Under a new District Installed Pipeline Reimbursement Policy that goes into effect Sept. 1, 2013, the Nevada Irrigation District will fund portions of pipeline construction and recoup the costs when new customers connect to existing district-financed water lines.

The policy was adopted June 26 by the NID Board of Directors, who approved a 60-day grace period (to Sept. 1) to allow property owners to connect to the system without paying the new fee.

NID Engineering Manager Gary King said the reimbursements would be similar to the fees paid when a new customer connects to a water line that has been financed by a developer, an improvement district, or a private landowner.

click to hear Gary King

The new policy covers parcels served by any district-installed pipeline; however the charge is only for the landowner’s portion of the 8-inch distribution line.  If the customer connects to a larger pipeline, the customer is responsible only for the 8-inch portion of the larger pipeline.

King said the new policy would increase the cost of connecting to district-installed pipelines for those properties currently fronting an existing line but decrease the costs to future projects.  He estimated that a limited number of parcels in Nevada and Placer counties where the district has previously installed pipelines would be subject to the fee once the grace period has expired.

The reimbursement fee would be in addition to the capacity charge and meter installation fee, which are now paid by new customers.  The capacity charge is designed to cover the individual customer’s investment in water treatment plants and transmission lines, but does not include 8-inch distribution lines.  The meter installation fee covers actual costs of the meter and installation.

King said the policy helps the district with its strategic planning goal of extending water supplies to wider areas of the district.  He said it will allow the district to fund a portion of the costs in the short term and defray those costs currently borne by the homes that wish to connect at the time of construction.

He said that over the long run the policy will spread pipeline costs among larger numbers of customers and the district.   This will result in a reduction of costs on individual customers since the costs are allocated to parcels fronting the pipeline and variance parcels within a reasonable distance of the line.