The State protests
On January 25th, the SFWQCB sent letters
to both Rohnert Park and to the County. The letters dealt
with Rohnert Park's now infamous Water Supply Assessment
and the County's assessment district in Canon Manor West.
Why two letters?
Both Rohnert Park's WSA and the Canon
Manor EIR examine the SAME STUDY AREA. However, while one
document claims that a mere 118 new houses would exert
a "significant and unavoidable" impact on the
region, including further damage to the already-overdrafted
groundwater basin, the other document miraculously discovers
abundant water for 4,500 new houses and 5 million square
feet of commercial space.
The letters from the SFWQCB arrived
around 4:30 to Rohnert Park, the deadline was 5:00. The
night of the WSA vote (Tuesday, January 25th), several
Council members spoke out against the SFWQCB letter,
condemning the Board itself as "unprofessional",
claiming that the first notice of the letter was a hand-delivery
by John King and that this letter was not signed. Many
audience members said that they assumed the Council had
implied that King had somehow manufactured a counterfeit
letter on his computer. King took a print out of the letter
so that a hard copy could be entered into the record that
night and also so that it could become a topic of discussion.
Bill Hurley at the SFWQCB office
in Oakland has confirmed that the letter sent to Rohnert
Park was signed and that the City sent him a receipt
for it. King's copy was just that, an unsigned copy.
The letter sent to the County in the Canon Manor West
issue bore a stamp "original
signed", the Rohnert Park letter did not have a stamp.
It's important to bear in mind that Rohnert Park's breach
into a completely different Water Quality jurisdiction,
i.e. drafting from Lichau Creek, is not only a grave offense,
it's not the first time that this has happened. The SFWQCB
has brought this up to Rohnert Park before. Previous attempts
concerning this point failed due to lack of evidence.
This time, the City has obligingly provided written proof.
Perhaps the most egregious discourtesy is that Rohnert
Park's engineers were aware of this trespass for months
and not only failed to inform the Water Board, no one bothered
to send copies of the DWSA, the Technical Memo or the Final
WSA to the Board. In fact the Board was alerted to the
problem by Zone 2A Petaluma Watershed members.
Yes, it appeared to be a last minute
action. But the reason for this late timing has to do
with Rohnert Park's policy of being less-than-forthcoming
with evidence, facts and the official record. The Council
has, for example, consistently denied O.W.L. representatives
access to PES Environmental data; the data that led to
the current General Plan's overdraft statement. The City
has maintained that it has no access to these data. However,
the Final WSA makes it clear that Rohnert Park's consultants
had access to these data. The Council has repeatedly
introduced significant amounts of new data and then claimed
that the public may not comment on these new additions
officially because the public comment period is "closed". They have, however, allowed
people to speak before them but insisted that anything
said would not be part of the official record (what the
Council referred to as "bending over backward").
For these and for other reasons our attorney Ed Casey declared
to the Council that their treatment of the public has been "unfair." Remember,
the original DWSA was approximately 30 pages long. The
subsequent Final WSA expanded by an additional 40-some
odd pages including whole new sections.
The County deferred their vote until February 8th.
January
25, 2005
File
No. 2148.02 (wbh)
Ron Bendorff
City of Rohnert Park Planning Department
6750 Commerce Blvd.
Rohnert Park, CA 94928
SUBJECT: Inadequacy
of City of Rohnert Park Final Water Supply Assessment
Dear Mr. Bendorff:
We understand that the Rohnert Park
City Council is considering adoption of the City of Rohnert
Park Final Water Supply Assessment (WSA). We did not
receive a copy of this report, and we were only recently
made aware of these proceedings. We
have reviewed the Draft and Final Water Supply Assessment
documents on the City of Rohnert Park’s web site
and offer the following comments.
We find the WSA deficient for the following reasons:
The conclusions based on the WSA have not been adequately
quantified and validated with suitable hydrologic tests
and analysis. The WSA does not assess the likely magnitude
and significance of decline in the groundwater table of
the Lichau Creek area with regard to all direct-and-indirect
project effects, and cumulative effects on beneficial uses
of Lichau Creek, which include cold freshwater habitat,
migration, spawning, warm freshwater habitat, domestic
water supply, agricultural water supply, and groundwater
recharge. Additionally, the results of this report appear
to contradict the conclusions of other reports conducted
in the same study area.
