Taos Water Settlement Programmatic EA, NM
CLIENT: Bureau of Reclamation
Taos Plateau and Rio Grande Gorge
To resolve historic water rights and use issues in the Taos Valley of New Mexico, the 2013 Taos Pueblo Water Rights Settlement Agreement identified several regional water development projects. The Settlement Act authorizes and directs the Bureau of Reclamation to provide financial assistance in the form of grants for parties to the Abeyta Settlement Agreement to plan, permit, design, engineer, and construct these projects.
The Bureau of Reclamation Albuquerque Area Office, in partnership with EMPSi, has taken a key step towards implementing these projects with the publication of the Taos Pueblo Indian Water Rights Settlement Mutual-Benefit Projects Programmatic Environmental Assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact. The programmatic EA evaluated proposed projects involving groundwater wells, water storage, and a stream gage and streamlines future site-specific environmental compliance for individual settlement projects, enabling Reclamation to fulfill its obligations under the historic agreement.
FAST FACTS:
Resolves historic water rights and use issues in the Taos Valley
Analyzed the implementation of a decades-long settlement agreement involving multiple settlement parties
Supports and streamlines future site-specific NEPA compliance analysis for 14 individual projects
Projected environmental impacts based on highly complex New Mexico Office of the State Engineer Groundwater Flow Modeling
Taos Pueblo