Nye County Water District awarded a design and engineering contract for its RIBs project.

Late last year, the Nye County Water District Governing Board authorized the submittal of a grant application to support the design and engineering of up to three Rapid Infiltration Basins (RIBS) in the Pahrump Valley and with that nearly $300,000 grant secured, the project is taking its first major step forward.

Following a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and evaluation by a five-person panel, an engineering firm has now been selected, with GCW Inc. chosen from among a pool of six companies. The RIBs project is intended to simultaneously capture stormwater runoff, which would ease area flooding issues, and infuse that water into the groundwater basin to increase the local water supply. GCW Inc. will review various locations that have been proposed for potential RIBs to determine which would be the most feasible and effective, after which it will create a formal, engineered design and bring forward cost estimates for the actual construction of said RIBs.

The grant funding, from the U.S. Dept. of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, came as a result of the work BEC Environmental has been doing on behalf of the water district to identify such opportunities, Nye County Water District General Manager Dann Weeks told the water board during its Tuesday, May 26 meeting. The grant comes with a roughly $300,000 grant match requirement, which he said he feels confident can be met primarily in-kind via staff time and contributions from other partnership entities.

“This is for the design of detention basins and Rapid Infiltration Basins to increase water infiltration into the basin and to coincidentally help with flood control on the basin floor,” Weeks explained, emphasizing, “This is strictly design. We are not building anything.”

Weeks noted that four potential locations for RIBs had previously been identified and each had undergone cultural and environmental reviews before being approved by the Bureau of Reclamation. Two additional sites have also been brought forward, one from WulfCo on the north end of town, near Highway 160 and Roadrunner, and another just above Spring Mountain Motorsports, which were pending reviews and Bureau of Reclamation approval.

“So, our intent would be for them [engineering firm] to evaluate six sites and then come up with the best one, two or three and then we’ll go from there,” water board chair Ed Goedhart stated. “They’ll give us a ranking and what it’s going to cost and then from that we can determine whether we’re going to do the one, two or three.”

Weeks confirmed and added that the selected firm will be making reports to the water board at 30%, 60% and 90% completion, which will allow the board to keep a close eye on the design and engineering progress. If the project is not proceeding in a manner that is satisfactory to the board, they could, at any point, decided to pull the plug.

The board was considering six companies that afternoon, including GCW Inc., Wilson &Company, Kimley Horn, CA Group, Taney Engineering and Shaw Engineering. Each company was graded on a scale of 0 to 100 by each evaluator, with ratings ranging from Taney’s Engineering’s 369 to 446, a score earned by both GCW Inc. and Wilson &Company. Of the six companies, GCW Inc. was the only firm to have a representative teleconference in for the meeting, which appeared to have swung the vote in its favor.

Lach made the motion to select GCW Inc. as the engineering firm, with a second from water board member Helene Williams. The motion passed with all in favor.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com