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Commission ranks wastewater and water quality highest in FY27 priorities; directs staff to draft budget
Summary
The Northern Nevada Water Planning Commission on Oct. 1 directed staff to use the FY27 priority‑setting results to develop the professional services budget, with wastewater and water‑quality projects scoring highest in the commission’s ranking exercise.
The Northern Nevada Water Planning Commission completed its fiscal year 2027 priorities‑setting exercise on Oct. 1 and directed staff to use the ranked results to develop the FY27 professional services budget. Commissioners voted unanimously to provide that direction to staff.
Kim Rigdon, program manager for the commission, described the scoring process: commissioners were asked to score projects 1–5 to indicate priority for next year (1 = future opportunity, 5 = critical). Staff aggregated scores and presented the results, showing wastewater and water‑quality projects rising to the top of the list.
Top‑ranked projects included the enhanced wastewater source control project, Nevada Water Innovation Institute regional water management and coordination work, wastewater regionalization feasibility work, advanced purified water outreach and coordination for the American Flat facility, and water recycling education programs. Rigdon presented a tentative professional services budget based on the priorities and said the proposed budget was within $35,000 of the prior year; project contingency was shown at $800,000 in staff’s preliminary allocations.
Commission members raised topic‑specific questions during the discussion. Member Eric Crump asked whether the Washoe evapotranspiration project (conducted by DRI) has measurable use data or website hit metrics. Rigdon said the evapotranspiration data are publicly hosted and used for public education (watering/irrigation guidance) and that staff would follow up to determine whether there are analytics on site visitation or wider operational use by HOAs or golf courses.
Commissioners also discussed a proposed water quality credit trading project. Rigdon said the project is currently on hold while staff negotiate terms with the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection and that the city of Reno is leading technical discussions (Nick Brothers identified as the lead). Rigdon said staff would include tribal representatives in future discussions when work resumes; a commissioner noted the tribe had expressed concern about the trading proposal.
Jennifer Carr said state‑level discussion on direct potable reuse (DPR) is advancing; she reported there is an existing cost‑sharing agreement among municipal parties (Tomwa, City of Reno, City of Sparks and Washoe County) funding approximately $100,000 of DPR regulatory development work, and that the Nevada Water Innovation Institute has projects that can provide technical assistance on DPR and advanced purified water regulations. Commissioner John Enloe reiterated the $100,000 regional cost‑share for DPR work and said staff and partners are in a strong position to support regulation development.
After discussion, the commission moved and seconded a motion to direct staff to use the priority‑setting results to prepare the FY27 professional services budget for presentation to the commission and the Western Regional Water Commission at the joint Nov. 5 meeting. The motion passed unanimously.
Staff will return with a draft budget in November, together with any additional scope details needed for concept projects that were prioritized but lack final scopes of work. Commissioners indicated support for outreach and professional development opportunities related to advanced purified water and wastewater regionalization and requested staff follow up on analytics for the evapotranspiration public site and to include tribal input in future water‑quality credit trading conversations.
