Building Nevada - April 2001

Managing Nevada’s Water Resources

Engineering Company Making Strides with Water Reuse

by Robyn Campbell-Ouchida

Like many areas throughout the country, Nevada is faced with a growing population and limited water resources. Helping public agencies manage water resources in a responsible manner, while balancing both community and environmental needs, has been a cornerstone of Carollo Engineers’ business since 1933. The company recently teamed with water resource managers in Northern Nevada to successfully integrate these concepts in a regional master plan that has far-reaching impact on water quality within the state.

Carollo, a leading expert in the planning, design and construction management of water, wastewater and water recycling projects for public agencies and private developers, has been serving Nevada since the early 1950s. The firm began its foray into Nevada with the design of the original city of Las Vegas wastewater treatment plant, and has since provided planning and design services for many water-related projects in both Southern and Northern Nevada. The company was founded on the principle that, "Our vision is to be a firm that sets the standard for the application of talent and expertise to improve the world’s water."

"Prior to the Clean Water Act of 1972, most of our work was related to improving the water supply and water quality for growing towns in the West," said John Fraser, managing principal of Carollo’s Las Vegas office. "During the 1970s and 1980s, the push to improve drinking water quality and improve degrading rivers and lakes focused our efforts on upgrading water and wastewater treatment plants. Today, we take a more integrated approach to water resource management with the credo ‘water is water.’"

This philosophy recognizes that drinking water supplies are closely linked with the environmental quality of rivers, lakes and streams. The water supply is impacted by how wastewater is disposed. Carollo Engineers took this into account when designing the Washoe County Regional Water Management Plan. An integrated approach was key for the preparation of this plan, because it evaluated strategies required to maintain a balance of all the beneficial uses of water within the Truckee River system. Carollo’s Master Plan Team developed and used sophisticated computerized modeling to identify the various components of a balanced approach.

As with any integrated water resource management approach, conservation and water reuse are significant elements of the Reno/Sparks/Washoe County Master Plan. The goal of water reuse is simple – to meet river water quality objectives by providing a valuable regional irrigation water resource to the area. This goal is not new to the state – Carollo Engineers has been helping towns like Carson City develop and implement treatment, storage and distribution of reclaimed water for decades. These water-recycling efforts will continue in the future with the interconnection of the Truckee Meadows and South Truckee Meadows water reclamation systems. Connecting these systems, which are currently separate, will create a truly shared, regional water resource.

Carollo Engineers is also involved with regional water quality management issues in Southern Nevada. The firm is supporting the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the Las Vegas Valley Water District and the city of North Las Vegas in the design of several water treatment, conveyance and storage projects. These projects help bring potable water into the Valley from Lake Mead and distribute it to consumers. Carollo is also helping to improve the quality of water within the Las Vegas Wash through the planning and design of treatment upgrades at the Clark County Sanitation District’s main wastewater treatment plant. This work involves biological nutrient removal systems for the control of nitrogen and phosphorus releases to the wash. This allows the county to provide superior wastewater treatment at a fraction of the cost of more conventional chemical methods.

Carollo Engineers has a long history in the West with the development of some of its major water systems. Two Phoenix engineers, who had previously worked for the local power and electric companies, founded the firm in 1932 and added a third partner, John Carollo, in 1933. The late 1930s brought significant projects to the firm including the design of water treatment plants in Prescott and Williams, Ariz., as well as Gallup, N.M. In the 1940s, Carollo Engineers went on to develop many other large projects, including Fort Huachuca, Ariz., which eventually became home for more than 20,000 servicemen.