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<br />1'/.'", , -7 <br />() J':' -" J <br /> <br />" <br /> <br />" <br /> <br />Final Environmental Assessment <br />Dolores Project Carriage Contract: <br />Contract between the United States and <br />the Dolores Water Conservancy District for the <br />Carriage of Water through Dolores Project Facilities <br /> <br />INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE AND NEED <br /> <br />Introduction <br /> <br />This final environmental assessment (EA) is prepared in compliance with the National <br />Environmental Policy Act (NEP A) of 1969 (Public Law 91-190) and related Department of the <br />Interior policies and regulations to address a proposed water Carriage Contract between the <br />Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and the Dolores Water Conservancy District (DWCD). <br />The contract would allow the DWCD to use Reclamation-owned canals and facilities of the <br />Dolores Project to carry non-project water (including a small percentage of Dolores Project water <br />as explained later in the EA) to irrigate lands north and west of Cortez, Colorado (see map on the <br />following page), near the town of Pleasant View and referred to as the Dove Creek area in this <br />EA. <br /> <br />A draft EA was released in July 2000. Comments received and responses are summarized in the <br />Consultation and Coordination section of this final EA. <br /> <br />Background <br /> <br />The Dolores Project was authorized and constructed under the Colorado River Basin Act of 1968 <br />as a participating project under the Colorado River Storage Project Act of 1956. Original NEP A <br />compliance on the Dolores Project was completed with the approval of a 1977 final <br />environmental impact statement (FEIS) (Reclamation, 1977). In 1981 an environmental <br />assessment was completed on addition of hydropower to the Dolores Project (Reclamation, <br />1981), and a final supplemental EIS that added salinity control features to the Dolores Project <br />was completed in 1989 (Reclamation, 1989). A 1996 environmental assessment modified the <br />manner in which downstream releases to the Dolores River were determined (primarily for the <br />benefit of the downstream trout fishery) (Reclamation, 1996). <br /> <br />The Dolores Project, located in Montezuma and Dolores Counties in southwestern Colorado, <br />provides irrigation water to the Montezuma Valley, the Dove Creek, and the Towaoc areas. <br />Approximately 61,000 acres of cropland receive irrigation water from the Dolores Project, <br />including 26,000 acres on which existing water supplies are supplemented. The Dolores Project <br />also furnishes municipal and domestic water to the region, water to benefit the Dolores River <br /> <br />2 <br />