Planning Report & Environmental Impact

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Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project The NEPA process began with publishing of a Notice of Intent in the Federal Register on March 27, 2000. Scoping meetings were held at five locations in April and May 2000: Crownpoint, Gallup, Shiprock, and Farmington,New Mexico and Saint Michaels, Arizona. The meetings were moderately attended, with a range of 15 to 50 people per meeting. The most common comments from these meetings were that there is a great need for a reliable M&I water supply throughout the proposed project area, that existing groundwater is in limited supply, and that the water is usually of poor quality. The Navajo and Jicarilla Apache Nations and the city of Gallup provided their current and projected populations and associated M&I water needs to year 2040. An estimated water use rate of 160 gallons per day per person was used for the proposed project design as requested by the Navajo and Jicarilla Apache Nations.' It was assumed that available groundwater would continue to be used and that project water would provide the remaining need. The Steering Committee identified possible alternatives to meet current and future water needs. It was determined in all past studies, as well as in this study, that the San Juan River was the only sustainable source of water. Therefore, all the viable alternatives involved treating river water for use throughout the proposed project area. Water conservation is currently well established in the proposed project area, and although additional conservation would reduce water use, it would not be enough to provide for future water needs. It is assumed that water conservation will continue with all project alternatives considered. Six physically different,viable alternatives were identified to bring San Juan River water to the proposed project area. These alternatives all would provide the same quantity of treated water to the same delivery locations. The variables included where the water would be diverted and the location of the alternatives' facilities. Maximizing the use of existing facilities and information were important factors in the design of the alternatives. All alternatives use Navajo Reservoir and Navajo Indian Irrigation Project(NIIP) facilities to some extent and have the same Gallup Regional System supplying water to the city of Gallup and surrounding Navajo chapters. Four of the alternatives obtain all of the water from Navajo Reservoir and the NIIP facilities: • NIIP Moncisco Alternative • NIIP Coury Lateral Alternative • NIIP Cutter Alternative • NIIP Amarillo Alternative The city of Gallup uses 160 gallons per capita per day(gpcd)for current and future demand projections. The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority's current average water use rate is 100 gpcd. S -4 I