Welcome to “TMWA at Work.” These short videos are intended to give you a window into our everyday operations, showing everything from infrastructure improvements to water-main repairs. It’s a great way to understand both the scope and complexity of the many processes and projects we mange here at TMWA.
A Day in the Life of a Water Conservation Consultant (5:23)
TMWA’s Water Conservation Consultants work to help our customers identify and address water-waste issues at their homes and businesses. In this, our fourth-consecutive year of drought, it is critical we do everything possible to protect our vital water resources.
Stead Water Tank Rehabilitation – 2014 (3:00)
TMWA Senior Engineer Chris Struffert discusses rehabilitation work on the 750,000 gallon Stead #1 water tank. Built in the late 1940s to support the Stead Air Base, Stead #1 is one of the oldest in our system. Reconditioning this tank will add 25-30 years to its useful life and cost only about 20% of replacing it.
Fleish “Railcar Bridge” Greater Capacity at a Lower Cost (4:56)
When a maintenance-access bridge at TMWA’s Fleish Hydro-Electric Plant needed replacement, the challenge was to rebuild it in a way that would provide more durability and greater capacity. The new bridge would need to support heavy equipment such as large excavators and loaded concrete trucks. By using an innovative solution, TMWA was able to not only deliver the needed bridge, but also realize nearly $30,000 in savings on the project.
Steamboat Spillway, Flume Repair (2:05)
The wooden flumes along the Truckee River have been a historically effective way to deliver water to our hydroelectric and water treatment plants. However, aging and weathering mean these structures will require periodic rebuilding. This can be a difficult and expensive process. With this in mind, TMWA strives to extend the structural lifespan of our flumes by conducting regular inspections and repairs. This video shows a TMWA crew at work as they repair a flume substructure near the Fleish Hydroelectric Plant.
Idlewild Pump Station Improvements (2:43)
The Idlewild Park pump station delivers river water for irrigating both Idlewild Park and the fields at Reno High School. This video describes recent improvements to the station which provide optimized chlorine treatment to the irrigation system and upgraded sediment filtration and backflow protections.
Water Main Repair on Haskell Street(1:53)
With over 1,300 miles of water mains in our system – some of it more than 50 years old – breaks are inevitable. The ground freezes, the earth moves and materials eventually degrade. This video provides a brief, visual overview of the steps typically taken to keep the water flowing when a water main break occurs.
Highland Canal Improvement Project (4:45)
After a 2008 earthquake caused significant damage to the flumes and canals delivering water to TMWA’s Chalk Bluff Water Treatment Plant, a series of structural improvements were begun. In this video, TMWA Principal Engineer Juan Esparza provides a brief overview of the work and the significant efficiency gains that will be realized as a benefit of the recently-completed improvements.
When running at capacity, TMWA’s three hydroelectric plants offset virtually all of our electric-energy needs. To keep this valuable, green-energy resource available during the cold months, our crews sometimes find themselves literally hammering ice off the water intake structures. This is a process we call “ice fighting.” In this video, TMWA’s Pat Neilson, Manager, Distribution Maintenance & Generation, describes how this is done.