Application, Project Description, and Plan of Development Submitted to BLM

The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) submitted the Clark, Lincoln, and White Pine Counties Groundwater Development Project Right-of-Way Application to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in August 2004.  The application was submitted to the BLM Ely Field Office, which is the office responsible for managing the majority of the BLM lands where the proposed project would be located.  A portion of the project would also be located on federal lands managed by the BLM Las Vegas Field Office.  The BLM has the responsibility of processing all applications received.  The Ely Field Office assigned this project Case File Number N78803 and BLM determined that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) would be required to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

In late 2005, the BLM Nevada State Director established the Nevada Groundwater Projects Office to facilitate the preparation of the EIS.  Although the Nevada State Office is responsible for preparing the EIS, Nevada Groundwater Projects Office staff coordinate all efforts with the Ely and Las Vegas field offices.  The BLM Nevada State Director will be the decision-maker.

The Plan of Development (POD) is a project description created by the Project Applicant (also referred to as the Project Proponent).  SNWA submitted the original conceptual POD on March 16, 2006 and submitted an updated conceptual POD in July 2007.  This POD will continue to be revised through the EIS process.  If the project is approved, the conceptual POD and any additional site-specific stipulations that are determined by the BLM to be necessary on federal lands would be appended to the right-of-way grant issued by the BLM and would serve as a project resource manual.  A detailed final POD must be approved by the BLM prior to construction of the project.

To view the conceptual POD, please click on this link (note: you will be leaving the BLM website and entering the SNWA project website).