The Bureau of Reclamation announces the availability of the Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Groundwater Banking Pilot Project of Central Valley Project Water from the City of Tracy to Semitropic Water Storage District (Pilot Project).

Reclamation proposes to approve a Pilot Project which includes the one-time banking of 1,000 acre-feet of City of Tracy (Tracy) 2006/2007 allocated Central Valley Project (CVP) water supply at Semitropic Water Storage District (Semitropic) and the recovery of 100 acre-feet of the banked CVP water within the 2007 water year.  The purpose of this Pilot Project is to go through the processes of transporting water supplies to Semitropic and returning a portion to Tracy.  This Pilot Project is needed to better understand the banking process in anticipation of a potential long-term water banking agreement between two parties. 

The Draft EA has been prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act and is available for a 15-day public review.  The document is available online at http://www.usbr.gov/mp/nepa; select SCCAO and scroll to the Draft EA.  Comments are due by close of business Wednesday, February 21, 2007.

The Draft EA will be finalized upon conclusion of the public review period.  For more information or to request a copy of the draft document, please contact Ms. Laura Myers at 559-487-5179.  Written comments may be mailed to the Bureau of Reclamation, Attention Ms. Myers, 1243 “N” Street, Fresno, CA, 93721 or e-mailed to lmyers@mp.usbr.gov. 

If you encounter problems accessing documents online, please contact Ms. Lynnette Wirth at 916-978-5102 or e-mail lwirth@mp.usbr.gov.