[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 243 (Tuesday, December 20, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75481-75482]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-7541]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation


Los Vaqueros Reservoir Expansion Investigation, Contra Costa 
County, CA

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA), the Department of the Interior, Bureau of 
Reclamation (Reclamation) will prepare an EIS to evaluate expanding the 
existing Los Vaqueros Reservoir and alternatives to improve water 
supply reliability and water quality for Bay Area water users, 
particularly those receiving water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin 
Delta; and contribute to lower cost implementation of the CALFED 
Environmental Water Account (EWA). Pursuant to the California 
Environmental Quality Act, Contra Costa Water District will prepare an 
EIR on the proposed project concurrent with the EIS preparation. A 
joint EIS/EIR document will be prepared.
    Reclamation was directed in Public Law 108-7, (Omnibus 
Appropriations Act of 2003) to conduct a feasibility-level 
investigation of the potential expansion of Los Vaqueros Reservoir.

DATES: Four scoping meetings will be held to solicit public input on 
the scope of the environmental document, alternatives, concerns and 
issues to be addressed in the EIS. The scoping meeting dates are:
     Tuesday, January 24, 2006, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., Sacramento, 
CA.
     Tuesday, January 24, 2006, 6 to 8 p.m. Antioch, CA.
     Wednesday January 25, 2006, 6 to 8 p.m., Livermore, CA.
     Thursday, January 26, 2006, 6 to 8 p.m., Concord, CA.
    Submit written comments on the scope of the environmental document 
to Reclamation at the address below by February 28, 2006.

ADDRESSES: The scoping meeting locations are:
     Sacramento--Department of Water Resources, the Bonderson 
Building, 901 P Street, Public Hearing Room first floor, Sacramento, CA 
95814.
     Antioch--Legion Hall, Veteran's Memorial Building 403 West 
6th Street, Antioch, CA 94509.
     Livermore--Martinelli Event Center, Agricultural Center, 
3585 Greenville Road, Livermore, CA 94550.
     Concord--Contra Costa Water District, 1331 Concord Ave., 
Concord, CA 94520.
    Written comments on the scope of the environmental document should 
be sent to Ms. Patricia Roberson, Bureau of Reclamation, Mid Pacific 
Regional Office, 2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento CA 95825-1898; by e-mail 
at [email protected]; or faxed to (916) 978-5094. Further 
information on the investigation, including the interim results, can be 
found at http://www.usbr.gov/mp/vaqueros/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patricia Roberson, Reclamation Project 
Manager at the above address, (916) 978-5074; or Ms. Marguerite 
Naillon, Project Manager, Contra Costa Water District, P.O. Box H2O, 
Concord, CA 94524, (925) 688-8018. If you would like to be included on 
the EIS/EIR mailing list, please contact Jennifer Allen, CirclePoint, 
at (415) 227-1100 ext. 33 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    One of the five potential surface storage projects described in the 
CALFED Bay-Delta Program's long-term plan is the expansion of the 
existing Los Vaqueros Reservoir, an existing 100,000-acre-foot off-
stream surface storage facility, located in Contra Costa County, 
California. The existing facility is owned and operated by the Contra 
Costa Water District (CCWD).
    The primary study area includes the Los Vaqueros Reservoir 
watershed and associated dam and reservoir facilities, which are 
situated in the coastal foothills west of the Delta and east of the Bay 
Area, the central and south Delta, and service areas of Bay Area water 
agencies that may be directly affected by the project. The Bay Area 
water agencies that may be directly affected include Contra Costa Water 
District, Alameda County Water District, Santa Clara Valley Water 
district, and Alameda County Flood Control and Water Conservation 
District--Zone 7. Due to the potential influence on other programs and 
projects, an extended study area is defined to include the service area 
of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and the Central Valley 
of California.
    Planning studies to date have focused on identifying water 
resources problems, needs, and opportunities in the primary study area, 
developing a set of planning objectives to help guide the remainder of 
the feasibility study, and formulating a set of initial alternatives. 
These elements of the study are summarized below.

