New berm construction work on Pompe Way

An update to residents

Dear North Valleys residents:

Maintaining in place flood protection:

The objective of Washoe County is, and will continue to be, to maintain the protections around Swan Lake, including the HESCO barrier, storm water pump system and continued monitoring of precipitation and lake response data, as directed by the Board of County Commissioners on September 12, 2017.

Monitoring the weather and its impacts:

Washoe County is working with regional partners to continually monitor the conditions in the North Valleys area. Recent observations show an increase of lake levels over the past few weeks due to rainfall, reduced evaporation rates as we move into the fall and winter season, and the ground in the region being saturated causing precipitation to run off the ground instead of absorbing into it. In response, Washoe County staff is planning to begin construction work on a new berm at the end of Pompe Way to continue our protection efforts. We want to ensure you are aware of this new construction work scheduled to begin on Monday, December 4, and how it will improve current protections.

Making adjustments as necessary due to monitoring observations:

The new berm construction will begin at the end of Pompe Way to the west toward Casey Court in response to the lake reaction to the recent rainfall.  The monitoring plan included trigger points for further protection based on how the hydrographic basin reacts to new moisture.  The construction will require the removal of a small portion of HESCO barrier on Pompe Way to provide access to the area for this construction.

Additional HESCO barrier will be needed to complete the intended protections. Washoe County staff plans to bring an item to the Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday, December 12 to request up to $300,000 of contingency funds to purchase the additional barrier to connect the new berm and existing HESCO barrier. This new portion of protection will allow those residents on Pompe Way without access to their homes, to potentially move back in, and will assure protections to the remainder of the neighborhood to the west. There will still be a small area on Pompe Way closer to Lemmon Drive that will not have a protective barrier in place.  Those residences will continue to be monitored, and responded to individually as the season progresses.

Once again, it is our goal to be transparent with our residents and alert you to new developments in the maintenance and monitoring of the Swan Lake area. We thank you for your patience as we work to keep the area protected.

Sincerely,

The Incident Management Team