TONOPAH -- An application will be submitted for a $195,000 preliminary engineering report on recycling Tonopah effluent, for a second round of $740,431 available in federal community development block grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly known as the stimulus package.

The Tonopah project won out over a request for a Beatty Water and Sanitation District master plan, new liners for the Gabbs sewer treatment plant and a countywide assessment and strategic plan for community access to health services.

Tonopah Town Manager James Eason said Tonopah water is pumped from Ralston Valley, 13 miles east of town. The sewer treatment plant is only 1.7 miles northwest of town in Esmeralda County, he said.

The recycled effluent would be piped to the Tonopah Cemetery area and used for landscaping the cemetery, parks and dewatering road construction jobs. Eason touted the cost savings to Nye County.

Tonopah is contributing $25,000, Eason said. Other communities in Nevada like Silver Springs are undertaking similar projects, he said.

Paul Burris, regional vice-president of operations for Utilities Inc. of Central Nevada, said his company had considered expanding a water recycling project in Pahrump but now is backing off after failure to get town and county backing of his company's request for stimulus funding.

"This is a requirement probably five to 10 years down the road," Eason said. "It goes to the heart of not only reducing our cost but also water conservation."

Commissioner Butch Borasky pushed for a recommendation from county grant administrator Timaree Koscik about which project stood the best chance of success. Koscik said the Gabbs sewer plant improvements could be funded from a state revolving fund.

She mentioned commissioners in December already approved a CDBG application in Beatty. That was a $200,000 application to draw up plans for a backup well and water treatment facility in Beatty to reduce arsenic levels.

It's the second major utility grant requested for Tonopah in three months.

While a $228,500 grant application to reconstruct and line septic drying beds at Tonopah Airport was rejected in December, commissioners in January voted to fund the project from Payment Equal to Taxes the county receives from the U.S. Department of Energy.

"Certainly our primary focus as a governing board should be to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the residents in Nye County. I just cannot think of a better area to do that than in the provision of safe drinking water," Commissioner Joni Eastley said.

County Manager Rick Osborne said the $100,000 for a study of health care services in Nye County would examine available resources, identify gaps in services and formulate a strategic plan to assist the county in making health services available to all residents.

The application says there is no single organization responsible for coordinating health services throughout Nye County. The county intends to foster a collaborative relationship among local providers, county departments and stage agencies.

"We intend to evaluate health services, indigent care. Desert View (Hospital) has paid over $12 million to provide indigent care since opening in April 2006," Osborne said.

Osborne later received a letter of support from Desert View Hospital Chief Executive Officer Susan Davila on his evaluation.

Commissioner Gary Hollis asked the county manager to consider funding the health assessment through some other means, following the rejection of that application.

During the Tuesday meeting, commissioners approved an annual $311,000 contract with Nevada Health Centers to operate the Amargosa Valley and Beatty clinics during working hours from July 1 through June 30, 2011, after previously approving contracts on a short-term basis.

Health services at the two clinics have been in a state of uncertainty since March 2007, when Nevada Health Centers Inc. wanted to increase its contract for 24-hour care from $640,847 to $971,377 annually after the departure of Dr. Beatriz Ang from Beatty.

The Beatty Water and Sanitation District study would develop a master plan including mapping utility infrastructure, population forecasts, a hydraulic analysis, financial study and capital improvement plans. Farr West Engineering representatives said the $70,000 study would by a first step in having projects ready to go for future CDBG funding.

Beatty had plans to contribute over 10 percent of the amount through administration.