News Release Archive

Reclamation announces 14-day comment period for Newlands Project facility use for Fernley municipal water

Reclamation may authorize Fernley to divert Newlands Project water at a new Truckee Canal site

Media Contact: Mary Lee Knecht, 916-978-5100, mknecht@usbr.gov

For Release: July 10, 2020

CARSON CITY, Nev. – The Bureau of Reclamation proposes to authorize long-term federal irrigation facility use in the Newlands Project on a new Truckee Canal site to divert, measure and convey municipal surface water to the City of Fernley.

The city would construct a new water turnout, a pipeline to extract water, on the Truckee Canal. An 1,115-foot underground pipeline would also be built from the turnout to a new pump station at the Fernley water treatment facility, intersecting three Reclamation easements. City water deliveries from the new pump station would then occur during the Newlands Project irrigation season and recorded with a new pipeline flowmeter.

The proposed authorization would implement the 2009 settlement agreement between Reclamation and the city and enable the city to use Fernley Municipal Credit Water established in upstream federal reservoirs under the 2008 Truckee River Operating Agreement. The city would begin construction in November 2020.

A draft environmental assessment was prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act and is available at https://www.usbr.gov/mp/nepa/nepa_project_details.php?Project_ID=46104.

Reclamation will consider all comments received by 5 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on July 24, 2020.

Written comments may be faxed to 775-884-8376 or sent to Selena Werdon, Bureau of Reclamation, Lahontan Basin Area Office, 705 N. Plaza Street, Carson City, NV 89701. Email comments may be sent to swerdon@usbr.gov.

Contact Werdon for more information or to request a draft copy at 775-884-8366 (TTY 800-877-8339) or email swerdon@usbr.gov.

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The Bureau of Reclamation is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior and is the nation's largest wholesale water supplier and second largest producer of hydroelectric power. Our facilities also provide substantial flood control, recreation opportunities, and environmental benefits. Visit our website at https://www.usbr.gov and follow us on Twitter @USBR; Facebook @bureau.of.reclamation; LinkedIn @Bureau of Reclamation; Instagram @bureau_of_reclamation; and YouTube @reclamation.