Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council (2025)

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council

Post Office Box 256

Nixon, Nevada 89424

Telephone: (775) 574-1000

Fax (775) 574-1054

WATER TEAM MEETING MINUTES

Tribal Chambers ~ Nixon, NV

March 19, 2025, WIM

Members Present:

Steven Wadsworth, Tribal Chairman Edward Ely III, Vice Chairman

Loren Decker, Councilmember Nicholas Cortez, Councilmember

Judith Davis, Councilmember John Guerrero, Councilmember

Nathan Dunn, Councilmember Della John, Councilmember

Georgina Wadsworth, Councilmember Ceira Sampson, Councilmember

| CALL TO ORDER

Chairman Wadsworth called the March 19, 2025, Tribal Council Water Team meeting of the Pyramid Lake

Paiute Tribal Council to order at 6:00 p.m.

ROLL CALL

Brenda A. Henry, Tribal Council Secretary, took the roll call. All Councilmembers were present at roll call and

a quorum was established for this meeting.

Chairman Wadsworth presented the agenda with the following changes:

Councilmember Cortez requested to modify the posting of the Aquatic Invasive Species Ordinance to state a

30-day public comment.

Vice Chairman Ely motioned to approve the March 19, 2025, WTM agenda with changes. Councilmember

Sampson seconded the motion. Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions.

MOTION PASSED

CONSENT AGENDA

The following items were presented on the Consent Agenda:

1. Approval of Kemp Jones February 2025 Invoice

2. Approval Stetson Engineers Inc February 2025 Invoice #1336-2502 and #1336-01-2502

Councilmember Cortez motioned to approve the Consent Agenda. Councilmember Davis seconded the motion.

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APPROVAL OF AGENDA

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| Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions. MOTION PASSED

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council

March 19, 2025, Water Team Minutes

MINUTES

1. Approval of Minutes: January 15, 2025, WTM

Councilmember Sampson noted her first name was misspelled. On page 2, the word mattery should be

battery. On page 8, “Him and Ms. Noel”, identify the name for him and on page 10, the word Trucke should

have two “e’s.”

Vice Chairman Ely motioned to approve the January 15, 2025, WTM minutes with corrections. Councilmember

Dunn seconded the motion. Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions.

MOTION PASSED

NATURAL RESOURCES

1. Request for Approval to Post for 30-Day Public Comment, the Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS)

Ordinance. Adrienne Juby, Water Quality Manager (i)

Ms. Juby explained the document was developed by the Pyramid Lake Fisheries back in 2020 and it was

supposed to be posted for public comment back then but then COVID occurred, and it stalled. It’s mostly

unchanged except for a few edits they made which were adding the golden mussels which wasn’t an issue

back then. They also added Section 7d for drain plugs that should be pulled while boats are entering

because it doesn’t help protect the lake if they are being pulled when they leave.

Councilmember Della John asked if this was civil code that is for non-Natives. Councilmember Davis said

it’s in Section 9, Civil Code.

Ms. Juby stated she will be attending the next Regulations Workgroup who have been forwarded the AIS

Ordinance for review plus they will be talking about a couple items that are not in the Regulations

Brochure.

Councilmember Decker asked if this went before the Law & Order Committee? Ms. Juby said she did go

before the Law & Order Committee, who recommended it go before the Regulations Workgroup.

Councilmember Dunn motioned to approve the Public Posting of the AIS Ordinance for 30 Days.

Councilmember Wadsworth seconded the motion. Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero

(0) abstentions. MOTION PASSED

2. Request for Approval to Hold Monthly Raffle for AIS Program. Adrienne Juby, Water Quality

Manager (i)

Ms. Juby explained they got this idea from the Pyramid Lake Fisheries monthly raffle for their seasonal

fishing permits to encourage people to fill out the Creel Surveys. Their idea is that boaters who come

through the inspection station, if they show up clean, drained, and dry, they get entered into a monthly

raffle to win a seasonal boating permit. It would only be valid for that boat registration, not the individual.

