ITEM:  CONSENT CALENDAR

 

4.

CONSIDER ENTERING INTO AN AGREEMENT FOR AN ADDENDUM TO THE MPWMD Aquifer Storage and recovery project environmental impact report/environmental assessment

 

Meeting Date:

January 23, 2019

Budgeted: 

Yes

 

From:

David J. Stoldt,

Program/

Water Supply Projects

 

General Manager

Line Item:

35-04-786004

 

Prepared By:

Maureen Hamilton

Cost Estimate:

$23,797

 

General Counsel  Review:  N/A

Committee Recommendation:  The Administrative Committee has not reviewed this item due to cancellation of the January 2019 meeting.

CEQA Compliance:  This action does not constitute a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines Section 15378.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUMMARY:  Permanent water treatment facilities at MPWMD’s Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) Santa Margarita site located at 1910 General Jim Moore Boulevard must be constructed.  Improvements to the water treatment facilities analyzed in the MPWMD ASR Project Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Assessment (ASR EIR/EA) are required to accommodate production from Cal-Am’s Seaside Middle School ASR site.  The improvements include increased capacity, a second building, and an exterior injection manifold.

 

Staff proposes to enter into a contract with Denise Duffy & Associates, Inc. (DD&A) to assist with the preparation of an Addendum to the ASR EIR/EA for the proposed improvements to the Santa Margarita site water treatment facilities (Project).  Based on a review of the preliminary plans, the Project is not expected to create new significant environmental impacts or substantially increase the severity of previously identified significant impacts. 

RECOMMENDATION:  Staff recommends that the Board authorize the General Manager to contract with DD&A for preparation of an Addendum to the ASR EIR/EA for the amount of $19,831 with a 20% contingency, a total authorization not-to-exceed (NTE) $23,797.  

 

BACKGROUND:  Water recovered, also referred to as water produced, from ASR wells must be treated prior to distribution.  The ASR EIR/EA, adopted August 22, 2006, evaluated the environmental impact for the Phase 1 ASR Project located at MPWMD’s Santa Margarita site.  The ASR EIR/EA evaluated Water Treatment Following Extraction for water recovered from the Santa Margarita site.  Mitigation measures to reduce the significant impacts to less-than-significant level were adopted. 

 

Addendum 1 to the ASR EIR/EA, adopted April 23, 2012, evaluated environmental impact for the Phase 2 ASR Project located at Cal-Am’s Seaside Middle School site.  Water treatment equipment at that site was disallowed by the School Board and was not environmentally evaluated.  Recovered water from the Seaside Middle School site will be conveyed using existing transmission to the Santa Margarita site for treatment.

 

Cal-Am will construct two additional ASR wells at the planned Fitch Park site.  Although the Fitch Park ASR facility will include water treatment, several project conditions might require treatment of additional recovered water at the Santa Margarita site.  Conditions include planned or emergency shutdowns of that treatment equipment, the potential for additional ASR or production wells which may be intertied to the northern transmission line, and delays in Fitch Park facilities completion.  The existing northern transmission line is sized to accommodate 12.9 MGD.  Thus, the environmental review will evaluate increased capacity to accommodate water produced from three sites, or 12.9 MGD. 

 

Other modifications to the original ASR EIR that will be evaluated include:

·         a new building to house treatment works[1],

·         a delivery system, and

·         a water treatment manifold constructed outside and located in between the buildings.

 

Based on a review of the proposed changes, the preliminary determination is that an Addendum would be appropriate because the Project is not expected to create new significant environmental impacts or substantially increase the severity of previously identified significant impacts.  The Addendum sections and analysis will document the preliminary determination per CEQA Guidelines sections 15162 and 15164. 

 

DD&A has extensive experience providing similar services in connection with a number of infrastructure related projects. DD&A prepared the Santa Margarita Backflush Basin Expansion Addendum to the ASR EIR/EA, and the Pure Water Monterey/Groundwater Replenishment Project Environmental Impact Report located on the same Assessor’s Parcel Number (APN).  The parcel has unique and complex requirements due to its location on a Munitions Response Area and as part of the Installation-Wide Multispecies Habitat Management Plan for Former Fort Ord, California.  As a result, DD&A is uniquely qualified to assist MPWMD with the preparation of an Addendum for the proposed Project.  The proposal is attached as Exhibit 4-A.

 

A twenty percent contingency, to be expended upon written authorization by staff, is requested due to the strict timeline and likelihood of changes at this stage of the design. 

 

EXHIBIT 

4-A      Proposal for Environmental Services for Aquifer Storage and Recovery CEQA Addendum dated January 9, 2019.

 

 

 

 

U:\staff\Boardpacket\2019\20190123\ConsentClndr\04\Item-4.docx


[1] The new building will be similar in size and architecture to the existing building on-site.  Chemicals stored inside the building will be below-grade with double containment.