Southern Nevada Water Authority Treatment and Transmission Facility, Clark County, NV

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation

Southern Nevada Water Authority Treatment and Transmission

Facility, Clark County, NV

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a draft environmental impact

statement and notice of scoping meetings.

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SUMMARY: The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) proposes to

construct an intake structure, water treatment plant and associated

transmission pipelines to treat and convey Colorado River water from

Lake Mead to the Las Vegas Valley. Studies and analysis have indicated

that there is a need for the additional Treatment and Transmission

Facility (TTF). Reclamation proposes to prepare a draft Environmental

Impact Statement (EIS) to address the additional impacts associated

with the construction of the facilities. A series of public meetings

are planned to provide information and receive oral comments from

interested parties.

DATES AND ADDRESSES: There will be five public meetings:

August 22, 1994, 7 p.m., Boulder City Hall, City Council

Chambers, 401 California Avenue, Boulder City, NV.

August 24, 1994, 2 p.m., Cashman Field Center, Meeting

Rooms 101-102, 850 Las Vegas Boulevard North, Las Vegas, NV.

August 24, 1994, 7 p.m., Cashman Field Center, Meeting

Rooms 101-102, 850 Las Vegas Boulevard North, Las Vegas, NV.

August 30, 1994, 6:30 p.m., North Las Vegas City Library,

Community Room, 2300 Civic Center Drive, North Las Vegas, NV.

September 1, 1994, 7 p.m., Henderson Convention Center,

200 South Water Street, Henderson, NV.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael T. Walker, Chief,

Environmental Compliance and Technical Services Branch, Bureau of

Reclamation, Lower Colorado Region, P.O. Box 61470, Boulder City,

Nevada 89006-1470, Telephone: (702) 293-8526; or Michael D. Noah, EIS

Manager, Southern Nevada Water Authority, 1850 East Flamingo Road,

Suite 234, Las Vegas, Nevada 89119, Telephone: (702) 732-7954.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Las Vegas Valley currently relies on the

Southern Nevada Water System (SNWS) to provide 85 percent of the Valley

water supply. Because the SNWS is currently the only major water supply

system serving southern Nevada's population of nearly 1 million

residents and over 20 million visitors each year, planning efforts have

been initiated to identify the necessary elements required to develop a

back-up water treatment and transmission facility to provide relief

capacity. The goal of the planning efforts for a SNWA TTF project is:

To develop a reliable and demand-responsive municipal water

system that will supplement the existing Southern Nevada Water

System during periods of curtailed production or system failure, and

provide the State of Nevada full access to its Colorado River water

entitlement.

The results of supply and demand projections for the SNWA service

area suggest that summer shortages due to insufficient facility

capacity could occur as soon as the summer of 1996 unless system

improvements are made. Improvements to the SNWS, and the groundwater

pumping and distribution systems, may prolong the ability of the SNWA

purveyors to provide adequate water supplies to the year 2000.

Planning efforts have focused on identifying potential projects

that provide reliable, efficient, and environmentally acceptable

alternatives to supply water drawn from Lake Mead and delivered to the

Las Vegas Valley.

The alternatives contain three major components: a raw water intake

structure, a water treatment plant, and a transmission system.

Preliminary analyses have been conducted on each of these major project

components to identify and evaluate possible configurations of the

project. The results of these studies have defined three primary

groups, or ``families,'' of project alternatives grouped geographically

into Northern, Central, and Southern Families.

The Northern Family includes intake locations in the north shore of

Las Vegas Bay to Callville Bay. Studies indicate that the water quality

at Callville Bay is adequate, but visual impacts resulting from the

construction of an intake and new overhead power lines to service the

treatment plant could pose significant environmental constraints.

Treatment of water from Las Vegas Bay would be more expensive than

water from the mainstream of the Colorado River or Lake Mead, because

the Bay is affected by its proximity to existing and proposed

wastewater treatment plant outfalls.

The Central Family of alternative alignments includes an intake at

or near the existing SNWS intake. Evaluation of this alternative

benefits from a vast amount of water quality data collected during

ongoing SNWS research. However, proximity to the SNWS would likely

expose the SNWA-TTF to any catastrophic event that could impair the

SNWS, thus defeating one of the primary goals of developing an

independent back-up system.

The Southern Family alternative includes intake sites at either

Promontory Point or Hoover Dam. This alternative alignment is benefited

by its accessibility to an available power supply, and its distance

from wastewater discharge. While the Hoover Dam intake alternative is

potentially less environmentally damaging, approvals from Reclamation

to alter the design of Hoover Dam must be secured for this option to be

viable.

Preliminary analyses have been conducted for project need, water

demand, geotechnical and seismic conditions, water quality, intake

depth, water treatment facility, water delivery system requirements,

and power supply alternatives. Planning analyses will continue

throughout the course of the project. To ensure that the full range of

issues related to this proposed action are addressed and that all

significant issues are identified, comments or questions concerning

this action and the EIS should be directed to the contact provided

above.

Dated: July 11, 1994.

Robert W. Johnson,

Acting Regional Director, Lower Colorado Region.

[FR Doc. 94-17329 Filed 7-15-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310-94-P