The area has prospered, commerce has developed, and thousands of people have come to marvel at this scenic wonderland in the mountains. Many who come to visit become residents. The Truckee Meadows is one of the fastest growing metropolitan centers in the nation. Water conservation practices have secured a stable economic base during the lean water years. Water reuse has been a major issue in the cities of Reno and Sparks and it will become a greater issue in the future as the availability of water decreases.
Water reclamation is also important to the cities' downstream neighbors.
In the past, technology has limited the recovery of high quality water. As the population grew, the stream lost its ability to cleanse the water of its wastes. Eventually, city inhabitants found that if a common collection point in each of the cities could be established, treatment plants could be built to treat the wastes. As a result, primary treatment ponds were incorporated to provide some treatment before discharge into the streams. The biological fauna in the stream bed assimilated the contaminants as nutrients essential to their growth.