Water company sought by Reno, Sparks, Washoe

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2000 | 4:35 a.m.

The county is hiring a consultant to prepare a non-binding bid for the utility, which provides water to most of the Truckee Meadows' homes and businesses.

If the county refuses to go along with a three-way bid, the cities say they are prepared to submit their own joint bid. Sierra Pacific is putting its water system up for bid so it can concentrate on its electric and natural gas business.

The deal includes 166,000 acre-feet of water rights, two surface water treatment plants, approximately 22,000 acre-feet of storage in Donner and Independence lakes and four hydroelectric power plants on the Truckee River west of Reno.

The water division is talking a book value of $260 million.

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