Planning Report & Environmental Impact

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Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project year 2040. Other water sources are needed to meet current and future M&I demands of more than 43 Navajo chapters,' the city of Gallup, the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry(NAPI), and the Teepee Junction area of the Jicarilla Apache Nation. The proposed project would deplete approximately 35,893 acre-feet of water annually from the San Juan River for M&I use. Based on the expected populations in the year 2040, the proposed project would serve approximately 203,000 people in 43 chapters in the Navajo Nation, 1,300 people in the Jicarilla Apache Nation, and approximately 47,000 people in the city of Gallup. This planning report and draft environmental impact statement (PR/DEIS) examines six structural alternative plans for achieving water delivery, as well as a non-structural Water Conservation Alternative for the proposed project. It describes the way in which the plans were formulated and evaluated, includes appraisal-level designs and cost estimates, and discloses the environmental impacts of the No Action Alternative and two action alternatives, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act(NEPA). It also meets the guidelines and requirements of other laws and mandates cited at the end of this chapter. Reclamation historically supports projects for construction after a feasibility report is completed, which includes a feasibility-level cost estimate. This appraisal-level cost estimate does not meet that requirement. Additional analysis, detail, and updating of the appraisal-level cost estimates presented in this draft report are needed before project construction authorization can be supported. Failure to complete this additional effort may result in reliance on a cost estimate for the proposed project that is not sufficient to characterize the expected cost. The appraisal-level design must be upgraded to feasibility level before Reclamation would begin construction. The cost of, and time for, completing this additional work would be substantial. The ultimate objective of the planning effort in this project is to develop an economically, technically, socially, and environmentally acceptable plan that would provide for present and future water supply needs in the area. The steps necessary to attain this goal are to: • Delineate present conditions • Estimate growth and future water demands • Determine the capability of water resources to meet the needs • Formulate and weigh alternative plans • Select a proposed plan 1 Navajo Nation chapters are centers of local government. The Navajo Nation is divided into 110 chapters. [ 2 ]