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They would still need to come through the inspections when they are open, it wouldn’t stop them from

having to be inspected.

Councilmember Della John asked how much a seasonal boating permit is. It was noted there is no seasonal

boating permit.

Ms. Juby said it would be a seasonal boating permit. For example, for a January raffle it would be valid from

February 1 through January 31: of the following year. They get a lot of boaters that are not clean, drained,

and dry coming in from all over the place. If they have this incentive maybe they will put in more effort with

their boats. Since they started the decontamination fee back in March 2023, there has been a reduction in

the number of people that show up with standing water and mud.

Chairman Wadsworth said daily boating is $26 and a three-day boating permit is $66.

Ms. Juby said they keep all statics of the boaters that come through the station, they have their

registrations, and how often they come through and there are some boaters that buy a lot of boating

permits, some only once a year which is their big trip especially during the fishing season.

Councilmember Cortez recommended having it on a monthly basis and making the following month free if

they are drawn. For $66 for three days, multiply it by ten, that’s $660. Ms. Juby said a month makes sense,

the idea is to encourage people to show up, clean, dry to help protect the lake, which is their goal.

Vice Chairman Ely likes the idea but if they win for a year that would be a lot of money the Tribe is losing.

Councilmember Dunn’s suggestion is monthly for six months and he thought he heard starting in January.

Ms Juby said they would prefer to start in April, which would be the month before, and they would draw on

the 1st.

Councilmember Sampson said it’s a good incentive and a good pilot project and she likes Councilmember

Dunn’s suggestion because this is new for AIS and all the boaters and aquatic issues.

Vice Chairman Ely asked what is the timeline as a pilot project? At what point will they reassess the project

to see if it’s working or not? Ms. Juby said they will assess and come back with stats on how many people

are showing up clean, drain, and dry compared to other months. Their original request was through the

remainder of this fiscal year, so it would have stopped in September, and they would readdress whether it

was working or not to decide if they wanted to continue. They tell every boater that comes through that if

they don’t stop when they are open, it could be a $250 fine. They will be working with the Regulations

Workgroup to increase the fine to $500 to deter people even more. It will also be noted in their letter of

permit exemption for the month that they still must stop when they are open plus they will get entered into

next month’s raffle.

Councilmember Cortez calculated it for twelve winners, which would be one per month, it would cost

$95,040, which is assuming they will be out every day.

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March 19, 2025, Water Team Minutes

Councilmember Dunn motioned to approve the Request to Hold a Monthly Aquatic Invasive Species Raffle for

one (1) 30-Day Boating Permit starting in April 2025 for six months. Councilmember Sampson seconded the

motion. Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions. MOTION PASSED.

3. Request for Approval of Sierra Club National Outings Volunteer Request to Work with Wetlands

Trail and Water Quality Monitoring. Claudia Hilligass, Sierra Club

No representative in attendance.

Vice Chairman Ely motioned to table the Request for the Sierra Club National Outings for Volunteer Work at

the Wetlands Trail and for Water Quality Monitoring. Councilmember Cortez seconded the motion. Votes

were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions. MOTION PASSED

4, Request for Approval Farmers Conservation Alliance Film Request and to Film Tribal Members

on Restoration of Lahontan Cutthroat Trout (LCT) and Cui-ui. David Hanson, Farmers Conservation

Alliance

No representative in attendance.

Councilmember Cortez motioned to table the Request from the Farmers Conservation Alliance Film Request

and to Film Tribal Members on Restoration of LCT and Cui-ui. Councilmember Dunn seconded the motion.

Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions. MOTION PASSED

5. Request for Approval Contract Mod Great Basin Land & Water. Donna Noel, NR Director

Ms. Noel explained the Great Basin Land & Water has been purchasing water rights for the Tribe for about

20-30 years. The grant was originally a Desert Terminus Lakes Grant. They hired Great Basin Land & Water

as their consultants to buy water rights, which they have done a great job in doing. They have 56-acre feet

of water they are trying to close by April 1, 2025, and more after that. She budgeted for two years’ worth of

fees, and she stretched the first budget through to now, so they have a couple extra months, but she wants

to add another $200,000 so they can continue to purchase water rights. Another major item they do is the

Trust applications and getting them through to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The amount is NTE

$200,000 because the grant is due to close on June 30, 2025, but there is a bill that is alive in the Senate

until October 1, 2025 which she is hoping for an extension but is looking to extend the contract to the end

of the grant or to when they pull the grant.

Councilmember Dunn motioned to approve the Contract Mod for Great Basin Land & Water. Councilmember

Davis seconded the motion. Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions.

MOTION PASSED

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March 19, 2025, Water Team Minutes

Ms. Noel informed the Council that Aaron Peskin from Great Basin Land & Water will be present before

Council at the next Water Team meeting to provide an overview of all the water rights and status of the

trust applications.

Councilmember Davis requested to have more information included in the Inter-Disciplinary Team (IDT)

minutes. To show more information on the motions and votes.

WATER TEAM

1. Kemp Jones LLP Attorneys at Law Monthly Report. Chris Mixson. Report Submitted

Mr. Mixson may be requesting an Executive Session.

PROTEST OF TRUCKEE MEADOWS WATER AUTHORITY (TMWA) & STATE OF NEVADA APPLICATION

FOR MARLETTE LAKE. Mr. Mixson stated they protested the applications filed by TMWA on behalf of the

State of Nevada to temporarily move 3,000-acre feet of water from Marlette Lake through Lake Tahoe and

into the Truckee River as instream flow. Temporary means for one year or one water year. They protested

because it wasn’t clear at the time that they were actually allowed to do that. It wasn’t clear on how they

were going to do that, moving water through Lake Tahoe, it’s more complicated than it sounds. There are

TROA issues to deal with and the Water Master must manage it, and that water is not a part of the ORR

Ditch Decree, which means it’s not clear the Water Master has jurisdiction to manage that water. There are

all these procedural issues and so they protested. They have been in a settlement negotiation with TMWA

to see if they could explain to them better to resolve the protest. In the meantime, he researched into the

Settlement Act which talks about Marlette Lake, and it says the Marlette Lake water cannot be transferred

into the Truckee River Basin if it hasn’t been perfected. Perfected is when you have to prove you can

actually put water to use and get what they call a certificate which is a perfected water right. The Marlette

Lake water right for whatever reason, even though they have been using it for years and presumable have

used it all and eligible, probably to be perfected but it is not right now. Because it is not a perfected water

right under the Settlement Act, they can’t do the transfer. He told that to their attorney and those are the

settlement discussions. He said he doesn’t see how legally the Tribe can agree to let them do this. They

would need to convince him otherwise or put some sort of settlement proposal that he could take to the

Council that would incentivize them to direct the team to withdraw the protest. So currently the law says

they can’t do it, so he doesn’t have anything for the Council yet to convince them not to withdraw the

protest. His position is the Settlement Act makes it not legal to do this and there is no reason the Tribe

should waive that.

Vice Chairman Ely ask if there was any indication they were going to work on it, or they didn’t know that?

Mr. Mixson said he would prefer not to talk about settlements outside of a closed session but there is a

general complaint that the Tribe never lets them do anything. Marlette Lake is up in the mountains above

Lake Tahoe to the east of Tahoe, up above Washoe and Carson Valley.

Councilmember Davis said they shouldn’t have any kind of stance or decisions against the Settlement Act.

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TMWA DONNER LAKE. Mr. Mixson explained TMWA owns all the water rights to Donner Lake. They used

to own 50%and TCID owned the other 50% but TCID sold their 50% to TMWA to raise money to settle the

lawsuit with Fernley landowners over the flood from the canal breach in 2008. They tried to stop that

because TCID owes the Tribe water, but they were not successful. The judge ruled against the Tribe on it.

TMWA now owns 100% and their attorney explained to him that although they own all the Tahoe Donner

Public Utilities District who provide drinking water to all the homes around Donner Lake and maybe also

Truckee, he is not sure what their service area is. Apparently, they have a reserve, what the TMWA attorney

described as a reserved right to 990-acre feet as a carve out from TMWA’s Donner Lake water, but they

don’t ever use it, they mostly serve their customers with groundwater pumping up around the Tahoe

Donner area. TMWA wants to get the reserved water rights off the books, so they are trying to buy out

Tahoe Donner Public Utility District (PUD) and then TMWA will own the reserve right, they will buy it from

the PUD and then they will relinquish it which he is not sure what the attorney means by that. Then they

were going to do a side deal to provide the same equivalent 990-acre feet to the State of California to use as

instream flows and all the upper river reservoirs for fish purposes. He was provided with this information

in a phone call; he told the attorney they would have to think about it and would need more information

because they always wanted to know if the Tribe is going to oppose. He told the attorney he couldn't give

them an answer over the phone. They have a meeting with them the next week but essential it wouldn’t be

a big deal for the Tribe. The Tribe has no water in Donner Lake but of course, that is what they thought of

Marlette Lake until they did more research so that is why they are meeting to get more details.

NAVY WATER LITIGATION. The attorney for the Department of Justice (DOJ) said it’s really chaotic there

and they need more time. They have a settlement in concept with them to where the Tribe would get 80%

of the water rights and 20% would continue to be allowed to be used at the Stillwater Refuge. The Council

approved that concept, and they have been waiting for the Department of the Interior and the DOJ to run

the concept up their chain of command for review and for them to formalize it and bring it back to the

Council to approve. Currently there are no people in the positions in the chain of command right now, they

have been fired or whatever is happening in the federal government now. The attorney said there is no

pathway for him to get the settlement concept approved right now and asking for more time. He told them

if they are not going to have a settlement, then the Council is going to direct him to proceed with litigation.

He told him he could agree to 30 days, but they agreed to 60 days, he wanted 6 months. For information,

the water rights are not retired, they are active water rights, but they would essentially be retiring 80% of

them, which is water that is not diverted from the Truckee River to benefit Pyramid Lake.

Councilmember Della John thinks the President stayed all settlements. Mr. Mixson said that is the reason

there is no need to hold off more than 60 days, he is pretty sure he can litigate for 80% if they have to. 60

days from March 11, 2025, is mid-May.

CEMEX. Mr. Mixson said at the last meeting Councilmember Guerrero said there was sloughing of the pit

walls in Area D. He notified CEMEX of that and said they need to do a visual inspection. He met with them

on March 3, 2025, and he took photographs which are included in his packet. What they told him was that it

was not sloughing, it’s where the water seeps, where the groundwater is coming in and what we're seeing

is erosion as the water comes in but as the lake continues to rise, it’s all going to be underwater eventually.

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March 19, 2025, Water Team Minutes

Councilmember Guerrero asked if they took pictures of the seepage in the southeast corner or any other

water coming through, did they notice what elevation it was because the seepage was lower. Mr. Richards

said the water is seeping on the southeast and southwest which was what they were directed to look at. Mr.

Mixson said what was explained to him, referring to photo #3, at the edge of the water there is a pump.

CEMEX said they build berms when they were doing the slopes and build berms at the seeps to slow the

water down and so those berms are breaking apart as the water level comes up and it’s okay according to

them. There is seepage at the base of the water from erosion from wave action, he is not an engineer, but it

didn’t look like the walls were sloughing. Councilmember Guerrero said safety wise, if you walk down there

it will cave in, if an animal goes down there and they step on the edge, they will go into the water and won't

be able to get out because it’s not tensed out. Mr. Mixson said he thinks it’s sloped all the way down, even

under water, it’s the same slope as you see above the water, he doesn’t think it drops off. Councilmember

Guerrero said for safety reasons he doesn’t think it’s safe. What is the static water on it or what is the

elevation on the statics?

Mr. Mixson said they will continue to keep an eye on it and keep checking to see if the condition changes.

They could put a staff gauge there to find out what the water level is right now to monitor the elevation of

the water. Councilmember Guerrero said the staff gauge should cost around $800.

Councilmember Della John said it attracts people, not from the Tribal community but other people walking

their dogs and they stand on the berms there, what if they fall in and drown. Maybe they should put a fence

around it or signs around it. What would the Tribe’s liability be at that point? Mr. Mixson said he would

have to research it, but it may be a question for Wes Williams, the Tribe’s legal counsel. Councilmember

Della John asked if it was added to the Tribe’s liability insurance. Chairman Wadsworth said he didn’t think

it was.

TROA - JOINT PROGRAM FISH CREDIT WATER. This is an ongoing discussion with the California

Attorney. They were supposed to have a meeting the previous day but asked if they could reschedule it to

the next week. The Attorney has a proposed resolution of their dispute, he wouldn’t call it a settlement

because there is no lawsuit. They told them they didn’t like the way they were managing the water, and

they weren’t going to allow them to continue until they resolved their differences which they have a

conceptual plan for. He has what he calls client problems; the Attorney is on board with it but his clients at

the California Department of Water Resources keep getting in the way.

NORTHERN NEVADA WATER PLANNING COMMISSION (NNWPC). The Council appointed Ms. Noel to the

commission with him being the alternate. There have been two meetings since that appointment. He

attended the first meeting and Ms. Noel made the formal attendance at the second one, but he sat in the

audience. The only real development that has happened is there is a concept being considered to create a

Regional Wastewater Management Authority. The North Valleys, South Truckee Meadows, Sparks have

their own wastewater management facilities. Sparks has the Truckee Meadows Water Reclamation Facility,

and they have all this effluent, way too much effluent and not many places to put it anymore and so they

have been thinking of creating a Regional Water Wastewater Management Agency. It’s good the Tribe has

representation on this commission. The NNWPC approved a $80,000 contract for a consultant to start

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March 19, 2025, Water Team Minutes

looking at feasibility level studies. This wouldn’t be a bad thing, it would be nice for the Water Team to have

one agency to deal with wastewater items, instead of having to track the different entities. Certainly, the

Tribe is one of the major effected parties to whatever they do with their wastewater streams in the Truckee

Meadows and North Valleys.

Mr. Mixson stated he would not need an Executive Session.

Councilmember Wadsworth asked if there was an update on the Atrium Apartments. Mr. Mixson said they

are waiting to get updated information from the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection (NDEP)

who is doing the initial investigatory phase. They are reviewing the river gauges and water quality data to

try to figure out if they can see anything in the data from the discharge.

2. Stetson Engineers Inc. Allan Richards. Report Submitted.

Mr. Richards stated his report covers work performed during the month of February.

CEMEX. They had a couple of meetings with CEMEX in February. There were a couple of issues they are

focusing on; one is the request from the Council to do an expanded analysis of the soils around the two

boreholes where there were high levels of hydrocarbons found when they did the original single borehole

type method. CEMEX’s consultant is putting together a proposal which they are still waiting to review but it

was described they would be using an excavator with a test pit to excavate large volumes of soil and then

have those taken to the lab for analysis and work outwards from the borehole until there was no more

hydrocarbons detected in the soil and the lab analysis. This description was given to him verbally and it’s

the best he could do to describe the process. They have a lot of items in the proposal phase that CEMEX is

working on, and it would be a good time to bring in Rob Cutter, CEMEX, to go over those items. CEMEX is

close to getting Q&D Construction under contract to start repairing the west wall of the pit Lake A which

they have been describing for about six months. Q&D’s plan is to bring rock in from Hill Ranch Road along

the north side of the lake, dump it and push rock into the water from the north, northwest corner down to

the southwest corner, build up enough of a plateau where they can get a conveyor onto it and then use a

conveyor system to get rock out to a couple 100 feet into the lake with a swinging arm to place the rock

underwater. This is for the west side of Lake A. They shared proposals to work on the south pond which is

the settling pond in the south southern portion of Lake A. They are still reviewing that plan. They gave up a

plan to do grading work on the east side of Lake A and they currently have another contractor working on

the design plan to repair the north berms on that lake. They sort of have a plan for all four sides covered in

various stages of planning and design which are each inter-related to some degree. CEMEX did share the

proposal from the contractor, which is a $17 million project and Q&D wasn’t the lowest bidder, but they

had the required experience to place rock in sub aqueous conditions. Ms. Noel and him had a check-in

meeting with them and pointed out the contractor doesn’t have in their scope of work anything to install

equipment on the bank after they place all the rock and repair the west wall, they were going to install

monitoring devices that would allow them to measure settlement over time because they admitted that

after the rock is placed it will settle. The Contractor didn’t have anything in terms of scope, budget, or

timeline to install the equipment, monitor the settlement, and then mitigate the settlement when it occurs.

There is another subcontractor they are dealing with who is going to do that part of the project, another

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March 19, 2025, Water Team Minutes

proposal they haven't seen yet. They also have an expanded environmental soils report, a two-year

monitoring program for the west wall repair, north berm repair plan and east and south repair plan. They

have a lot of plans in the works for that part of the lake. They also mentioned the idea of putting a water

level control structure towards the northeast corner of the lake. If the lake ever rose to levels that it might

need to release some water out of the lake for emergency conditions, they would have a concrete structure

to allow some of the water from the lake to pass through a culvert and discharge it into the river. They had

discussions about what the Department of Environmental Protection (EPA) said about discharges to the

river, they didn’t think it was a great idea. There will be follow-up discussions regarding this item. He will

allow Mr. Cutter to provide further information in his presentation to the Council.

Councilmember Della John asked if TERO was included in their contract, which is if their contract is

$50,000 or over. Mr. Richards said he wasn’t sure, but he would follow up on it.

WATER RIGHTS. They are looking at the City of Fernley’s groundwater wells and their groundwater rights

that attach to their wells. He has had some concern that when they pump water from their municipal wells,

the wells that are closest to the Truckee River, there is a good probability that those wells are depleting the

flow of the Truckee River. They are doing an analysis on the potential for those pumping wells to deplete

the Truckee River flow now that the State of Nevada finally recognizes there is a physical connection

between groundwater and surface water. He will have more information at the next meeting.

Councilmember Della John said the area from Hazen to Fernley to the Industrial Park, goes right to the

Truckee River, it’s the Truckee River Basin. Mr. Richards said there is a dividing line somewhere around the

Hazen area where the groundwater flows east towards Carson but on the other side of that, all the

groundwater flows into the Truckee River.

Mr. Richards continued with his report. On February 6, 2025, he had a meeting with Ms. Noel, and Mr.

Mixson where they introduced the Chairman to the Stetson staff who were all working on different projects

since most of the work requested is not all done by him. They talked about various issues, CEMEX, mapping

projects and the Atrium Apartments. Starting with Attachment A of his report, an update showing the

Truckee River flow at the Nixon gauge through the middle of March. Through the month of February, the

average flows were around 360 CFS, for that day on March 19* it was 600 CFS. Two days ago, the Truckee

Canal was turned off, diversions from Truckee River to the Truckee Canal was turned off because they

found some seepage problems along the canal towards the end, near the Swingle Bench in Lahontan Lake.

Apparently, it was serious enough where they shut the canal off two days ago and the canal was taking

about 200 cubic feet per second when they turned it off. You may have noticed an increase in flow in the

last couple of days, and it was because the canal was shut off to address the seepage. The Lake is coming up;

its elevation is about 3,804 as of end of January.

Vice Chairman Ely asked if Fernley would try to reclaim this as recoupment. Mr. Richards said it wouldn’t

surprise him but asked if it fell into the category of planned maintenance and repairs? Mr. Mixson said they

are only entitled for planned and voluntary maintenance, it wouldn’t fall into that category. Mr. Richards

said when the canal breached back in 2008 in the middle of winter and most of Fernley was under two feet

of water, they tried to claim recruitment for that canal breach, initially they tried to claim that as

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recruitment credit water. Table one of his report is to show updated monthly flows into Pyramid Lake

through February of 2025 and they are tracking a normal year, maybe a little above normal. The

cumulative precipitation is around 49 inches, which is about six inches above normal for the period from

1990 to 2020 is what they use for the period of record. Attachment B was a map of the upper Truckee River

reservoirs and streams; these are reservoirs that are all TROA related and it’s a map they prepared for the

water management plan that they are also working on with National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant

(NFWF) grant funds. At a glance, the map shows Independence Lake which is on Independence Creek and

flows into the little Truckee River above Stampede Reservoir. Then when water is released out of Stampede

Reservoir, there is a little stretch of river between Stampede and Boca. Stampede Reservoir is upstream

from Boca. Then there is Prosser Creek Reservoirs on Prosser Creek, it’s upstream and discharges into the

Truckee River upstream from Stampede and Boca. The map shows where Donner Creek and Donner Lake

are relative to the other upstream reservoirs. The Tribe’s water comes from these reservoirs.

Councilmember Della John said the Tribe’s water comes from these reservoirs and not Lake Tahoe? Mr.

Richards said when TROA was implemented, it created a mechanism for the Tribe to store water in Lake

Tahoe, credit water that wasn’t available to the Tribe prior to TROA but there are now some provisions in

TROA where the Tribe can exchange water from other reservoirs and store in Lake Tahoe as fish credit

water. In addition to the fish water in Stampede and Prosser Creek, those are the Tribe’s two primary

reservoirs for fish water stored. He thinks there is some fish credit water in Tahoe today that was

established through these exchanges. Claims one and two water are a part of the Floriston Rate, they would

come out of Tahoe or Boca. The Floriston Rate water is water that is released to meet all the Orr Ditch

Decree water rights including Claims one and two.

Councilmember Della John asked what would happen to their irrigation water if the Tribe went on furlough

and they shut their program down. Mr. Mixson said the Orr Ditch Decree is where the Tribe’s irrigation

water comes from and the Orr Decree is managed by the Federal Water Master and he works for the

District Court not the Executive Branch, which is a good thing in terms of a government shutdown because

the courts tend to stay open when there are shutdowns. In past shutdowns, they saw the Water Master

continue to work and continue to make water deliveries. Councilmember Della John said it’s best to keep

that program running, they use Tribal funds but in the furlough plan that position wasn’t in there. Mr.

Mixson said he was talking about the Water Master’s office, who makes sure the water comes to the

Reservation and once it’s on the Reservation, then the Tribe’s irrigation program takes over.

Councilmember Della John said they shouldn't get rid of that program because it will hurt the farmers.

Councilmember Davis said that it would be up to the irrigators to be a part of that discussion because they

would all step up and do what needed to be done. Chairman Wadsworth said they discussed it and keeping

them open, he apologized that she didn’t get the updated form. Ms. Noel confirmed since they were under

Tribal funds they would continue to work.

Mr. Richards continued with his report. He explained a chart which showed the storage capacities of the

upper Truckee River reservoirs. Stampede Reservoir is by far the largest reservoir and is critical to the

Tribe for it’s fish water and is 226,500-acre feet. The next largest is Boca Reservoir and it’s only 40,900-

acre feet, it looks big on the map, the surface area but Stampede is by far the largest. Pyramid Lake capacity

is 21 million acre feet. The usable storage of Lake Tahoe is only 744,600-acre feet and that’s the water

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Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council

March 19, 2025, Water Team Minutes

above the rim elevation. The Lahontan Reservoir is 313,000-acre feet and when they put the flash boards

across it's concrete spillway, it spills and flows down the Carson River. They have the capability to add

more flash boards and back up more water to raise the lake level.

Councilmember Guerrero asked if Lahontan will be spilling into the government pastures this year like

they've done in the past. Mr. Richards said he didn’t think it was anticipated but they can’t predict what is

going to happen. Councilmember Guerero said he was curious, they were always talking about the expected

runoff, and they were not going to spill that water. Mr. Richards said there must be better management of

the water in that reservoir because it just feels like in recent years, they are spilling more frequently than

they have in the past. Lahontan is not very big so when the snow melts and the Carson River watershed

happens, that lake fills up fast and can create a situation where they have to react quickly but with better

management and maybe with OCAP revisions they can get it so they are not diverting water and then end

up spilling it, and doing precautionary releases and spilling it later in the year.

Mr. Richards said they were supposed to have a meeting with the Bureau of Reclamation, but they

cancelled because of the government shutdown situation. Instead of spilling water out of Lahontan, down

the Carson River and out into the desert, Carson Lake and pasture, what about diverting it upstream into

Dayton Valley and taking the flood flows out of the river and recharge the Dayton Valley groundwater

aquifer instead of letting Lahontan get to a dangerously high level and having to spill. Because Dayton

Valley and the other four valleys up to Carson City, they pump a lot of water out of the groundwater basin

and that pumping is impacting the flow of the Carson River which fills Lake Lahontan. If they divert flood

flows out above Lahontan and into Carson then you can eliminate the need to spill it down the river,

recharge the groundwater and the pumps would have less of an impact on the Carson River flow,

replenishing the aquifers. The Carson River is important to the Tribe because it’s not just about reducing

diversions from Truckee River to Lahontan, they must be aware of what happens upstream from Lahontan

because they are diverting water from the Truckee River to meet Lahontan storage targets. Whatever

happens upstream in the Carson River affects the storage targets. The Carson River is important to keep

their eyes on. Next on his report is the Atrium issue, the total volume of raw sewage they discharged to the

river just downstream of the Sparks area over a four day period, the volume of wastewater that was

discharged to the river was over 26 million gallons, if you divide that over 440 days it turns out to bea

relatively small flow rate, three or four gallons per minute. He is anticipating that is what they will hear, it

was a small flow rate when mixed with the larger flow of the Truckee River. A conceptual picture of what

this would look like was provided to the Council. Chairman Wadsworth said for a counter argument doing

the math, which would be 493 days, 5,383 gallons a day, 224 gallons an hour and 3.7 gallons a minute.

Councilmember Dunn said even though it was a small amount for what they should be worried about, it’s

still an incident that occurred and it was unreported. Vice Chairman Ely said it sounds like they are already

trying to downplay the event. Councilmember Della John said it would be good to get some statistics if

there were E-Coli emergency room visits during that time which might show a human impact. There is

probably a wildlife impact also. Mr. Richards said he received data from Ms. Noel on water quality which

they will be analyzing to see if there are any trends or spikes during that period when they were

discharging.

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Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council

March 19, 2025, Water Team Minutes

ADJOURNMENT

With no further business before the Tribal Council, Councilmember Dunn made a motion to adjourn the

meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Cortez. Votes taken were all in favor, motion carried.

The meeting adjourned at 7:28 p.m.

Submitted by,

Eiudud eur

Tribal Council Secretary

CERTIFICATION

The foregoing minutes were adopted by the Pyramid Lake Tribal Council, governing body of the Pyramid

Lake Paiute Tribe, at a meeting duly held on the 21st day of May 2025, having seven (7) members present,

constituting a quorum, by the vote of six (6) FOR and zero (0) OPPOSED, with zero (0) ABSTENTIONS.

Minutes attested and concurred by:

Steven Wadsworth, Tribal Chairman

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council

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