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The Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado Region (Reclamation) and the National Park Service (NPS), Lake Mead National Recreation Area, participated in developing the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Reclamation and the NPS prepared the Final EIS as joint-lead federal agencies, evaluating the potential impacts associated with the construction, operation, and maintenance of the Systems Conveyance and Operations Program (SCOP).
The Clean Water Coalition (CWC) is comprised of the four agencies currently responsible for wastewater treatment in the Las Vegas Valley: the City of Las Vegas (CLV), the City of Henderson (COH), and the Clark County Water Reclamation District (CCWRD) and the City of North Las Vegas (CNLV). The CWC proposes to implement the SCOP, which would include an Effluent Interceptor (EI) pipeline with the preferred alternative to discharge the highly treated effluent into the Lower Colorado River System via Lake Mead, while minimizing the impacts to water quality and other natural resources. The SCOP will provide an alternate discharge point for the effluent, which is currently discharged to Lake Mead through the Las Vegas Wash. The SCOP includes activities and infrastructure that would be located on lands owned or managed by private entities, the CLV, the COH, Clark County, Reclamation, NPS, and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), all within Clark County, Nevada.
Compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is required because the project would be located on lands being managed by federal agencies (42 USC 4321 et seq.; PL 91-190). This FEIS was prepared in compliance with NEPA and the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of NEPA (40 Code of Federal Regulations 1500-1508, 1993). The NEPA requires federal agencies to consider the environmental consequences of proposed actions in their decision-making process.
This FEIS evaluates effects of the four project alternatives, including the No Action Alternative, on a number of resource issues including, but not limited to: surface water hydrology, groundwater, water quality, biological resources/endangered species, cultural resources, recreation, land use, air quality, noise, socioeconomics, and other appropriate resource issues identified during the scoping process. An impairment analysis was also conducted for the portion of the project located on land administered by the NPS. |