[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 61 (Wednesday, March 29, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16631-16632]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-7704]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation


Marina Coast Water District Recycled Water Pipeline Project

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental document 
(Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Assessment or Environmental 
Impact Statement).

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, and Sec. 21061 of the California 
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the Bureau of Reclamation 
(Reclamation) and the Marina Coast Water District (MCWD) propose to 
prepare an environmental document on constructing a new pipeline to 
deliver reclaimed wastewater for municipal and industrial use. The 
reclaimed water would be supplied by the Monterey Regional Water 
Pollution Control Agency (MRWPCA) as part of the Castroville Seawater 
Intrusion Project and the Salinas Valley Reclamation Project (SVRP) 
that currently provides agricultural users with recycled water to 
reduce use of groundwater in the Salinas Valley. The project is planned 
in order to provide up to 300 acre-feet/year of recycled water from the 
SVRP for municipal and industrial uses which may include a golf course, 
open space landscaping, and construction water uses.
    At present, it is not clear whether the scope of the action and 
anticipated project impacts will require preparation of an 
environmental impact report/environmental impact statement (EIR/EIS) 
instead of an environmental impact report/environmental assessment 
(EIR/EA). However, to ensure the timely and appropriate level of NEPA 
compliance and to limit potential future delays to the project 
schedule, Reclamation is proceeding as if the project impacts would 
require preparation of an EIR/EA. Reclamation will reevaluate the need 
for an EIR/EIS after obtaining written comments on the project scope, 
alternatives, and environmental impacts and after Reclamation's 
evaluation of potential impacts of the proposed project. Reclamation 
will publish a notice of change if a decision is made to prepare an 
EIR/EIS rather than an EIR/EA. However, the scoping process to be 
conducted will suffice for either course of action.
    MCWD completed a CEQA Notice of Preparation on December 15, 1999. 
No scoping meetings have been scheduled.

DATES: Send any comments to assist in determining the scope of the 
environmental analysis and to identify the significant issues related 
to this proposed action to the address below by April 28, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on the scope of the environmental document 
should be sent to Dave Meza, Marina Coast Water District, 200 Twelfth 
Street, Building 2788, Marina CA 93933.
    Our practice is to make comments, including names and home 
addresses of respondents, available for public review. Individual 
respondents may request that we withhold their home address from public 
disclosure, which we will honor to the extent allowable by law. There 
also may be circumstances in which we would withhold a respondent's 
identity from public disclosure, as allowable by law. If you wish us to 
withhold your name and/or address, you must state this prominently at 
the beginning of your comment. We will make all submissions from 
organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying 
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or 
businesses, available for public disclosure in their entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dave Meza, Marina Coast Water 
District, at (831) 582-2665.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Reclamation provided a loan to the MRWPCA 
for construction of the SVRP. Reclamation completed an EIS on the SVRP 
in 1993 for construction of the SVRP, and delivery of reclaimed water 
as an agricultural supply for crop irrigation. The contract for the 
loan specified that reclaimed water from the SVRP could also be 
delivered for municipal and industrial water only if Reclamation 
completed additional NEPA documentation. The SVRP began operation in 
1997, and began delivering recycled water to growers in 1998. In 1999, 
the SVRP produced 10,000 acre-feet of recycled water. The SVRP can 
produce up to about 33,200 acre-feet of reclaimed water per year.
    The proposed action would consist of the following:
    1. At the SVRP site, two 75-hp vertical turbine pumps would be 
installed at the SVRP contact basin. Approximately 850 linear feet (LF) 
of 24-inch pipeline would be installed from the pumps to the edge of 
the SVRP boundary.
    2. From the edge of the SVRP boundary, approximately 4,300 LF of 
12-inch pipeline would be installed above ground along an existing dirt 
service road that extends to the Armstrong Ranch boundary.

[[Page 16632]]

    3. From the Armstrong Ranch boundary, approximately 10,000 LF of 
30-inch pipeline would be installed along a route through the City of 
Marina Municipal Airport to Reservation Road with various water service 
turnouts.
    The proposed project has design elements that could become part of 
a regional system, if that system were ever to be expanded. The 
feasibility of such a regional system, the regional urban recycled 
water distribution project, is currently being studied. This system 
would require a storage reservoir as outlined in the 1996 Annexation 
Agreement and Groundwater Mitigation Framework for Marina Area Lands 
(1996). In addition, other elements of the regional project are not 
clearly defined. These elements are discussed in the 1996 Monterey 
Peninsula Reclaimed Water Urban Reuse Feasibility Study Update as 
developed by the MRWPCA. The planning effort for a regional urban 
distribution system may serve sites within the Cities of Marina, 
Seaside, Del Rey Oaks, Sand City, and Monterey. Additional 
environmental documentation would be necessary to implement this 
regional system.

    Dated: March 22, 2000.
Frank Michny,
Regional Environmental Officer.
[FR Doc. 00-7704 Filed 3-28-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-94-P