Project Description

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), with Mount Pleasant City, Pleasant Creek Irrigation, and Twin Creek Irrigation as the project sponsors, is proposing to partially fund through the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act [Public Law (PL) 83-566], the Mount Pleasant Watershed Plan in Mount Pleasant, Utah. The proposed improvements include the rehabilitation of the Upper Debris Basin to provide long-term storage for agricultural users, Mt. Pleasant City, and water for wildfire firefighting; the evaluation of eliminating the Lower Debris Basin; and the separation of agricultural and residential user’s water delivery systems. Improvements under consideration will address flood protection, watershed protection, and agriculture water management:

Flood Protection: The proposed project will protect residents, homes, properties, infrastructure, and a power plant within Mt. Pleasant City as the Sponsor rehabilitates the Pleasant Creek Upper Dam by removing tons of sediment, raising the dam, widening the dam crest, and increasing the reservoir area to add storage.

Watershed Protection: Measures will be considered to help control the sedimentation in the Upper Debris Basin and to maximize the design of the Upper Debris Basin to allow the Lower Debris Basin to be decommissioned and extend the design life of the Upper Dam. Methods will be evaluated to protect the watershed from impacts of flooding to lands where grazing and vegetation stabilization occur.

Agriculture Water Management: Agricultural water management is an essential part of this project in that it will allow for reliable water for agriculture irrigation on approximately 4,280 acres and 1,400 secondary residential water users. The project will separate the agriculture irrigators and residential secondary water reservoirs and delivery systems, which are presently combined as one system. This will allow the agricultural users to receive their full shares of water, reduce water conflicts around excess water use by residential users, and conserve approximately 908 acre-feet of water annually as they replace old leaky pipes and meter individual secondary residential connections.

NEPA Analysis

NRCS, as the lead federal agency, is initiating National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis in the form of a new Watershed Plan and Environmental Assessment (Plan-EA) to analyze impacts to the natural and human environment from this project. The Plan-EA will comply with the Council on Environmental Quality’s regulations at 40 CFR Parts 1500-1508 which require an evaluation of potential environmental impacts associated with federal projects and actions.

Current Status

NRCS began an Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Proposed Project in 2019. As the EA developed, the project team completed public and agency scoping, development of the initial design alternatives and review of those alternatives based on the purpose and need for the project. Based on programmatic project scale requirements, NRCS determined an EIS was necessary and is seeking further public comment to help determine the range of actions, alternatives, and impacts to be evaluated and included in the EIS. 

Written comments can be submitted through June 7, 2024 (postmarked by the same date) and should be directed to:

Mail:  Pleasant Creek Watershed Plan-EIS
c/o The Langdon Group
466 N. 900 W.
Kaysville, UT 84037
Email: email@mtpwatershed.com

Please note that all comments received previously during the 2019 EA scoping comment period will be included and do not need to be resubmitted. Previously submitted comments can be reviewed in the EA Scoping Report below, as well as the complete Notice of Intent (NOI) and additional background information and maps.

Following the public comment period, the planning process will continue to move forward with development of alternatives and the alternative analysis required for the EIS. The Draft EIS is anticipated to be available by late spring 2025, which will include another public comment period.

Contact the project team at 385-567-1116 or email@mtpwatershed.com for more information.

Contact 

Andy Neff – The Langdon Group 
466 North 900 West
Kaysville, Utah 84037
Phone: 385-567-1116 
Email: email@mtpwatershed.com

or

Derek Hamilton – NRCS
125 S. State Street – Room 4010 
Salt Lake City, UT 84138-1100 
Phone: 801-524-4560
Email: Derek.hamilton@usda.gov

NOTE: We will add other directories as we move through the NEPA planning process.

Updated: May 2024