WSP02427

• File Number: 8220.106
• Description: Animas-La Plata
• State: CO
• Basin: San Juan/Dolores
• Water Division: 7
• Date: 6/1/1999
• Author: BOR
• Title: Animas-La Plata Project ‎(Newsletters Vol. 1/2/4/5)‎
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

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! Animas-La Plata Project
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Volume 2 U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation September 1999
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About this
Newsletter

This is the second in a
series of six newsletters
designed to bring you
up-to-date information-on
the environmental review
process associated with the
Animas,la Plata Project
Anal Supplemental
Environmental Impact
Statement, and implemen-
tation of the Colorado ute
Indians Water Rights
Settlement Act.
Our first newsletter was
published in June 1999 and
provided itlformation on
the February 1999 scoping
meetings, the Settlement
.
Agreement and the
Administration Proposal.
This issue focuses on the
alternatives evaluation
process being performed to
comply with the provisions
of the National
Environmental Policy Act of
1969, as amended.

Future editions of the
newsletter will be published
at approximately liD 4-
month intervals. look for
the next issue to coincide
with the release of the
DSEIS, scheduled for late
December 1999,

NEPA Process Underway

On January 4, 1999, the Department of Interi.
or, Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation)
announced its intent to prepare a Draft Supple-
mental Environmental Impact Statement (Draft
SEiS) to the 1996 Final Supplement to the Final
Environmental Statement (FSFES) for the Animas-
La Plata Project (ALP). During the past several
months, the ALP Project Team has been busy
implementing the initial stages of the NEPA
process outlined in Reclamations Plan of
Approach, which describes the approach and
process for preparing the SEIS (the Plan of
,
Approach can be viewed at Reclamations ALP web-
site; see the sidebar on page 3 of this newsletter.)

NEPA requires a thorough and objective review
of a reasonable range of alternatives. The Federal
Register Notice of Intention (NOI) issued by Recla.
mation in January 1999 described a broad range of
altematives to be evaluated in the Draft SEIS. Ini-
tially, eight altematives were identified-a proposed
action (ie., the Administration Proposal), a no-
action alternative, and four structural and two non-
structural alternatives. The structural alternatives
focused on the construction of Ridges Basin Reser.
voir which would divert water from the Animas '_
River. Thenonstructural alternatives identified ways
of providing the Tribes with stored water from
continued on page 3

Alternatives Evaluation Process

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In the January 1999 Federal Register NO!, the
Bureau of Reclamation indicated that each of the
alternatives would undergo an analysis beginning
with a threshold assessment of the alternative's
capability to meet the project's purpose and need.
Because of the extensive history of the Animas-La
Plata Project and the wealth of data and analyses
that have been performed in the past, much of the
environmental documentation needed to perform
this assessment already existed. To the extent that
some of the new alternatives had not been previ-
ously fully evaluated, some additional field recon.
naissance-Ievel data gathering was required to
ensure that each practicable alternative could be
given a fair and objective evaluation.
Teams of resource specialists, economists, and
engineers looked at the practicality and the poten-
tial environmental impacts of the ten alternatives
in terms of three distinct components: 1) the
structural components, which include the reser.
voirs, pumping plants, and conveyance systems;

2) the non-structural components, such as the
Tribal Water Use Fund to acquire land and water
rights in the project area, and changes in practices
to make additional volumes of water available
from existing federal facilities; and 3) a representa-
tive range of non.binding uses' that the Tribes
could make of water provided.
The team evaluated a number of structural
approaches, including construction of several dif-
ferent on-stream and off-stream reservoirs, from
Howardsville at the headwaters of the Animas
River to an ancillary facility at Aztec as part.'of
Alternative #8. The team also evaluated the poten-
tial for enlarging Lemon Dam on the Florida River
in order to increase reservoir storage and avail~ble
water for the Tribes. In addition, water conserva-
tion on the Pine River was evaluated to determine
if additional water could be realized by converting
open, unlined canals to pressurrized pipelines and
sprinkler irrigation. The potential for reallocattng
continued on page 4