Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) - California Department of ...

1 Introduction
• Changes in the manner in which Castaic Lake and Lake Perris may be operated (flexible
storage); and
• Certain water supply management practices.
Of the water supply management practices, flexible storage and the turnback pool are covered
in their entirety by this EIR and need no further CEQA coverage. Out-of-service-area storage
would not require additional CEQA coverage for banking in facilities already covered by CEQA,
such as continued banking in existing water banks by SWP contractors. However, banking in
new water bank facilities would require the bank owner to provide CEQA coverage for the
development and operation of the bank, and SWP contractors may need to comply with CEQA
as part of approval of their banking activities. Certain short-term transfer activities may require
CEQA coverage of the transfer, and the Department may rely on that CEQA coverage in
approving conveyance in its facilities pursuant to Article 55. As described in Chapter 1 of the
DEIR (page 1-2), other project components may need additional environmental documentation.
The appropriate lead agency will make that determination when it is ready to approach the
CEQA decision-maker process. To the extent appropriate, later environmental documents may
use information in this EIR to provide CEQA-required information. The DEIR gave additional
permanent transfers of Table A water and development of specific contractor out-of-service area
programs as examples of actions that will continue to be the subject of project-specific
environmental documentation of local impacts. The DEIR also stated that neither the
Department nor local water supply agencies make local decisions regarding growth and where it
will occur. When new developments are proposed, the cities and counties prepare
environmental documents pursuant to CEQA. Where appropriate, they must consider mitigation
measures, alternatives, and overriding considerations.
Summary of EIR Conclusions
The following summary presents the findings and conclusions of the EIR analysis. This
summary updates the environmental impact summary contained in the Executive Summary of
the DEIR (pages ES-4 throughES-9) based on responses to comments in the FEIR. Changes
to DEIR Table ES-1 are presented in Chapter 2. This summary updates and clarifies the text in
the DEIR Executive Summary, as appropriate and it does not alter the conclusions of the DEIR.
The EIR evaluates and discloses potentially direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of the
proposed project; identifies alternatives that may reduce or eliminate the proposed project’s
significant effects; and identifies feasible mitigation measures that mitigate significant effects of
the proposed project. In addition, the EIR identifies adverse impacts that remain significant after
mitigation.
The EIR analysis concluded that the proposed project would not result in any significant impacts
between 1996 and 2003. In the future (2003 through 2020), the proposed project would have
less than significant direct impacts on surface water hydrology, water quality and water supply,
groundwater, agricultural resources, land use and planning, hazards and hazardous materials,
noise, public services and utilities, traffic and transportation, and energy.
The EIR found that some of the water supply management practices could have a small but
potentially significant impact on fisheries resources in the Delta. The Department has
determined that its commitment to continue to operate the SWP facilities in compliance with
requirements of the existing regulatory processes under the circumstances described in the
DEIR (Section 7.3) and in the FEIR (Section 7.2) will minimize, avoid and/or reduce potential
effects on the Delta aquatic environment from the proposed project now and in the future to a
Final Environmental Impact Report February 2010
Monterey Plus 1-4