Problems, Needs, and Opportunities

    Water Supply Reliability. Deliveries of imported water to the Bay 
Area for drinking water supply are significantly reduced during dry 
years and critically dry years. Periods of multiple dry years can also 
occur, such as the droughts of 1928-1935 and 1976-1977, and most 
recently 1987-1992. These dry periods cause most local supplies, such 
as groundwater and locally stored runoff, to be depleted. At the same 
time, deliveries of imported water from the SWP and CVP are curtailed. 
Bay Area water agencies need to improve water supply reliability not 
only to reduce deficiencies during a drought, but also as an 
alternative supply in case of a catastrophic event or emergency in the 
Delta, such as a chemical spill or levee failure.
    Environmental Opportunities. The Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta is 
the largest estuary on the West Coast and provides essential habitat 
for a diverse array of fish and wildlife. A variety of factors have 
contributed to the decline of fish species in the Delta, including the 
loss of habitat and water resources development. Water deliveries from 
the Delta have been curtailed in recent years to help protect 
threatened and endangered fish populations and their habitats. However, 
while pumping curtailments and other actions in the Delta have been 
beneficial to fish, they often have had adverse impacts on cities, 
farms, and businesses that depend on water supplies pumped from or 
through the Delta. Consequently, the Environmental Water Account (EWA) 
was developed to provide water project

[[Page 75482]]

operators with additional flexibility in meeting or exceeding fishery 
requirements in the Delta.
    Water Quality. Although State water quality standards have been 
maintained, the quality of water supplies from the Delta has generally 
declined because of salinity intrusion resulting from water resources 
development; polluted runoff from urban, agricultural, and other 
development; and changes to the physical environment. Because Bay Area 
water agencies typically blend water from various sources to attain a 
desired quality, water quality in the study area is a function of both 
water source and volume. Water providers in the study area use imported 
supplies from the Delta and local groundwater and surface water 
supplies.

Planning Objectives

    The planning objectives identified below were developed based on 
the problems, needs, and opportunities in the study area.
     Increase water supply reliability for water providers 
within the study area, principally to help meet municipal and 
industrial water demands during drought periods, with a focus on 
enlarging Los Vaqueros Reservoir.
     Use an expanded Los Vaqueros Reservoir to develop 
replacement water supplies for the long-term EWA, if the cost of water 
provided from an expanded reservoir is found to be less than the cost 
of water for continued implementation of that program.
     To the extent possible through pursuit of the water supply 
reliability and environmental water objectives, improve the quality of 
water deliveries to municipal and industrial customers in the study 
area.
    In addition to the study objectives, various planning constraints, 
principles, and criteria were identified and are being used to help 
guide the investigation. These criteria include the Contra Costa Water 
District's principles of participation.

Initial Alternatives

    From the Planning Objectives, a number of water resources 
management measures were identified. The most effective of these 
measures were used to formulate a set of initial alternatives. The 
initial action alternatives, still under refinement, include the 
following elements:
     Different ways to increase reservoir capacity: Raise the 
existing dam in-place or replace it completely with a new dam;
     Different ways/points of connection to deliver water to 
Bay Area users via facilities of the State Water Project;
     Different reservoir expansion sizing and operations geared 
to meet the project objectives: Water supply reliability, EWA needs, 
and/or water quality.
    Specific measures and combinations of measures in these initial 
alternatives will likely change in future studies and some may be 
combined with others or dropped from further consideration. Other 
measures and combinations of measures may emerge during the scoping 
process and warrant development into alternatives. In addition to the 
action alternatives, the No Action alternative will also be evaluated. 
Additional information on these initial alternatives is contained in 
the Los Vaqueros Expansion Investigation, California, Initial 
Alternatives Information Report at http://www.usbr.gov/mp/vaqueros/.

Additional Information

    The environmental review will be conducted pursuant to NEPA, the 
Endangered Species Act, and other applicable Federal law, to analyze 
the potential environmental impacts of implementing a range of feasible 
alternatives, including Los Vaqueros Reservoir expansion. Public input 
on the range of alternatives to be considered will be sought through 
the initial public scoping meetings.
    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 addresses 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.

Frank Michny,
Regional Environmental Officer, Mid-Pacific Region.
[FR Doc. E5-7541 Filed 12-19-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MN-P