NEWLANDS (IRRIGATION) PROJECT (NEVADA)

One of the first Department of the Interior, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) (Reclamation Service at that time) irrigation projects completed in the United States. The project was authorized originally as the Truckee-Carson Irrigation Project on March 14, 1903 by the Secretary of the Interior and was renamed the Newlands Project in 1919 in honor of Nevada Senator Francis G. Newlands, who originally sponsored the 1902 Reclamation Act. Derby Dam, located on the lower Truckee River, was completed in June 1905 to divert waters from the Truckee River Basin to the Carson River. In August 1906 the Truckee Canal was completed between the Truckee and Carson rivers. Waters began flowing through this canal in 1906 while 1907 proved to be the first full year of irrigation. Lahontan Reservoir was completed in 1915 on the Carson River to receive Truckee River waters through the Truckee Canal and provided a more stable supply of water for irrigation needs to a defined service area in the Town of Fernley and the lower Carson River Basin near the City of Fallon, Churchill County, in western Nevada. The project originally (1902) called for the possible irrigation of up to 450,000 acres; however, this figure was continually reduced, finally to approximately 73,000 acres when it was found, after much legal controversy, that the full use of the waters of Lake Tahoe would not be available. Soon after the project was authorized, this figure of irrigable acreage was reduced to 210,000 acres in 1904, to 172,000 acres in 1910, and to 97,400 acres in 1925, of which 73,301 acres were determined to be irrigable in 1926. The project's service area currently consists of approximately 73,800 acres of land that are entitled to receive irrigation water, of which only approximately 58,000-60,000 acres are actually irrigated. Water for these lands is supplied from the Truckee and Carson rivers. Water from the Truckee River is diverted to the Carson River Basin at Derby Dam via the 32.5-mile long Truckee Canal. Since its completion, the Newlands Project has been embroiled in controversy resulting from intense competition for the limited water from these two rivers. Controversy has centered on the actual number of acres with legal water rights, the classification of irrigation lands as Bench Land or Bottom Land (which determines the applicable water duty: 4.5 AF/year or 3.5 AF/year, respectively), the maximum allowable water duty, the efficiency of project operations, and the volume of water diverted from the Truckee River's terminus, Pyramid Lake. In 1967, Operating Criteria and Procedures (OCAP) were first instituted in order to maximize the use of Carson River flows to satisfy project requirements and to minimize water diversions from the Truckee River at Derby Dam. Even so, controversy continued and in 1973, the Federal District Court in Washington, D.C. ordered the implementation of a new OCAP for this project. Amid continued controversy, in 1985 the Bureau of Reclamation published an Environmental Assessment (EA) which examined an alternative OCAP. Based on comments to this 1985 EA, the Bureau of Reclamation made the decision to initiate an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). A final OCAP was approved in 1988. Public Law 101-618, enacted on November 16, 1990, (also referred to as the Negotiated Settlement), requires the current OCAP to remain in effect at least through December 31, 1997, and is intended to allow all principal parties to develop a new Truckee River Operating Agreement (TROA). A major issue in the current litigation has been to secure an adequate water supply (both as to quantity and quality) to preserve Pyramid Lake and protect its environmentally sensitive fish species, the endangered cui-ui (Chasmistes cujus) and the threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki henshawi).