Planning Report & Environmental Impact

• Contractor Name: Navaho-Gallup Water Supply Project
• Contract Type: Loan
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Feasibility Study

Chapter I Introduction
on natural gas, oil, coal, and uranium extraction. Its year 2000 population was
approximately 20,200 (North West New Mexico Fact Book, 2003), with about
37 percent of that number Native American residents.
PROPOSED PROJECT AUTHORIZATION, RELATED
AGREEMENTS, AND RESOLUTIONS
Reclamation
General authority to conduct water resources planning is delegated to Reclamation by
Federal Reclamation Laws of 1902 and subsequent supplements. Specific authority is
under Public Law [P.L.] 92-199 of 1971, which authorized Reclamation to conduct
feasibility studies for a project to provide water to the Navajo Nation and the city of
Gallup. Numerous studies were conducted in the intervening years, and a major study
effort has been funded since the year 2000, with in-kind cost sharing by the Navajo
Nation, the city of Gallup, and the Jicarilla Apache Nation (volume II, appendix A).
These studies have resulted in this PR/DEIS, which includes appraisal-level designs and
cost estimates.
Water Resource Development Strategy of the
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation's water resource strategy that combines Tribal, Federal, State, and
private resources includes (Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources, 2001):
• Maintaining a water resource development task force, which will coordinate
technical and fiscal resources of the Navajo Nation and Federal agencies
• Preparing a reservation-wide needs assessment and prioritizing projects
• Developing regional water supply projects
• Developing and rehabilitating local water supply and distribution systems
• Completing the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project(NIIP) and continuing to address
deficiencies in water storage facilities
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