BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
Government Code § 84308 Applies: Yes ☐ No ☒
(If “YES” Complete Attachment A - Gov. Code § 84308)
SUBJECT:
Title
Receive an Informational Update on the Pacheco Reservoir Expansion Project, Project No. 91954002 (Santa Clara County, District 1; Merced County).
End
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Receive an informational update on the Pacheco Reservoir Expansion Project, Project No. 91954002.
Body
SUMMARY:
On October 13, 2023, staff and Committee Member Hsueh presented potential topics regarding the Pacheco Reservoir Expansion Project (Project or Pacheco Project) to be brought before the Water Storage Exploratory Committee (now the Water Supply and Demand Management Committee (WSDM Committee)) for more detailed discussion in future quarterly updates, and later, to be brought before the full Board of Directors (Board) for discussion. This approach and these proposed Project topics were discussed before the Board and approved.
In acknowledgment of the new Board member and other Project updates, staff has prepared a general Project update presentation (Attachment 1). Additionally, staff has compiled a list of questions and responses from past presentations that is included as Attachment 2.
Staff has previously presented on the following topics:
• Description of planned Project operations and Project benefits
• Discussion and review of Project costs
• Discussion and review of requirements unique to the Project
Topics to be presented in future updates include:
• Discussion and review of current partnership approach and Board-directed partnership percentages
• Discussion of connection between Project and the 2025 Water Supply Master Plan’s portfolio recommendation
• Review of the Project’s environmental impacts and mitigation measures
To inform the design and determine viability of the potential future Pacheco Project, Valley Water proposed to undertake Design Level Geotechnical Investigations (DLGI) to collect geotechnical and geologic data. The DLGI were stopped in May 2023 by court order. The court ruled that neither the Class 4 nor Class 6 California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Categorical Exemptions (CE) were applicable to this investigatory work. In response, Valley Water prepared and released a draft Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) for public review in June 2024. The public comment period on the IS/MND closed in July 2024. In consideration of public and agency comments received on the draft IS/MND, Valley Water has elected to prepare an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the DLGI. Valley Water issued a Notice of Preparation for this draft EIR in October 2024. Staff anticipates releasing the draft EIR for public review in March 2025 and bringing the final EIR to the Board for consideration of certification in late summer or early fall of 2025. If approved, the proposed geotechnical work would re-initiate shortly thereafter.
Additionally, following the release of the Project’s Draft EIR (DEIR) in November 2021, changed circumstances and other developments have resulted in additional environmental analysis required for the Project and Valley Water’s determination to recirculate the DEIR for public review. The recirculation of the DEIR will extend the environmental phase of the Project.
First, in July 2021, Pacific Gas & Electric (PGE) stated that the transmission lines for supplying electrical power to the Pacheco Project would need to be realigned, and not until both a feasible and conceptual planning level effort was conducted by PG&E would the alignment be acceptable to move forward to design. Staff has been engaged in technical and environmental discussions with PG&E over the course of the last few years and an alignment was selected in October 2024. The realignment extends the transmission line an additional 2 miles to meet PG&E design standard requirements, which also includes infrastructure for a large-scale electrical breaker system. The realignment and new design of the transmission lines resulted in changes to the project description requiring further environmental analysis.
Second, Valley Water has been monitoring State and Federal biological opinions for the Delta, as well as statewide model updates - specifically, the transition from CalSIM II to CalSIM III - by the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the Bureau of Reclamation. The model updates include an extended simulation period with additional data through 2022, improved hydrology representation, increased spatial resolution, updated operational assumptions, and other enhancements. These changes will affect water supply operations modeling of the proposed reservoir and may change impacts to natural resources. Therefore, the Project will also transition to CalSIM III, requiring additional numerical modeling to be conducted, analyzed, and incorporated into the environmental documents.
Due to the number and extent of changes being proposed to the Project, all of which would need to be incorporated in the revised DEIR, Valley Water is planning to recirculate the revised DEIR in mid-2026 for public review and comments.
Finally, a recent decision was made that would affect the approach for compliance with the federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). As previously reported to the WSDM Committee and the Board, to facilitate the federal agencies’ review of the Project, staff originally planned to release the revised environmental document as a recirculated DEIR/Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which would be a joint CEQA/NEPA document. The United States Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) was identified as the NEPA lead agency for the Project. Following promulgation of revised NEPA regulations which impose strict page limits for NEPA documents, the USACE has determined to prepare a separate document for NEPA compliance. Staff concurs with the approach to not pursue a joint CEQA/NEPA document, for each document to be inclusive of all analyses requiring their respective review. It is currently anticipated that the Project’s EIR will be brought to the Board for consideration of certification in mid-2027 and that the USACE will consider approving its EIS in March 2028.
The revisions to the Project design and additional time needed to complete the environmental analysis as mentioned above will extend the environmental review schedule, start of construction, and subsequent completion of the Project by approximately eighteen months. An updated environmental and design milestone timeline is provided for reference in Attachment 1.
After this meeting, staff will present another Project topic from the list to the WSDM Committee in April 2025 and to the Board in May 2025.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND EQUITY IMPACT:
There are no Environmental Justice and Equity Impacts associated with this item. However, the draft EIS/recirculated draft EIR will include an analysis of the project’s social and economic impacts including environmental justice, as required by NEPA and CEQA. The environmental justice impacts of the Project will be considered in future board actions. Some of the anticipated Environmental Justice Impacts include potential reduction of flood damages to several disadvantaged communities.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no financial impact associated with the recommendation in this item. The Pacheco Reservoir Expansion Project, Project No. 91954002 is included in the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Fiscal Years FY 2025-29 Five-Year Plan and in the FY2024-25 Adopted Budget. Any future decisions on the course of the Project may have financial impacts.
CEQA:
The recommended actions in this item do not constitute a project under CEQA because they do not have a potential for resulting in direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment.
Valley Water continues to proceed with CEQA review of the Project, and the final Environmental Impact Report will be presented to the Board for consideration before project approval.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: PowerPoint
Attachment 2: PREP FAQs
*Handout 8.1-A: Peterson
*Handout 8.1-B: Irvin
*Handout 8.1-C: Norton
UNCLASSIFIED MANAGER:
Manager
Ryan McCarter, 408-630-2983