Bureau of Reclamation – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Reclamation has made available to the public seven Rural Water Supply Program approved appraisal reports.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), are proposing to renew an information collection with revisions.

The Bureau of Reclamation has made available to the public the Water Management Plans for twelve entities. For the purpose of this announcement, Water Management Plans (Plans) are considered the same as Water Conservation Plans. Reclamation is publishing this notice in order to allow the public an opportunity to review the Plans and comment on the preliminary determinations.

The Bureau of Reclamation and the City of San Diego have completed a final Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement for the North City Project, the first phase of the Pure Water San Diego Programa water and wastewater facilities plan to produce potable water from recycled water. The Bureau of Reclamation is recommending the Miramar Alternative as the preferred alternative for approval.

The Bureau of Reclamation and Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) have made available for public review and comment the Kachess Drought Relief Pumping Plant and Keechelus Reservoir-to-Kachess Reservoir Conveyance Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS). This SDEIS was previously identified in the Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement as ``Keechelus Reservoir- to-Kachess Reservoir Conveyance and Kachess Inactive Storage.'' The name was changed to better reflect the proposed action and alternatives evaluated in the SDEIS. The SDEIS addresses the impacts associated with the Kachess Drought Relief Pumping Plant (KDRPP) and Keechelus Reservoir-to-Kachess Reservoir Conveyance (KKC) by expanding on the analysis conducted in the Yakima River Basin Integrated Water Resource Management Plan (Integrated Plan) Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (March 2012).

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is publishing this notice to announce that a Federal Advisory Committee meeting of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Work Group (AMWG) will take place.

The Bureau of Reclamation is announcing the interest rate to be used by Federal agencies in the formulation and evaluation of plans for water and related land resources is 2.750 percent for fiscal year 2018.

The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) intends to prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS) for analyzing potential modifications to the continued long-term operation of the federal Central Valley Project (CVP), for its authorized purposes, in a coordinated manner with the State Water Project (SWP), for its authorized purposes. Reclamation proposes to evaluate alternatives that maximize water deliveries and optimize marketable power generation consistent with applicable laws, contractual obligations, and agreements; and to augment operational flexibility by addressing the status of listed species. Reclamation is seeking suggestions and information on the alternatives and topics to be addressed and any other important issues related to the proposed action.

The Bureau of Reclamation and the City of San Diego have completed a draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) to evaluate the effects of the North City Project, the first phase of the Pure Water San Diego Program (Pure Water Program). The Pure Water Program is a water and wastewater facilities plan to produce potable water from recycled water.

The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is publishing this notice to announce that a Federal Advisory Committee meeting of the Yakima River Basin Conservation Advisory Group (CAG) will take place.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), are proposing to renew an information collection.

Following consultation with the General Services Administration, notice is hereby given that the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) is renewing the charter for the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Work Group. The purpose of the Adaptive Management Work Group is to provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary concerning the operation of Glen Canyon Dam and the exercise of other authorities pursuant to applicable Federal law.

The Bureau of Reclamation is publishing this notice to announce that a Federal Advisory Committee meeting of the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Council (Council) will take place.

To meet the requirements of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act of 1992 (CVPIA) and subsequent Department of the Interior administrative review process, the Bureau of Reclamation developed and published the Criteria for Developing Refuge Water Management Plans (Refuge Criteria). The 13 entities listed below each developed a Refuge Water Management Plan, which Reclamation evaluated and has preliminarily determined meets the requirements of the Refuge Criteria. Reclamation is publishing this notice to enable the public to review each plan and to comment on the preliminary determination. Public comment is invited at this time.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is publishing this notice to announce that a Federal Advisory Committee meeting of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Work Group (AMWG) will take place.

Notice is hereby given of contractual actions that have been proposed to the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and are new, discontinued, or completed since the last publication of this notice. This notice is one of a variety of means used to inform the public about proposed contractual actions for capital recovery and management of project resources and facilities consistent with section 9(f) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939, as amended and supplemented. Additional announcements of individual contract actions may be published in the Federal Register and in newspapers of general circulation in the areas determined by Reclamation to be affected by the proposed action.

The Bureau of Reclamation intends to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Shasta Dam Fish Passage Evaluation. The document will evaluate the program that will be used to implement the near-term actions identified under Action V in the National Marine Fisheries Service's 2009 Biological Opinion and Conference Opinion on the Long-Term Operation of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project Reasonable and Prudent Alternative. This EIS will evaluate the near-term actions of reintroducing Federally-listed endangered winter- run Chinook salmon and potentially spring-run Chinook salmon to historical habitats.

The Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Work Group (AMWG) makes recommendations to the Secretary of the Interior concerning Glen Canyon Dam operations and other management actions to protect resources downstream of Glen Canyon Dam, consistent with the Grand Canyon Protection Act. The AMWG meets two to three times a year.

The Bureau of Reclamation has made available for public review and comment the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Pojoaque Basin Regional Water System. The DEIS analyzes the potential environmental impacts of five alternatives in planning, designing, and constructing the regional water system and alternatives for the connected actions in the Pojoaque Basin in north-central New Mexico, as authorized by the Aamodt Litigation Settlement Act (Title VI of the Claims Resolution Act of 2010; Pub. L. 111-291, Title VI; 124 Stat. 3065).

The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), in coordination with the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), has prepared a Final Environmental Impact Report/Final Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIR/EIS) for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan/California WaterFix pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The DWR proposes to implement a strategy to help restore ecological functions of the Delta and improve water supply reliability in the state of California. The Final EIR/EIS describes and analyzes potential environmental impacts of alternatives and identifies mitigation measures to help avoid or minimize impacts. The initial approach focused on a Habitat Conservation Plan, referred to as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), which included modifications to the State Water Project (SWP) and associated Conservation Measures. A new alternative strategy emerged after public input on the Draft EIR/EIS and was further refined in a Recirculated Draft EIR/Supplemental Draft EIS (RDEIR/SDEIS). This new strategy, the California Waterfix, focuses on a new water conveyance facility, habitat restoration measures necessary to minimize or avoid project effects, and a revised set of Conservation Measures. Endangered Species Act compliance would be achieved through Section 7 consultation.

We, the Bureau of Reclamation, intend to submit a request for renewal of an existing approved information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) titled, Certification Summary Form, Reporting Summary Form for Acreage Limitation,.

The Bureau of Reclamation is announcing the following prize competition, Sub-Seasonal Climate Forecast Rodeo. This Challenge seeks to improve on existing sub-seasonal forecasts and asks Solvers (i.e., competitors in the Challenge) to develop systems that perform demonstratively better than existing baseline forecasts for temperature and precipitation over a 15-42-day time frame. Solvers will have approximately 3 months to develop their system, at which point they are asked to provide forecasts every 2 weeks over a 13-month period, with the first month being a ``pre-season'' to become familiar with the submission and evaluation processes.

This Challenge seeks to identify new or improved sensors, devices, or test kits to test for arsenic in water within natural and engineered systems. Solutions must improve on the current arsenic measurement methods. Areas of needed improvement include: performance, ease of use, reduction in hazardous waste production, data interpretation, and cost. This is Stage 1 of a planned two-stage Challenge, with the second stage consisting of a prototype demonstration and a larger prize purse. The Bureau of Reclamation is the Seeker for this Challenge.

The Bureau of Reclamation is announcing the interest rate to be used by Federal agencies in the formulation and evaluation of plans for water and related land resources is 2.875 percent for fiscal year 2017.

The Bureau of Reclamation, along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bonneville Power Administration as joint lead agencies, are adding one public scoping meeting to invite the public to comment on the scope of the Columbia River System Operations Environmental Impact Statement.