Effluent Pipeline Project Work updates:

Updated: 11/18/24: 

PLEASE NOTE: 

The Effluenent Pipeline Project SR 28 road closures are complete for the winter season.

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. In recent years, ongoing corrosion has resulted in pipeline failures at multiple locations.
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, with a 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 the remaining Segment 3 pipeline (approx. 13,700 linear feet) and all of the 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 approximately 5,400 linear feet of pipe installed in 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. 24-hour construction will begin 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 for the 2025 and 2026 construction seasons.

 

Please see the maps below: