- State engineers invite public feedback on water issues.
- Community’s drinking water once tainted with heavy metals.
- Naval base contamination raises serious health concerns.
December 6, 2024 — Yesterday, the Nevada Division of Water Resources (NDWR)
announced it will host a public listening session on Tuesday, December 17, 2024, in Fallon. The event, to be held from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at The Barrel House on Sheckler Road, will give local residents a chance to speak openly about their concerns, suggestions, and questions regarding water management in the region.
Nevada’s State Engineer and NDWR encourage the public to attend, stressing that community input helps shape effective strategies. NDWR states, “As part of a state-wide effort to engage the public in water resource management, NDWR is hosting listening sessions to discuss challenges and strategies for managing Nevada’s critical water resources. Fallon, with its distinct hydrologic setting, exemplifies the complex demands placed on surface and groundwater supplies to meet municipal, domestic, industrial, and agricultural needs. Community participation is strongly encouraged.”
Beyond the Headline: Why Fallon’s Water Matters.
Fallon sits along U.S. Highway 50 — often called “the loneliest road in America” — and has historically drawn national attention for troubling water-related health issues. Known for its sweet cantaloupes and the Fallon Naval Air Station (where Top Gun pilots train), the town has wrestled with contamination mysteries that go back decades.
One high-profile concern has been contamination at Naval Air Station Fallon, located east of Reno. Past reports indicate that this military facility’s drinking water contained perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at astronomically high levels. While experts generally consider exposure limits above 70 parts per trillion (ppt) unsafe, testing at the base revealed concentrations as high as 1,670,000 ppt. These chemicals — PFOS and PFOA among them — have been linked to serious health conditions, including certain types of cancer.
In addition to PFAS, Fallon’s water supply has also faced scrutiny for other contaminants. Arsenic, a known carcinogen, has appeared in local drinking water at elevated levels. In the early 2000s, a series of childhood leukemia cases in Fallon sparked an intense investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This review, which included testing residents’ urine, blood, and home environments, yielded surprising findings: tungsten levels were found to be up to 11 times higher than the national average. At that time, health officials were caught off guard, as tungsten had not been on their radar as a public health threat.
Additional Information.
The December 17 meeting is the latest effort to connect state authorities with the people who drink, cook with, and bathe in Fallon’s water every day. By bringing local voices into the conversation, Nevada’s water managers strive to address long-standing problems and forge solutions that will sustain the region’s families, farms, and businesses well into the future. For additional details, community members can call (775) 684-2800.
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Image:
A U.S. Air Force fighter pilot from the 157th Fighter Squadron at McEntire Joint National Guard Base, S.C., launches an F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet for a training mission from Naval Air Station Fallon, Nev., Nov. 10, 2014
. Swamp Fox Airmen from the 169th Fighter Wing and South Carolina Air National Guard are deployed to NAS Fallon to support Naval Carrier Air Wing One with pre-deployment fighter jet training, integrating the F-16’s suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) capabilities with U.S. Navy fighter pilots. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Caycee Watson/released to public domain).
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