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BACKGROUND
The communities of Virginia City and Gold Hill are located in Storey County, approximately 18 miles southeast of Reno. Silver City is 4 miles south of Gold Hill in Lyon County. The water system is owned and operated by Storey County. Place your cursor over the photos above and to the left for a brief summary of what your are seeing. Click on the photo to enlarge - note that the enlarged photo will open in a new window.
Virginia City holds a special place in the history of the West and America. The first truly industrial city in the West began in the late 1850s. Gold was found at the head of Six-Mile Canyon in 1859 by two miners named Pat McLaughlin and Peter O'Reilly. A fellow miner, Henry Comstock, stumbled upon their find and claimed it was on his property. The gullible McLauglin and O'Reilly believed him and assured Comstock a place in history when the giant lode was named.
Another miner, James Finney, nicknamed "Old Virginny" from his birthplace, is reported to have named the town during a drunken celebration. He dropped a bottle of whiskey on the ground and christened the newly-founded tent-and-dugout town on the slopes of Mt. Davidson "Old Virginny Town," in honor of himself.
The Virginia City water system dates back to the 1870s. The first major water supply project was a transmission line constructed in 1873 which delivered water from Hobart Reservoir in the Sierra Nevada to the City. Water was needed for steam operated drills and mine dewatering pumps and for domestic consumption. This transmission line, and its replacements, remains today as the only source of water for the entire Virginia City, Gold Hill and Silver City populated area.
In 1963, the State of Nevada purchased the water system. In 1992, the State of Nevada and Storey County entered into a contract for the supply of water from the Marlette Lake Water System which is renewable every ten years for service through the year 2021. The State owns rights to water generated in the Marlette Lake, Hobart Reservoir and East Slope drainage areas and the appurtenances necessary to collect, transmit, store, treat and distribute such waters. The "County System," purchased by the County in 1974, is the Sierra Nevada to Five Mile Reservoir pipeline from the point where it presently intersects U.S. Interstate 395, Five Mile Reservoir, and all other parts of the Storey County water storage and delivery system. The County owns the pipeline but the State owns the easement.
The transmission line flows from west to east and consists of four reaches. The first reach runs from the source of the water at the Hobart Dam in the Sierra Nevada to the entry into an inverted siphon. The second reach is the siphon, which carries the water down from the Sierra Nevada to Lakeview Summit and back up to elevation 6,650 feet where it emerges from the siphon and enters the next section. The third reach is another gravity line running from the siphon discharge to the Five Mile Reservoir. The final section is another gravity run from Five Mile reservoir into Virginia City.
In the early 1950s, the wooden flume from the top of the siphon to Five Mile Reservoir was replaced by an 8-inch diameter, thin walled pipe, that is still in use today. This portion of the main water supply pipe is in extremely poor condition due to long exposure in areas where the pipe is exposed and existing at grade or above ground (in some instances) and also due to vandalism and internal rust deterioration. This section of the pipeline system is proposed to be replaced by approximately 3.7 miles of 10-inch diameter, ductile iron, cement lined pipe. The replacement of the existing pipeline will reduce the health hazards, constant leaking and the possibility of freezing that has in the past and still continues to be a problem. The terrain traversed by this pipeline is challenging to negotiate during dry seasons, and access to certain locations is extremely difficult when wet or frozen. Storey County seeks a solution which will eliminate this source water vulnerability.
The Board for Financing Water Projects has previously granted the County $2,192,925 toward a $2,883,900 water treatment plant in order to comply with the Surface Water Treatment Rule. The treatment project was successfully completed in 1997 and is in service.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Storey County Commissioners 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 August 29, 2001, for $1,503,095.96 (71.22% of the total eligible project cost of $2,110,497). The project scope was to replace the 3.7-mile pipeline with a 10-inch pipe between the top of the siphon and Five Mile Reservoir.
PROJECT STATUS
The pipeline project was completed in 2003 with grant funds remaining. At the January 2005 Board meeting, Storey County petitioned the Board to use the remaining grant funds for the construction and piping of two new water storage reservoirs. The new water reservoirs were to replace the existing Five Mile Reservoir. The Board approved the petition.
A cultural survey revealed historic artifacts that limited the potential area that the BLM would approve for the new reservoir construction. The site would only support the construction of one unfinished water reservoir instead of the two that were previously planned. The project was further complicated by the limited number of bids and high bid costs received. The project was rebid with some modifications.
Installation of the single, bolted reservoir was completed in the fall of 2007. In October 2007, the Board made a field trip to see the new tank and the Virginia City water system. Click here to be transferred to a photo summary of that trip.
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