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<br />RECENT PLANNING AND PERMITTING ACTIVITIES <br /> <br />Environmental Impact Statement <br /> <br />In several locations along its route, the existing Plateau Creek Pipeline crosses lands <br />administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The District has a right-of-way <br />(ROW) for the existing pipeline but will have to obtain a ROW permit for the new line <br />since the route will be somewhat different and the diameter of the new line will be greater <br />than the existing 24-inch pipe. <br /> <br />The District has therefore applied to BLM for a new ROW permit, which, as a major <br />federal action, requires documentation under the National Environmental Policy Act. <br />In December 1994, the District retained Camp Dresser & McKee, Inc. of Denver to begin <br />the preliminary engineering, permitting, and environmental analyses for project <br />implementation. In addition to the ROW permit from BLM, other approvals required are: <br /> <br />. a 404 dredge and fill permit from the Corps of Engineers, <br /> <br />. Section 7 consultation with US Fish and Wildlife Service, and <br /> <br />. a Conditional Use Permit from Mesa County. <br /> <br />Work on an Environmental Assessment (EA) began in 1995 and in November 1996, the <br />District and BLM decided to upgrade the EA to a full EIS, which was completed in <br />February 1998. A Record of Decision on the EIS and the ROW permit application is <br />expected in May 1998. <br /> <br />The project purpose, as stated in the EIS, is to allow the District to replace the existing <br />pipeline with a facility having sufficient capacity to meet the projected year 2045 peak <br />daily water demand of 40.3 million gallons per day. The EIS included several projections <br />of population growth and water demands for Mesa County and for the District's service <br />area to the year 2045. The adopted projection indicated a year 2045 Ute Water service <br />area population of 197,000 and an average annual demand of 28,589 acre-feet. <br /> <br />After an extensive stakeholder involvement and public comment process, 16 preliminary <br />alternatives for meeting the project purpose were formulated and evaluated at the <br />reconnaissance-level of detail in 1994 and 1995. The 16 alternatives were screened to <br />three final alternatives and a no-action alternative that were evaluated at the feasibility- <br />level of detail in the EIS. The four final alternatives are: <br /> <br />Alternative A - Replacement of the existing pipeline with a 48- and 54-inch <br />diameter pipeline in a modified version of the existing alignment in Plateau Creek <br />Canyon. <br /> <br />.6 <br />