of allowance cost spending, ensuring thorough accounting.
The method is known as construction manager “at risk” because the Owner and CMAR negotiate a guaranteed maximum price GMP during the design phase. The intent is for the construction manager to be responsible for any costs that exceed the GMP.
However, the owner is not completely protected from risk in the construction project. For example, if any of the contract documents have inconsistencies or are missing anything important, the Owner may find themselves liable for those extra costs. For this reason, it is typical for the Owner to carry a pre-determined level of contingency funds within the contract, which is solely managed by the Owner.
While CMAR can be a complex process and the specifics of the delivery method will vary by jurisdiction, it will yield time and cost efficiencies by obtaining CMAR input during the design phase and beginning aspects of a construction project before the full design is complete. This is currently being realized by the collaborative efforts between IVGID, Granite and NDOT.
Q: How much is all of this costing? And how does IVGID pay for it all?
A: The project is paid for through a combination of sources. The primary funding mechanism is the Nevada State Revolving Fund (SRF) Loan (a state program that provides low-interest loans for infrastructure improvements).
The total loan amount is $52M with an initial portion reduced via a principal forgiveness in the amount of $608,300.
These loan funds have been offset partially by United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) 595 Program funds whereby 75% of a portion of work is covered by USACE programs funds, provided that a 25% match is met by IVGID funds (via the SRF loan and utility rates). The total grant to date is $4.8M, with additional increments currently in the application phase within the USACE process.
Lastly, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Grant Funds of $1.6M have been provided and applied as well.
Public Works Staff are continuing to work with our federal partners, IVGID’s lobbyist, and our Senate and Congressional delegation to secure more funding for this critical project.