Emergency water allowed for county residents

The Churchill County Commissioners approved the sale of emergency water to county residents at their Wednesday meeting.

Marie Henson, building department, said many Churchill County residents are experiencing dry wells due to the ongoing drought.

“Churchill County would like to offer assistance to those residents experiencing this difficulty by providing a way to purchase treated water from the Churchill County Water System, at the current rate that connected household pays,” she said.

Henson stated the cost will be $.05 per gallon; the customer will provide their own container, and SPB personnel will dispense the water at the Sand Creek plant. Purchase of water from the Sand Creek plant will be during the week, at limited times, to avoid any overtime expenses for SPB employees.

“Customers will pay at the Treasurer’s Office,” she said. “The customer will receive a receipt showing the amount of gallons they pay for then they will take the receipt to the water plant Tuesday-Thursday from 9-11 a.m.”

There is a minimum charge of 50 gallons.

Only SPB personnel will fill the customer’s container, Henson said, in order to be sure proper cross-contamination procedures are followed. She said the water will be metered to insure the correct amount is delivered to the customer and SPB personnel will sign the receipt showing gallons received, time and date.

“Since Jan. 1 the county has had 70 wells that have gone dry,” she said.

Commissioner Carl Erquiaga agreed that wells drying up are a growing problem for the county, with expectations of next year to be worse.

Other items the commissioner approved include the following:

Approved the release of a Request for Proposal to consultants to update the existing Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan, authorized a contract with the consultant selected by the review committee from the RFP respondents and approve a directed purchase of a seismic study through the University of Nevada, Reno as part of the HMP update.

Discussed river clearing and flood management activities.

Approved funds of $11,000 allocated to Churchill County Social Services from the Welfare Set-Aside funds that will support stabilization payment rent and utility assistance to county residents.

Approved Interlocal contract between the Nevada Division of Forestry and Churchill County amounting in $25,000 per year, effective July 1 to June 30, 2017.

Discussed the Nevada Public Agency Insurance Pool and Public Agency Compensation Trust Insurance Pool.

Approved to submit a letter of support for the State of Nevada’s Nomination for the 2015 Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program Challenge.