4Superintendent William Dickinson is announcing the Record of Decision for Systems Conveyance and Operations Program (SCOP) has been signed by the National Park Service.
The decision comes after a 5-year planning process in which the National Park Service and the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), as co-lead federal agencies, worked with the Clean Water Coalition to develop a system to accommodate increasing treated effluent flows from Las Vegas Valley while protecting water quality standards for Las Vegas Wash, Las Vegas Bay, and Lake Mead. A draft environmental impact statement (EIS) was issued in October 2005, and the final EIS was issued in October of 2006.
The Final EIS analyzed the no-action alternative, a process improvements alternative, and three pipeline alternatives that would redirect a portion of highly treated effluent from the Las Vegas Wash to the Boulder Basin. Lake Mead NRA and Reclamation have selected the Boulder Islands North Alternative, which includes the use of current conventional treatment processes, plant optimization, increased treatment, and construction of a pipeline that would convey highly treated effluent from the three treatment facilities to an alternate discharge location near the Boulder Islands in Lake Mead. Reclamation has prepared its own Record of Decision for the project.
The NPS Record of Decision may be viewed on the Lake Mead NRA website at https://www.nps.gov/lame/parkmgmt/docs.htm and on the NPS Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) website at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/. The document is also posted on the Clean Water Coalition’s website at http://www.cleanwatercoalition.com/
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
