In 2001, something remarkable happened in northern Nevada. The City of Reno, the City of Sparks, and Washoe County joined forces to purchase the region’s water system from Sierra Pacific Power Company, and in doing so, ensured control of the Truckee Meadows’ most essential resource for the community it serves.
That decision, made 25 years ago, shapes every glass of water that flows from a Truckee Meadows tap today. This June 11th, TMWA celebrates its 25th anniversary, and we think that’s worth taking a moment to reflect on where we came from, what we’ve built together, and where we’re headed.
The Origin Story: A Community Steps Up
In September 2000, Sierra Pacific Power Company announced it intended to sell its water utility business. For the Truckee Meadows, this was a pivotal moment. The sale included not just pipes and treatment plants, it included high-priority water rights that are critical to this region’s long-term survival. The prospect of those assets passing to an out-of-area private owner, with an obligation to shareholders rather than to local residents, galvanized community leaders into action.
Elected officials from Reno, Sparks, and Washoe County rallied quickly. They formed a Joint Powers Authority, raised bonds, and submitted a successful $452 million bid. The deal closed, and the region’s most essential resource was officially in community hands.
The founding purpose, written into the Joint Powers Agreement itself, was to meet the “common interest in assuring that water resources be developed and managed to fulfill the present and future water needs of the greater Truckee Meadows community.”
TMWA officially began operations on June 11, 2001 — ending more than a century of private water system ownership in the Truckee Meadows. It was, in the truest sense, a community-owned utility from day one.
Why Local Control Matters
TMWA is governed by a seven-member Board of Directors drawn from elected officials—or their appointees—representing the Reno City Council, the Sparks City Council, and the Washoe County Commission. The Board holds public meetings, subject to Nevada’s Open Meeting Law. Every significant decision about your water is made here, by people accountable to this community.
That structure matters for a few important reasons:
- Mission focus. TMWA’s only job is water. There are no shareholders expecting returns, no cross-subsidized business units, no distant corporate priorities. Every dollar collected goes toward operating, maintaining, and improving the water system that serves our community.
- Local decision-making. Decisions about infrastructure investment, water resource planning, and rates are made by locally elected officials who live and work in this community.
- Financial discipline. Because TMWA is community-owned, financial health is a community priority. Since 2001, TMWA has reduced its original $452 million debt by more than $200 million while earning top-tier bond ratings from all three major rating agencies — AAA (Fitch), AA+ (S&P), and Aa2 (Moody’s). Those ratings mean lower borrowing costs, which means lower rates for customers.
- Long-term thinking. A community-owned utility plans for the next generation, not the next quarter. TMWA’s water resource planning looks 20 years and beyond into the future.
Twenty-Five Years in Four Chapters
2001–2006: Getting to Work
With the purchase complete, TMWA wasted no time. The first five years were about addressing the most pressing infrastructure needs and modernizing a system that had long been managed with a different set of priorities. TMWA reinvested roughly $160 million into the system during this period, including expanding the Chalk Bluff Water Treatment Plant, modernizing the Highland Canal, rehabilitating hydroelectric facilities, converting flat-rate billing to metered service—a major step toward water conservation—and beginning the systematic replacement of aging pipes and mains throughout the service area.
2006–2011: Building for the Long Term
With the most urgent needs addressed, TMWA turned its attention to longer-term resilience. This era focused on scaling up the Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) program, essentially banking water underground during wet years for use during dry ones, and continuing the steady work of pipe replacement and system modernization. TMWA was also evaluating whether consolidating drinking water services across the region would lead to greater efficiency for customers.
2015: A Landmark Year
If 2001 was TMWA’s birth, 2015 was the year it truly came of age. Three major milestones converged that changed the shape of water management in northern Nevada:
- The Truckee River Operating Agreement (TROA) went into effect. Decades in the making, TROA allows TMWA to store significant amounts of water in upstream reservoirs specifically for municipal use, providing a critical buffer against drought that simply didn’t exist before.
- TMWA merged with the Washoe County Department of Water Resources and the South Truckee Meadows General Improvement District. This consolidation made TMWA the primary water provider for the entire Reno-Sparks metropolitan area, serving over 90% of Washoe County’s population through a single, unified system.
- The North Valleys Integration Project connected water supplies from the former Washoe County system and Fish Springs Ranch into TMWA’s distribution network, adding supply diversity and redundancy for the growing north valleys.
Today and Tomorrow: Planning for the Next 25 Years
TMWA’s current focus is building a water system resilient enough to meet a future that includes a growing population, a changing climate, and new pressures on the Truckee River. That means creating redundancies in supply, protecting the sources that feed the system, and planning decades ahead.
- Advanced Purified Water Facility (APWF). In partnership with the City of Reno, TMWA is constructing Nevada’s first advanced water purification facility at American Flat. This facility will produce a new, drought-proof local water supply — A+ Advanced Purified Water — that isn’t dependent on snowpack or river flows. Construction begins in 2026.
- Expanded aquifer storage and recovery. The Mt. Rose Water Treatment Facility will expand TMWA’s ability to bank water underground in the Mt. Rose Fan area, adding another layer of drought resilience.
- Wildfire and watershed protection. Through the Middle Truckee River Watershed Forest Partnership, TMWA is collaborating with regional partners to reduce wildfire risk in the mountains that feed the Truckee River — protecting source water quality at its origin.
- Backup power resilience. TMWA is expanding its backup power supply to ensure water can be delivered even during mandatory power shutoffs associated with wildfire events.
By the Numbers: 25 Years of Progress
- $452 million — purchase price paid in 2001 to bring the water system into community ownership
- $200+ million — debt reduction since founding
- $976 million — total capital investment in the water system since 2001
- 475,000 — residents served today, representing over 90% of Washoe County’s population
- 2,865 miles — pressurized water mains in the system
- 100% — Safe Drinking Water Act compliance, every year
- 3 — run-of-the-river hydroelectric facilities generating renewable energy from the Truckee River
- AAA / AA+ / Aa2 — top-tier bond ratings from Fitch, S&P, and Moody’s, reflecting TMWA’s financial strength
Locally Focused. Locally Owned. Locally Controlled.
Twenty-five years ago, this community made a choice: that water, the most fundamental resource a community can have, would be managed by and for the people who depend on it. Not by distant shareholders. Not by a utility with obligations elsewhere. By us.
That choice has paid off in ways both visible and invisible. In safe, reliable water every day. In a financially sound utility that has paid down hundreds of millions in debt while continuing to invest in the system. In a governance structure that holds its meetings in public and answers to elected officials. In long-term planning that thinks about the water security of people who haven’t moved here yet.
TMWA exists because this community decided its water future was definitely something worth investing in. Twenty-five years later, that decision still makes all the difference.
Thank you to the elected leaders who acted decisively in 2001, the employees who have dedicated their careers to delivering Quality water, and the 475,000 customers whose trust we work to earn every single day. Here’s to the next 25 years.