"This project amounts to 14 homes for $750,000," Carson City Supervisor White said this April, casting one of two dissenting votes on a construction contract the Board of Supervisors approved anyway. The contract, awarded to Rapid Construction Inc. for just under $750,000, buys sewer access for 14 residences on the west side of Gentry Lane and Ethel Way, between Snyder Avenue and Hudson Drive. Supervisor White's objection wasn't about the neighborhood or the need. It was about the math: of the 626 properties originally identified for conversion when this program began, 423 have already switched from septic to city sewer, and nitrate levels in the affected wells are still trending upward.
That vote is worth knowing about if you own, or are looking at, a home anywhere in Southeast Carson City's Mandatory Sewer Connection Program boundary, which runs along the south side of Clear Creek Road. It isn't really a story about cost. Everyone involved already agrees the conversion is expensive. It's a story about timing, and about which owner happens to be holding the property when the city's clock starts running against them.
A Program Older Than Most of the Homes It Affects
The Mandatory Sewer Connection Program was created by Resolution 1995-R-31, in response to nitrate contamination that Carson City has been tracking in its southeast groundwater since the early 1990s. Two city wells sit close to the affected area. Well #38 was taken out of service in 2019 after nitrate levels exceeded regulatory limits. Well #43 is still operating, but its nitrate levels keep climbing.
Public Works Director Darren Schulz described the origin of the program plainly to supervisors this spring: the city started finding nitrates in the drinking water on the southeast side of town, ran studies to trace the source, and concluded the fix was to remove as many septic systems as possible from that groundwater basin.
The program has never treated that fix as optional. Twelve phases were mapped out to cover the affected parcels. As of this year's staff reporting, nine of those twelve phases are done: Phases 1 through 8, plus Phase 11. What's left is Phases 9, 10, and 12, governed now by an updated resolution, 2023-R-4, that carries the same requirement forward. Once city sewer becomes available to your parcel, connecting isn't a choice you get to weigh against keeping your septic system. It's a mandate.
Where the Remaining Phases Actually Stand
| Phase | Homes affected | Status as of September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 9A | 33 | Completed in 2025 |
| 9B | 14 | Contract awarded April 2026 to Rapid Construction Inc.; completion targeted for December 2026 |
| 10 | 70 | Not yet designed |
| 12 | Not specified | Not yet designed |
Phase 9B is the one currently under construction. It runs through easements on private property specifically because those 14 homes sit downhill from the existing sewer main built in Phase 9A, and running new gravity-fed line through backyard easements avoids forcing those homeowners to pump uphill. If the December 2026 target holds, those 14 households will have a hookup available before the end of the year.
Phase 10 is the one that matters most for anyone trying to plan around this. Seventy homes are mapped into that phase, more than any other remaining segment of the program, and as of now it hasn't even been designed. There's no engineering timeline, no contract, no notification date. If your property falls inside that boundary, you are inside a program that will eventually require you to abandon your septic system and connect to city sewer. You just don't yet know when.
The Bill Homeowners Actually Pay
City officials have been direct about what conversion costs the property owner. When supervisors debated fee waivers for this program in 2023, city staff estimated that homeowner costs to construct their sewer lateral and properly abandon their septic system would run between $10,000 and $20,000, depending on the depth of the sewer main, the length of pipe required, and how much existing landscaping, driveway, or hardscape stands in the way. That range came from the same Public Works staff who now oversee Phase 9B.
The program does offer relief, but it has an expiration date attached. Under the current resolution, a property owner who connects within 48 months of being notified that sewer service is available gets the connection fee, the building permit fee, and the septic abandonment fee all waived. Miss that window and those fees come back. The waiver never touches the biggest cost, the actual construction of the lateral line itself, which the homeowner pays regardless of timing. What the 48-month clock controls is whether you pay that lateral cost alone, or pay it plus the fees the city would otherwise absorb.
Where This Becomes a Disclosure Problem, Not Just a Cost Problem
Nevada law requires every home seller to complete a Seller's Real Property Disclosure Form under NRS 113.120, and that form specifically asks about the type of wastewater system on the property: municipal sewer, septic, or other. It also asks sellers to flag any other condition that adversely affects the property's value or use. Whether a property's place inside the Mandatory Sewer Connection Program boundary belongs on that form depends on the specific parcel and on what the seller knows, so it is a question to settle with a Nevada real estate attorney before the form is signed. The program's requirement applies to designated parcels as sewer becomes available in their phase, and that is the kind of fact a buyer would want in front of them early.
The remedies in the statute are serious enough to warrant a careful look. NRS 113.150 addresses what happens when a seller fails to disclose a known defect, including the possibility of treble damages, court costs, and attorney's fees, and a buyer can waive some of those remedies in a signed, notarized document. Whether a given situation qualifies depends on the facts, so a seller who knows the home sits in the program area is better served by asking an attorney how to answer the form than by guessing.
Why the Same House Can Be a Different Problem for Two Different Owners
This is where the timing actually bites. A home in Phase 10's boundary, sold today, is a property with a known future obligation and no defined date attached to it. The seller has to disclose that the mandate exists, but can't tell a buyer when the bill comes due, because the phase hasn't been designed.
A home in a phase that has already been notified is a different animal entirely. If notification happened recently, the 48-month waiver clock still has years left on it, and that remaining window has real value to a buyer weighing the eventual $10,000 to $20,000 conversion cost. If notification happened close to four years ago, the buyer who closes on that house may inherit a mandate with the fee waiver already gone, meaning the full connection fee, permit fee, and septic abandonment fee land back on their side of the ledger along with the lateral construction cost.
None of that difference shows up in a listing photo or a home inspection. It shows up only if someone checks where a specific parcel sits relative to phase boundaries and notification dates, which the city's Development Engineering Division tracks. A due diligence period in a typical Carson City contract runs roughly ten to seventeen days. That's enough time to make that call, but only if the buyer or their agent knows to make it.
A Few Questions Worth Asking Before You List or Write an Offer
Is my property actually inside the Mandatory Sewer Connection Program boundary? The designated area runs along parcels adjacent to the south side of Clear Creek Road in Southeast Carson City. Carson City's Development Engineering Division maintains the phase maps and can confirm whether a specific parcel falls inside one of the remaining phases.
If my phase hasn't been notified yet, do I still have to disclose anything? Raise it with a Nevada real estate attorney before completing the form. The property sits inside a designated program whether or not construction has reached its phase, and Nevada's disclosure form asks about the wastewater system and about conditions that affect use or value. How that applies to a particular parcel is a legal question, not one this post can settle.
If I'm buying a home that was already notified, how do I find out how much of the 48-month waiver window is left? The notification date starts the clock, not the closing date on your purchase. Ask the seller for the date they received notice of sewer availability, and confirm it against city records before your due diligence period closes.
If you own property in Southeast Carson City, or you're looking at one, and you want a straight answer about where it sits relative to these phases before you list or write an offer, Nolan Realty & Investments can walk through the specifics with you.
