Washoe Valley sits between the Truckee Meadows and Carson City, with Slide Mountain on one side and ranches and large lots on the floor. A lot of those homes are on private wells. TMWA, Carson City, and other municipal systems run near the valley. They do not treat a domestic well in the middle of it. If your bill is not a city water bill, the CCR from Reno or Carson is not your report.
Compared with Fallon or Fernley, the arsenic band we publish for Washoe Valley looks modest: 2 to 25 parts per billion. People hear that and relax. Twenty-five is still more than double the EPA limit. Ten ppb is not a suggestion that scales with how dramatic the local maximum is. A tighter ceiling is not a free pass.
What we see on the valley floor
Wells Pure Water tests in Washoe Valley routinely fall between 2 and 25 ppb. That is the infographic range for this community only. We do not have a DRI subset percentage for Washoe Valley, and we will not invent one. DRI’s 22% is the 174-well Northern Nevada study. Our 58% is the wells we are called to test. Neither number is “the Washoe Valley rate.”
Twenty-five ppb will not make the national news the way Churchill County’s 2,100 ppb did. It will still fail a 10 ppb drinking-water standard. Families here sometimes postpone testing because the valley “isn’t Fallon.” Geology does not grade on a curve.
Down the valley versus up the hill
A well on the valley floor and a well on a Washoe Valley hillside can finish in different materials, at different depths, with different iron. The house that tested at 4 ppb in 2019 does not clear the house that never tested. Selling or buying on a well in this valley, Nevada still does not require an arsenic test at closing. The neighbor’s closing file is not a substitute.
The short science
EPA: 10 ppb. DRI 2022: 22% of 174 private wells over the limit. Pure Water: 58% of wells we test. As(III) still needs oxidation more often than As(V). Iron still blocks media, even when the arsenic number is in the teens instead of the hundreds. How we stage a system is on the awareness page, not reprinted in every town post.
Nearby city lines do not treat your well
“Arsenic treatment is not one-size-fits-all. It must be properly tested, designed, and installed to perform correctly.”
Bryce Pollock, managing partner
If you are on TMWA or a Carson-area municipal system, read that utility’s CCR. If you are on a Washoe Valley well, you are in the same legal boat as Palomino or Verdi: unregulated domestic supply, your test, your treatment. Do not wait for a higher local maximum to make the problem feel real. Twenty-five ppb already crosses the line.
Get a free certified lab arsenic test
If you drink a Washoe Valley well, a 2 to 25 ppb band is a reason to test, not a reason to skip it. October is Arsenic Awareness Month. Call (775) 324-2001 or request a free certified lab arsenic test.
Pure Water Systems of NV. 245 Vine St, Reno, NV 89503. NV Lic #94724. CA Lic #1054103.