Accordingly, we request that the City Council
not adopt the WSA until it has been modified
to adequately evaluate the groundwater supply available
and the potential significant impacts to the environment
within the Lichau Creek drainage and the Petaluma Valley
Groundwater Basin. Water Board staff is available to
work with the City to accomplish this during the WSA
approval process. Please be aware that as it is
the responsibility of the Water Board to protect the
quality and beneficial uses of waters of the State within
its jurisdiction. If the WSA is not modified to
adequately evaluate potential impacts to ground and surface
waters within the Lichau Creek drainage basin, we may
need to require technical reports and/or monitoring reports
for future projects located within the Southeast Plan
Area pursuant to our authority under the California Water
Code.
While the study area for this assessment
project is located within the North Coast Regional Water
Quality Control Board’s
jurisdiction, the adoption of WSA poses potential adverse
impacts to the quality and quantity of waters and associated
beneficial uses of the Petaluma Valley Groundwater Basin
and Lichau Creek, which are located within the jurisdiction
of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control
Board (Water Board). Based on our review of the Draft
WSA, Final WSA, and the Technical Memorandum, we have determined
that the WSA fails to adequately evaluate the groundwater
supply available and potential impacts to the Petaluma
Valley Groundwater Basin and Lichau Creek.
We find the WSA inadequate for the following reasons:
- The WSA relies on simplified water budget analysis
that does not quantify inflows to the groundwater basin.
- The WSA ignores the detailed Rohnert Park specific
groundwater modeling study used for the current General
Plan EIR (2000). The WSA does not discuss or reference
the results of this study, even though the USGS MODFLOW
code used for the study provides a more detailed assessment
of groundwater supplies.
- In the analysis of long-term
water levels and pumping trends, the WSA relies on
a review of the City pumpage data from 1977 to present
despite available data for previous years. In
order to accurately predict long-term trends, it is
necessary to expand the period of study to accurately
reflect the impacts of increased pumping and development.
For example, well data provided in the Cardwell Report
(1952) could provide additional information on long-term
trends.
- The WSA relies on a simplified view of aquifer system
by dividing it into zones for analysis with out considering
the geologic conditions present at each site.
- The Technical Memorandum does not adequately address
conflicts with the conclusions of the Canon Manor DEIR,
which concluded that an increase in pumping at the Penngrove
Water Company well for an additional 110 homes could
be a significant and unavoidable impact.
In conclusion, the Water Board is
responsible for protection of the quality and beneficial
uses of waters of the State within our Region’s geographic boundary. Notably,
Lichau Creek supports a run of steelhead trout (Petaluma
Watershed Enhancement Plan, 1999), a species listed under
the federal Endangered Species Act as threatened in Central
California.Our two main concerns relate to potential ground
and surface water impacts associated with increased extraction
of groundwater that may further lower the groundwater table
in the Lichau Creek area:
1) It could result in the killing of trees along the Lichau
Creek riparian corridor and elsewhere in the drainage basin,
cause a loss of groundwater recharge to Lichau Creek, thereby
producing a loss of dry season refugia pools and increase
in temperature of Lichau Creek during summer and autumn
months and degradation of water quality, and potential
surface feature subsidence; and
2) It may adversely affect the quantity
and quality of groundwater available from existing domestic
and agricultural wells.
We appreciate your consideration of this matter. If you
have any questions, please contact Matt Graul at (510)
622- 2494, mgraul@waterboards.ca.gov, or Abigail Smith
at (510) 622-2413, asmith@waterboards.ca.gov, or me at
(510) 622-2364, whurley@waterboards.ca.gov.
Sincerely,
Original
signed by
William
B. Hurley
Section
Leader,
North
Bay Watershed Division
Cc: List attached
January
21, 2005
File
No. 2148.02(wbh)
Steve Dee
Sonoma County Permit and Resource Management
Department
2550 Ventura Avenue
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
SUBJECT: Inadequate Evaluation
of Potential Environmental Impacts - Canon Manor West
Subdivision Assessment District EIR (SCH#2003112088)
Dear Mr. Dee:
We understand that the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
is considering the certification of the Environmental Impact
Report (EIR) for the Canon Manor Subdivision Assessment
District (project).
We find the EIR deficient for the following reasons:
The EIR does not adequately assess the likely magnitude
and significance of decline in the groundwater table of
the Lichau Creek area with regard to all direct-and-indirect
project effects, and cumulative effects on beneficial uses
of Lichau Creek, which include cold freshwater habitat,
migration, spawning, warm freshwater habitat, domestic
water supply, agricultural water supply, and groundwater
recharge.
