"Being able to fund large-scale projects like this ensures that communities like Yerington that want to grow have the capacity to grow, to add jobs, to thrive.” – USDA-RD State Director Lucas Ingvoldstad (B.S. Psychology '05, M.S. Land Use Planning '11)
The small rural town of Yerington sits about an hour and a half southeast of Reno, Nevada alongside the Walker River. The population is just under 3,200, including nearly 500 members of the Yerington Paiute Tribe. Across the U.S., small rural towns like Yerington are reliant on infrastructure often as old as the cities themselves. And while that might account for the charm of these quaint communities, with their main streets still intact and buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it also means these communities are often reliant on 100-year-old sewer and water systems. In 2015, the City of Yerington began the process of securing $39 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development (USDA-RD) mission area to replace the system, and in 2020, a team of engineers broke ground on a complete overhaul of 120,000 feet of water and sewer piping, some of which has been in the ground since 1905. The job is expected to be completed in November of 2022, and those who have contributed to this multi-faceted project – including many alumni of University of Nevada, Reno – will have helped give new hope to this unique Nevada city.
Above: This map of Yerington circa 1920 depicts the original water system now being replaced 100 years later. It describes a "pumping and gravity system" with "7-bored wells into a 75,000 gallon steel tank ... 110' above town" with a pumping capacity of 350 gallons per minute. It also names much of what the engineers found in the ground during excavation and surveying, including the "wood stave mains" or redwood piping - slatted redwood bound in wire and formed into a pipe. Two sections of this wood pipe have been cleaned and preserved as historical objects. The map shows the system as originally laid in 1911. ().
Below: Members of the Nevada USDA-RD team visit one of the remaining sewer line construction sites. They are, from left to right: Pierre Hippolyte (an alumnus the American Military University and the University of Maryland Global Campus graduate school), Lucas Ingvoldstad (B.S. Psychology '05, M.S. Land Use Planning '11), Gus Wegren (B.S. Agriculture Economics '86) and Ian Sims (B.S. Biology '10, M.S. Civil and Environmental Engineering '21).
“Yerington holds a soft spot in my heart,” USDA-RD State Director Lucas Ingvoldstad (B.S. Psychology '05, M.S. Land Use Planning '11) said. As a graduate student in the Department of Geography’s Land Use Planning master’s program, Ingvoldstad’s research was based on the Walker River watershed near Yerington. “To be back here working on a project in the community – it’s like I’m coming full circle. Being able to fund large-scale projects like this ensures that communities like Yerington that want to grow have the capacity to grow, to add jobs, to thrive.”
Digging through history
Collapsed sewer mains, blockages, inoperative shut off valves, gas lines bored through sewer mains, even water lines made of slatted redwood shaped into a pipe and bound in wire – these were just some of the issues the Reno engineering firm Farr West Engineering found when assessing the city’s water and sewer system.
“To justify the severity of the issue, we sent cameras down into all the sewer in town. Of the 120,000 feet of pipe, we were only able to video 58,000 feet due to blockages and breaks in the line,” Principle Civil Engineer and VP of Operations at Farr West Matt Van Dyne ('07 B.S. Civil Engineering) said.
It was clear the system could not be repaired with patchwork or general maintenance. At one point, it was estimated the city was losing 26% of its water to the faulty system. It needed to be replaced and the city needed help to do it.
Above: Farr West engineer Logan Garling (B.S. Geological Engineering '16) holds up one of many old horseshoes found while excavating for the project. The team found old barrels, bottles, remnants of abandoned infrastructure like concrete canals and more. Anything over fifty years old is considered historical, including the old sewer and water lines. The engineering team occasionally had to excavate, clean and preserve pieces of the old system, including redwood water pipes made of slats of redwood formed into a pipe and bound in wire.
Below: Matt Van Dyne ('07 B.S. Civil Engineering) of Farr West Engineering and Corey Comeaux ('16 B.S. Mining Engineering) of Q&D Construction head to oversee the installation of a new water line. Farr West Engineering, a local Reno engineering firm, and Q&D construction were selected for the project through a rigorous bid and approval process with USDA-RD. (Jennifer Kent)
“We had so many water leaks, so many sewer problems in this town. It was absurd. The project seemed impossibly large to undertake,” Yerington’s Public Works Director Jay Flakus said. “Communities like this can never afford to repair their own infrastructure without federal dollars. You’re not going to hold a bake sale and replace a sewer main.”
