Big Sandy Enlargement Meeting March 26th
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online!
March 17, 2019
The US Bureau of Reclamation (BuRec) will hold a public meeting on Tuesday, March 26 to accept public comment on the proposed Big Sandy Reservoir Enlargement Project. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the Eden Valley Community Center in Farson.
BuRec has issued its second draft environmental assessment (EA) for the Big Sandy Enlargement Project, and is accepting comments on that draft until April 15th. Click on the link below to read the EA.
The Big Sandy Reservoir, located about 10 miles north of Farson in both Sublette and Sweetwater counties, provides storage for irrigation, flood control, and recreation.
The Wyoming Water Development Commission is interested in increasing the storage capacity of the reservoir by raising the spillway crest by five feet, increasing total storage capacity (by 13,600 acre-feet) to 52,300 acre-feet. A toe drain and filter trench would be installed along the left abutment of the dam, a filter diaphragm would be installed around the outlet works, a cement-bentonite cutoff wall would be constructed through the crest of the dike, and since raising the reservoir would increase the water height on the existing dikes that are already experiencing erosion, additional riprap would be required. In addition, the project would replace the Big Sandy Feeder Canal headworks and six concrete drop structures.
BuRec is expected to issue of Finding of No Significant Impact and authorize the proposed project to begin this fall.
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