The El Paso County Water Improvement District Number One (District) of Texas established in 1917, provides water by way of the Riverside Canal to 69,010 acres of water rights lands.  An evaluation of the Riverside Canal System was performed to identify weaknesses that could be corrected.  These weaknesses include seepage and evaporation losses, and excess bypass waste flows from check structures.  The project would be in cooperation with Reclamation under a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA, see appendix B).  In addition, Authorization and  requirements for funding the project are written in the Lower Rio Grande Valley Water Resources Conservation and Improvement Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-576).

The El Paso County Water Improvement District Number One (District) of Texas proposes to reconstruct a portion of the Riverside Canal system (see map page 2).  The project would be in cooperation with Reclamation under a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA, see appendix B).  In addition, Authorization and  requirements for funding the project are written in the Lower Rio Grande Valley Water Resources Conservation and Improvement Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-576), hereinafter referred to as “The Act”.  This environmental assessment will analyze the potential impacts of the proposed action on canal reaches A, B, and C.  A more detailed description of the Proposed Action will appear in Chapter 2.