(Mineral County) Hawthorne Utilities Water System Improvement Project - Preliminary Engineering Report
BACKGROUND
Hawthorne was established as a railroad terminus of the Carson and Colorado Railroad in 1881 for the gold and silver mines at Aurora, Bodie and Candelaria. On April 14, 1881, an auction of lots in the town site, already surveyed and staked out by the railroad, started the town off with a rush. During the 1880s, the Esmeralda County seat was moved from Aurora to Hawthorne, but subsequently relocated to Goldfield when the division of Esmeralda County in 1911 formed Mineral County.
The Hawthorne Water System was organized as a result of the established Nevada State Law requiring municipal water systems on June 8, 1929.
The federal government established the Navel Ammunition Depot on 400 square miles surrounding Hawthorne circa 1927-1929. The Navy subsequently turned over the base to the Army in the late seventies. In December of 1980, the Army turned the operation of the base over to a private contractor. Some jobs were lost at that time as people relocated to remain in government service. Periodic layoffs continued throughout the eighties furthering the decline in population and work force. However, this period of time includes a brief period of relative prosperity that coincided with increased gold and silver exploration and mining in the area. This was short lived, and exploration decreased in the early nineties and mining slowed by the mid-nineties, leading to reduced economic activity. In the late nineties, the depot was reclassified in a new, tiered system and was reduced from a production and storage facility to simply storage. Although production related jobs were lost, security positions increased resulting in little change in the net work force. Nevertheless, the total job force was reduced from the 1980s level of 800 to the current level of approximately 400.
A Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) will provide an infrastructure analysis that can be used to identify specific system deficiencies and scope appropriate system improvements to realize optimal resource development and distribution. A PER will be needed by Hawthorne Utilities to apply to alternative sources of funding for any construction needs that may be identified.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Mineral County applied for a grant under the AB 198 program for completing a water system improvement project preliminary engineering report (PER). The grant was approved by the Board for Financing Water Projects (Board) on March 31, 2004, for $42,500 (85% of the total eligible project cost of $50,000).
The scope of the project is to prepare a PER for a water system improvement project.
PROJECT STATUS
The leak detection study is complete. Work is continuing on the report.
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