Board approves American Flat groundwater‑banking wells for Truckee Meadows Water Authority

The Washoe County Board of Adjustment unanimously approved a special use permit (WSUP25-5) for the American Flat well field — a roughly 479-acre project area that will host injection wells, extraction wells, monitoring wells, pump stations, two storage tanks and a water-polishing facility to create an underground groundwater bank of up to 11,000 acre-feet for the Truckee Meadows service area.

Planner Tim Evans summarized the project and said it is part of the larger Advanced Purified Water Facility (APWF) project, which will treat recycled effluent and produce up to 2,000,000 gallons per day of advanced-purified (potable‑quality) water for storage and later use. “The proposed project for the construction of the wells, the installation of the monitoring wells, extraction wells, and injection wells, will be completed in one phase in the fall of 2026,” Evans said.

Applicant representatives from the Truckee Meadows Water Authority and the City of Reno explained the scope and the public-outreach program. Joe Coudrier, on behalf of the project, said the site has been tested: pilot injections, subsurface exploration and geophysical transects have been completed and the site was found suitable for aquifer storage and recovery at the scale proposed. The project team said technical studies, piloting and prior permitting work underpin the design.

As part of the permit, the applicant requested and staff recommended waiving the civic‑use landscaping standard in Article 412 of the Washoe County Development Code for the well-field area; staff also asked to remove condition 1.g in exhibit A because the 15 parking-space requirement referenced a treatment-facility parking calculation not required for the extraction/injection well area. The board accepted staff’s recommendation to waive landscaping for the well field and deleted the parking-space condition.

Agencies that reviewed the project provided recommended conditions; the record includes conditions from Water Rights Engineering, Environmental Health and the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District. Staff reported 35 nearby parcels were noticed and that no written public comments were received in response to the county notice; a community workshop in January attracted residents and produced three follow‑up contacts, the applicant said.

Board members asked technical questions about hydrology, groundwater monitoring and funding. The project team said prior studies — including a multi‑month pilot injection and geophysical and soils testing — support the design and that the project team is pursuing federal and other funding, including a Bureau of Reclamation grant; project staff said alternative funding sources have been identified if federal funds do not materialize.

Board member Kathy Julian moved to approve the permit, including the landscaping waiver and deletion of the parking-space condition; the motion was seconded and passed unanimously. The board’s approval authorizes the applicant to proceed toward construction, subject to the conditions in exhibit A as amended.