BOULDER CITY, Nev. - The Bureau of Reclamation is seeking public comments on a draft environmental assessment analyzing potential impacts of a System Conservation Implementation Agreement between Reclamation and the Imperial Irrigation District. The agreement, administered through the Lower Colorado River Basin System Conservation and Efficiency Program and funded in part by the Inflation Reduction Act, supports voluntary system conservation to protect Colorado River reservoir storage volumes amid persistent drought conditions driven by climate change.
As analyzed in the draft environmental assessment, the Imperial Irrigation District has proposed to conserve a volume up to a maximum of 300,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water each year from 2024 through 2026 which will remain in Lake Mead to benefit the Colorado River System and its users.
The draft environmental assessment considers potential impacts from actions taken to implement water conservation, thereby reducing water diversions from the Colorado River at Imperial Dam.
The draft environmental assessment is available at Lower Colorado Region | Bureau of Reclamation (usbr.gov). The public comment period will end July 28, 2024.
Comments should be directed to Reclamation via email to prj-lcr-nepa@usbr.gov or to the mailing address below.
Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado Regional Office
Attn: Resource Management Office Chief (LC-2000)
P.O. Box 61470
Boulder City, NV 89006
Mailed comments on this notice must be postmarked by July 27, 2024. In your response, please refer to the above public notice title and date. Should no response be received by the above expiration date, a “no comment” response will be assumed.
Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment – including your personal identifying information – may be made publicly available at any time. While you can request to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, no guarantees can be made that we will be able to do so.
For more information, please contact Mike Boyles at mboyles@usbr.gov.
