On Saturday, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will sign "very important" legislation, the Truckee River Operating Agreement (TROA), that he said will bring an end to a 100-year water war between Nevada and California at Wingfield Park in Sparks.

In a recent interview with the Sparks Tribune, Reid said the agreement will be nothing but beneficial for the conservation of water resources in the Truckee Meadows, the preservation of two endangered species and setting up an acquisition program to save stillwater marshes.

"It is just landmark legislation," Reid said.

The agreement increases drought protection for the Truckee Meadows and supplies stream flows and water recreation for Nevada and California.

Water was a top priority for the senator from the start when he was elected in 1986.

Four years later, Reid headed negotiations with Congress to reach a settlement act, which President George H. W. Bush signed into law on Nov. 16, 1990.

The legislation also establishes a $25 million fishery fund and $40 million economic development fund to the Pyramid Lake Paiute tribe.

On Saturday, the Department of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, Pyramid Lake Tribal Chairman Mervyn Wright, Truckee Meadows Water Authority Board Chairman Mike Carrigan and other Nevada and California representatives will also the TROA signing.

Reid also said the Housing and Economic Recovery Act that was passed by Congress and signed by President George W. Bush in July was extremely "tough" to come into law.

"We had to break seven filibusters to get that passed, but we got it done," he said.

"It's good legislation that tightens up Fannie (Mae) and Freddie (Mac), which needed it very badly," he said.

The act provides $4 billion to state and local governments to help neighborhoods that are heavily impacted by foreclosures, an area in which Nevada is a national leader in terms of the number of abandoned homes.

Reid said the funding will provide more credit counselors, which could prevent residents from losing their homes.

"We found if people have someone to talk to, they can avoid foreclosure because foreclosures are a loss to everybody," he said. "They're a loss to the homeowner, of course. Foreclosure does not help the lender. Foreclosure does not help the entity where the home is located. (The) government loses money and it causes the neighborhood to go down in value.

The housing act isn’t the only tool currently in place to provide aid to homeowners.

"We also have the Hope (Now) program," he said, "which will save – not everybody – but we think as many as 300,000 to 400,000 people."

The Hope Now program is an outreach to distressed homeowners to help them stay in their homes through an alliance of counselors, investors and mortgage market participants.

In August, Reno Mayor Bob Cashell and Reno City Council members announced in a press conference that they would work to get a piece of that $4 billion to help area homeowners.