Golconda General Improvement District Phase 1 Improvements
BACKGROUND
Golconda is located about 13 miles east of Winnemucca on Highway 80. The community is on the southern banks of the Humboldt River.
Golconda's eight to ten hot springs were a noted landmark for travelers in the late 1800s. When the Gold Run mining district was formed 12 miles south of Golconda in 1866, the Central Pacific railroad laid tracks through Golconda. The town of Golconda became an important freight and telegraph station. Transcontinental train passengers used the hot springs to ease the aches of the bumpy ride west. In the old days, it was said that the spring temperature was hot enough to boil an egg in a minute.
The community did not grow until the late 1890s when the town was platted by Scottish interests who organized the Adelaide Star Mines. The company planned to mine the copper in the Adelaide mine and other newly acquired mines in the Gold Run District. A 12-mile long narrow-gauge railroad was constructed between the smelter and the concentration plant just north of Golconda. The Town's slogan promised "What Anaconda has been for Montana, Golconda promises to be for Nevada." Unfortunately, prices declined and the mining boom and bust cycle began.
Today, Golconda is a rural alternative to city life in Winnemucca and provides a shortened commute for employees working in the mines of northern Humboldt County.
Golconda General Improvement District (GGID) serves 92 residential accounts in central Humboldt County. The community has one groundwater well and a spring. The groundwater well is located a mile south of the community. The well was drilled in 1995. It is 400 feet deep and features 6-inch casing with a 7.5 HP Goulds submersible pump. It is capable of producing 85 gpm with a drawdown of 165 feet over a 12-hour period. The well is controlled by telemetry located at the storage tank. The well is used as the secondary water source and assists the community in meeting peaking summer demands. In addition to the well owned by the GGID, the GGID leases another larger well from the Golconda Fire Department.
The 150,000-gallon water storage tank is located on a small hill west of town and provides a baseline pressure of approximately 50 psi to the customers.
The spring, Pole Creek Spring, is located approximately three and one-half miles south of town in a canyon adjacent to Pole Creek. The creek's headwaters emanate high up on the Sonoma Mountain. The spring was built and placed into service in 1915 and rehabilitated in May 1994 to improve its flow. Two six-inch perforated collectors were installed and buried in leach rock. The leach rock was covered with plastic and topped with native soil. A pre-cast concrete manhole is used as the collection box. The spring is only 60 feet away from the creek, but has water chemistry almost identical to that of the groundwater well located two miles away. In June 1994, the State Bureau of Health determined Pole Spring was not under the influence of surface water. The spring produces in excess of 50 gpm throughout the year.
Lot sizes in town are 150 feet by 50 feet. Most residents own five or more lots, creating a rural setting. The community is laid out in a blocks and is bordered by Highway 80 on the south and the Southern Pacific Railroad to the north. The distribution system is made up of 8-inch to 4-inch PVC and metal piping. In the future, the community is interested in looping several of its dead-end lines and upsizing the remainder of its 4-inch distribution piping.
In the past, the system has had trouble finding and keeping a certified operator. Last year, the operator installed a tablet style chlorine disinfection system. A tube full of chlorine tablets are stored in the manhole. The first tablet is dissolved by the flowing spring water until another tablet is needed and slides down the tube into the water flow.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Golconda General Improvement District applied for a grant under the AB 198 program to assist with a water system improvement project. The grant was approved by the Board for Financing Water Projects (Board) on January 27, 2005, for $956,478.75 (62.21% of the total eligible project cost of $1,537,500). The scope of this phase of the project is to install 7,450 feet of 6-inch PVC pipe (distribution system), 1,000 feet of 8-inch PVC pipe (distribution system), 8,900 feet of 6-inch PVC pipe (I-80 well to town), 7,600 feet of 6-inch PVC pipe (I-80 well to Pole Creek Spring), 19 fire hydrant assemblies, rehabilitate Pole Creek Spring, construct the I-80 well house, reconstruct the sand trap with meter and check valve, install three air release valves, upgrade the telemetry system, abandon the Vetter well, fence the storage tank, inspect and clean the storage tank, and construct a new 250,000 gallon storage tank.
PROJECT STATUS
Tri State Surveying completed aerial photography and mapping of the Pole Creek Spring pipeline alignment. A survey of the pipelines in Golconda has also been completed.
Due to the cost of reconditioning Pole Creek Spring and the inability to know, before doing the work, if the spring will actually produce enough water to compensate for the cost, the spring rehabilitation project and new pipeline from the spring to the well was not pursued as a part of this project. The spring will be used as is for now. There is still concern of root encroachment on the spring collection system.
The project was awarded in the fall of 2007 to A&K Earth Movers, Inc., with the storage tank subcontracted to RDC. The final project included pipeline replacement/looping and appurtenances in town, a new 250,000-gallon storage tank located near the Pole Creek well, and a new transmission line and appurtenances tying the new tank to the distribution system in town. All pipeline was completed and put into service in February 2008. Due to the lack of reimbursement funds from the grant program, the owner chose to stop the project until the State sold bonds in April 2008. The storage tank was completed in June 2008. The well that was leased from the Golconda Fire Department was not originally planned to be incorporated into the upgraded water system. Given the condition of the spring and the observed diminished flows, the GID and the Fire Department negotiated a deal to include a change order to tie the fire well into the new system. The project was completed in June 2008.
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