The primary purpose of the Glendale Water Supply Improvement Project is to improve Truckee Meadows Water Authority's (TMWA) water service to the Truckee Meadows. Improvement to the existing structure is necessary to maintain a dependable supply of water to the community. To ensure TMWA is addressing community concerns, we have engaged in an extensive public input process that will help to establish design and operating criteria for the new diversion. This process has included many public meetings with concerned groups, jurisdictional agencies, and the general public.

This page provides a detailed history of the Glendale Water Treatment Plant and the existing diversion.

GLENDALE PLANT HISTORY

The Glendale Water Treatment Plant was originally placed into service in 1975. View location of plant (MapQuest). Over the years, the plant has been upgraded to improve treatment capability and capacity. Substantial improvements, completed in the mid-1990s, included the addition of a flocculation/sedimentation process and improvements to the filtration system. These improvements brought the plant into compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act. From a treatment standpoint, the Glendale Plant is nearly identical to the Chalk Bluff Plant.

The Glendale Plant has assumed a vital role in the full utilization of TMWA's groundwater resource. Treated water from the plant is blended with water from three nearby wells which exceed the present standard for arsenic. Three more arsenic wells will be treated at the plant when the arsenic standard becomes more stringent. The plant has the process capability to treat 37 million gallons per day.

EXISTING DIVERSION

Existing river diversions into the plant are made from a rudimentary rock and concrete rubble structure placed in the river. It is located just upstream of the Glendale bridge, southwest of the intersection of Glendale Avenue and Galletti Way. This system does not provide the flow necessary to operate the plant to its full potential.

Also, because of its nature and configuration, the diversion leaks and does not provide the full capture of releases from TMWA's upstream storage reservoirs during dry years. This condition becomes quite serious during lengthy droughts when the only water in the river may be the community's drought reserves. This situation occurred in the summer of 1994 and could occur in the future. During such periods, TMWA's operating personnel have had to pump the river and seal the existing rock/concrete structure with plastic sheeting and sand bags, requiring the undesirable use of heavy equipment in the river channel.

Even with these measures, the existing diversion still loses water that could otherwise be used for municipal water supply purposes if a more reliable diversion was in operation.

Because the existing diversion consists of loose rock and concrete, the diversion works have had to be rebuilt on numerous occasions following floods, again requiring the operation of heavy equipment in the river. TMWA considers the existing diversion to be limited in its use both for water supply and for wildlife and recreational uses of the river.

Because of the extreme inadequacies of the existing diversion, it is imperative that the diversion be reconstructed with a permanent, reliable structure.