Reno officials outline sewer system upgrades, capacity limits and advanced purified water plan

Reno City Council heard a technical briefing July 30 on the city's sewer utility that outlined recent infrastructure investments, current treatment capacity and limits on future growth tied to wastewater treatment and effluent disposal. John Flansberg, regional infrastructure administrator for the city, said the system's core public-health purpose remains the top priority.

"The number one reason we have a sewer utility is for public health," Flansberg said during the presentation to the council. He described the utility's scale: about 863 miles of sewer pipe in the city, 23,345 manholes and daily treated flows the size of roughly 5.8 football fields.

The presentation explained how collection lines, lift stations and two main treatment complexes work together. Truckee Meadows Water Reclamation Facility (the region's primary plant) currently treats roughly 30 million gallons per day (MGD) and is permitted at a higher level; Reno's Reno-Stead Water Reclamation Facility recently increased capacity in its treatment equipment from 2 MGD to 4 MGD to allow further processing and planned upgrades. Flansberg also summarized past capital work: roughly $129 million spent on the collection system and about $45 million on lift stations in the last decade, and $334 million in total sewer-related capital investment over the last 10 years, split between capacity and replacement work.

Why it matters: the council was told that treatment capacity and the rules for where treated effluent can go are the limiting factors for where and how the region can grow. Flansberg said differences in local treatment and disposal options explain why some parts of the valley already use abundant reclaimed water for parks and landscaping while other areas do not. For example, Washoe County's South Truckee Meadows plant uses a reservoir (Huffaker Reservoir) and delivers reclaimed water widely for irrigation, and county policy there currently makes reclaimed water effectively available without a direct per-unit charge. Reno-Stead operates in a closed basin and relies on a local purple-pipe system to serve nearby parks, golf courses and the sports complex; those purple-pipe customers pay a charge to recover infrastructure and replacement costs.

Advanced purified water and water-out options: to address effluent disposal and provide durable water supplies, staff reviewed the city's American Flat advanced purified water project (APWF) proposal. The APWF would treat excess effluent to very high standards so it can be reused as a potable water source or otherwise reliably used instead of being returned to the Truckee River. Council members and staff emphasized the cost and complexity: constructing new treatment and winter storage is expensive and requires careful sequencing so biological treatment trains are not cycled down in summer and restarted in winter, which could impair performance. Councilmember Kevin Reese, who said he has spent time learning the system, called the topic "perhaps the most complicated thing in the city of Reno for me to understand as a council member," and urged continued public explanation as the council considers funding and schedule options.

Regional context and next steps: speakers highlighted several regional constraints. Washoe County has indicated interest in decommissioning or consolidating some smaller plants and moving flows to larger facilities; Sparks and other jurisdictions are approaching capacity limits at Truckee Meadows Water Reclamation Facility, which creates uncertainty for developers in unincorporated areas. Staff said the Western Regional Water Commission has initiated work to study regionalization options for sewer and that consultants are preparing a scope to evaluate whether a more regional governance or shared-capacity approach is appropriate.

Outreach and finances: Flansberg and city staff said they will continue public outreach on a pending sewer rate proposal and related capital plans. Staff reported 276 responses to a public survey conducted earlier in the outreach period and said council will receive more detailed public-feedback summaries when rate actions come back. Councilmembers stressed the need to explain how past spending (replacement versus capacity) changed the system's condition and the trade-offs between development-linked connection fees and the ongoing user charges that pay for replacement and operations.

Public comments at the meeting included North Valleys developers and residents asking that the city examine whether some treated effluent can be reserved for reclaimed-water uses in the North Valleys, and a developer, Bob Lisner, said higher costs for irrigation water in the North Valleys are constraining planned neighborhoods and parks. Lisner urged city and utility staff to examine ways to make reclaimed or effluent-provided irrigation feasible for new subdivisions.

What's next: staff said no formal council action was taken on the sewer topic at this meeting; instead council received the briefing and asked staff to continue technical work and increased outreach. Staff identified upcoming items to return to the council, including a sewer rate discussion, a potential advanced purified water project path and a septic-to-sewer conversion item for a neighborhood with aging septic systems.

Ending: council members praised the multi-million-dollar replacement work the utility has completed and stressed that future choices on effluent, storage and capacity will shape the valley's growth patterns for years. Staff said they will return with policy options, refined cost estimates and outreach materials.