Accordingly, we request that the Board of Supervisors
not certify the EIR until it has been expanded
to evaluate and mitigate potential significant impacts
to the environment within the Lichau Creek drainage. As
discussed below, we believe that the CEQA process is
the appropriate mechanism to evaluate and mitigate significant
potential impacts to the Petaluma Valley Groundwater
Basin and Lichau Creek, and the Water Board staff is
available to work with the County to accomplish this
through the CEQA process. However, please be aware
that as it is the responsibility of the Water Board to
protect the quality and beneficial uses of waters of
the State within its jurisdiction. If the Canon
Manor project EIR does not adequately evaluate and mitigate
potential significant impacts to ground and surface waters
within the Lichau Creek drainage basin, we would be obliged
to require technical reports and/or monitoring reports
pursuant to our authority under the California Water
Code.
While the project is located within the North Coast Regional
Water Quality Control Board’s jurisdiction, it poses
potential adverse impacts to the quality and quantity of
waters and associated beneficial uses of the Petaluma Valley
Groundwater Basin and Lichau Creek, which are located within
the jurisdiction of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water
Quality Control Board (Water Board). CEQA mandates
that Sonoma County as lead agency evaluate all potential
significant impacts and impose all feasible mitigation
measures for the project (CEQA Guidelines Sections 15021
and 15091). Based on our review of the subject CEQA
documents and responses to comments, we have determined
that the EIR fails to adequately evaluate and impose mitigation
measures for potential significant impacts to the Petaluma
Valley Groundwater Basin and Lichau Creek, as discussed
below.
The Water Board is responsible for protection of the quality
and beneficial uses of waters of the State within our Region’s
geographic boundary. Notably, Lichau Creek supports
a run of steelhead trout (Petaluma Watershed Enhancement
Plan, 1999), a species listed under the federal Endangered
Species Act as threatened in Central California.
We believe that the CEQA process is the appropriate mechanism
to evaluate and mitigate significant potential impacts
to the Petaluma Valley Groundwater Basin and Lichau Creek,
and the Water Board staff is available to work with the
County to accomplish this through the CEQA process. However,
please be aware that under California Water Code Section
13267, the Water Board can require any "citizen or
domiciliary, or political agency or entity of this State
who has discharged, discharges, or is suspected of having
discharged or discharging, or who proposes to discharge
waste outside of its region that could affect the quality
of waters within its region" to furnish technical
or monitoring reports. Accordingly, as it is
the responsibility of the Water Board to protect the quality
and beneficial uses of waters of the State within its jurisdiction,
if the Canon Manor project EIR does not adequately evaluate
and mitigate potential significant impacts to ground and
surface waters within the Lichau Creek drainage basin,
we would be obliged to require technical reports and/or
monitoring reports pursuant to CWC Section 13267.
The EIR acknowledges that groundwater is already being
withdrawn from the groundwater basin within the Lichau
Creek drainage to augment overdrafted/allocated groundwater
in the basin to the north, which has apparently caused
a significant relocation of the groundwater basin divide
(separating direction of groundwater flow) to the south,
proximate to Lichau Creek. The sphere of influence
of the groundwater drawdown is reported to already extend
beneath Lichau Creek at one location. The EIR states
that the project “could significantly impact groundwater
because it could cause more water to be withdrawn from
the aquifer then is currently being recharged.” Despite
the acknowledgement that the project may significantly
impact groundwater recharge, the analysis fails to evaluate
the potential impact of reduced groundwater recharge on
waters within our Region. Evaluation of the potential
impacts to the Petaluma Valley Groundwater Basin and Lichau
Creek should be based in part on the City of Rohnert Park’s
historic high pumping rates, because the court injunction
limiting the City’s pumping rates is conditioned
upon the availability of water supply from the Sonoma County
Water Agency, which may not be available under emergency
or drought conditions.
We appreciate your consideration of this matter and apologize
for our delayed comments. Unfortunately, because
the project is located within the jurisdictional boundary
of the North Coast Water Board, we forwarded the Draft
EIR to that Water Board for its review and comment. The
potential for this project to impact waters within our
jurisdiction was only recently brought to our attention
by local residents. If you have any questions,
please contact Matt Graul at (510) 622- 2494, mgraul@waterboards.ca.gov,
or Abigail Smith at (510) 622-2413, asmith@waterboards.ca.gov,
or me at (510) 622-2364, whurley@waterboards.ca.gov.
Sincerely,
Original
signed by
William
B. Hurley
Section
Leader,
North
Bay Watershed Division
Cc: List attached