After four years of surveying, planning and permitting, the city submitted its proposal to USDA-RD and was approved for a $33 million loan with an interest rate under 2% and $6 million in grant funding. The city contributed just over $2 million of its own funds, bringing the total project amount to $41.6 million. The project is USDA's single largest linear project in the state of Nevada, with funding over three times the state's annual allotment.
“Without these federal grants and low-interest loans, none of this work is possible,” USDA-RD State Engineer Ian Sims (B.S. Biology '10, M.S. Civil and Environmental Engineering '21) said. The amount these cities make from the ratepayers is not enough to do these multi-million-dollar infrastructure improvements.”
The massive rehabilitation project required collaboration between Nevada's USDA-RD team, local elected leaders from the Yerington Paiute Tribe and the City of Yerington, Farr West Engineering, Q&D Construction and the city's residents. Public Works Director Jay Flakus (back row, center) credits the former city manager with getting the massive project off the ground, noting that "in local government, one motivated person can make big things happen.” (Jennifer Kent)
A light at the end of the sewer line
With funding in place, shovels finally hit dirt in October of 2020. Two years later, the evidence can be seen on almost every street in the city in the form of freshly laid pavement, shiny new fire hydrants and a highly functioning water and waste system. Construction is ongoing with a few streets still filled with engineers, excavators and 24-foot trenches. City Mayor John Garry compares it to a home remodel.
“When you begin planning for a home remodel, it’s all very exciting at first,” Garry said. “But by the end, when everything’s a mess and your house is upended, you just want to get everyone out of there!”
Garry’s sentiment is one that is shared by many in Yerington, and managing fatigue of the project while keeping the community informed and involved has been key to the project’s success. Before construction began, residents were mostly unaware of the major issues in their water and waste systems.
“If a pipe breaks in your neighborhood, that’s an issue to you but not to anyone else,” Flakus said. “Farr West put together a presentation to show the extent of the problem. We presented to the Tribe, we had community meetings, city council meetings. The best turnout we had was at the Tribal meeting.” The Yerington Paiute Tribe has been a notable supporter of the system's rehabilitation, and of the $6 million in grant funds used for the project, $3.7 million was designated for the Tribe.
Yerington Paiute Tribal Chairman Elwood Emm, whose daughter started at the University in the fall of 2022, stands on freshly packed gravel over a new water line that serves the Tribe's Elder Center as well as the Tribal colony. The monument next to Emm honors the Paiute religious leader, Wovoka, known for founding the second Ghost Dance movement. Emm is acutely aware of the problems that can arise when infrastructure fails. During his first term as Tribal Chairman in 1997, the colony was flooded with 6 feet of standing rainwater from an overflowing canal across the street. “I was initiated by flood,” Emm quips. (Jennifer Kent)
“Our water mains and sewer mains have been there since the early 1900s. It’s been a long time,” Yerington Paiute Tribal Chairman Elwood Emm said. “We’ve had so many problems with the water because of the trees in the center of our colony. I remember that from when I was a child.”
Main Street was one of the most challenging portions of the project for the engineers. Van Dyne described starting construction on Main Street like “ripping the band-aid off” knowing how it would impact businesses and residents. Carol Rilling works at 1 S. Main Street in a building listed on the National Register of Historic Places selling antiques, jewelry, custom refurbished clothing and other eccentricities.
Bella Le Crow, where Yerington resident Carol Rilling works, is located at 1 South Main Street in a building listed on the National Register of Historic Places – the I.O.O.F. Building. The 2nd picture below is from around 1920. The architect of the I.O.O.F. Building was Frederic DeLongchamps who also designed the Mackay Mines building on the University campus. Rilling is one of the 3,200 residents of Yerington now with a modern sewer and water system. (Jennifer Kent)
“I think the project is great because it’s improving the town of Yerington. It had to be done for the people of Yerington,” Rilling said. “When they were working in front of Main Street and the road was closed, financially it hurt, but it has to be done and they’re really doing a good job.”
"This project has been a huge investment in time, resources and attention," Ingvoldstad said. "Everyone deserves equitable access to modern systems. It's been incredible to see a city rally behind a project like this."
This article was originally published in the 2022 'Live a Life of Discovery' magazine from the College of Science under the title 'From the Ground Up.'
