The No Action Alternative Report looks carefully at the options these growing communities have if NISP does not move forward. The bottom line: these communities and water districts will require additional future supplies and will find those supplies somewhere. The report states that the cities and water districts would be forced to accelerate their rate of irrigated farmland purchase and dry up and would construct a substantial amount of storage reservoirs equivalent to the size of Carter Lake. They would also require at least two large regional water treatment plants.
MWH quantified the cost of various NISP alternatives and determined the no action alternative would cost nearly $900 million compared to the current NISP estimate of $490 million.
“It is sobering for the participants to look at the results of the No Action Alternative Report,” said NISP participants committee Chairwoman Kathy Peterson. “With costs nearly double for these options, it makes it even more imperative that NISP receives a permit.”