1. ESP 179- Winter 2013
Hydrology and Water Quality
January 22, 2012
Instructor: Trevor Macenski

2. Email Questions
 EIR Assignment
 Only Review a Draft Environmental Impact Report
 It is ok if it’s a joint EIR/EIS document
 Thresholds Matrix
 Two EIR’s Same Project Different Locations
 Compare and Contrast
 Matrix Worksheet-Kevin to provide
 ISMND Assignment- Group Project
 8-10
 4 project choices
 Presentation
 Changing Thresholds Question

3. Lecture Outline
 Review CEQA Checklist Questions
 Federal Clean Water Act
 CA’s Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act
 RWQCBs
 303d List
 Flood Hazards
 Impact Analysis Approach
 Groundwater and WSA’s
 Sample Discussion and Analysis
 Extra Credit- Reminder

4. Hydrology and Water Quality
 Appendix G Checklist: Hydrology and Water Quality
 Water Quality Standards and Waste Discharge
Requirements
 Groundwater: supply, recharge, concept of “net deficit”,
 Alter drainage patterns and result in erosion or siltation
 Alter drainage an result in flooding
 Exceed capacity of drainage systems
 Degrade water quality
 Place housing within 100 year flood hazard
 Structures that would impede flood flows
 Levee or Dam failure
 Inundation by seiche, tsunami, or mudflow

5. Appendix G: Checklist Questions
Projects that discharge
waste/storm water
Projects that are using
groundwater:
Residential/Commercial/
Industrial/ Energy
Projects that have large
cut and fill. Redirecting
water.

6. Projects that have large
cut and fill. Redirecting
water.
Projects that have
increase impervious
surfaces.

7. Water Quality Standards
 Pursuant to the Federal Clean Water Act,
water quality standards are "provisions of
State or Federal law which consist of a
designated use or uses for the waters of
the United States and water quality
criteria for such waters based upon such
uses. Water quality standards are to
protect the public health or welfare,
enhance the quality of water and serve the
purposes of the Act."

8. Federal Clean Water Act
 The Clean Water Act (CWA)is the major
federal legislation governing water quality.
 The objective of the CWA is “to restore and
maintain the chemical, physical, and
biological integrity of the Nation’s
waters.”
 Important applicable sections of the Act are as
follows:
Section 301 prohibits the discharge of any pollutant
by any person, except as in compliance with Sections
302, 306, 307, 318, 402, and 404 of the CWA.
Sections 303 and 304 provide for water-quality
standards, criteria, and guidelines.

9. Federal Clean Water Act
Section 401 requires an activity which may result in
a discharge to “waters of the United States” to obtain
certification from the State. Certification is provided
by the RWQCB.
Section 402 establishes the National Pollution
Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) a permitting
system for the discharge of any pollutant (except for
dredge or fill material) into waters of the United
States. This permit program is administered by the
RWQCB.
Section 404 establishes a permit program for the
discharge of dredge or fill material into waters of the
United States. This permit program is administered
by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)

10. CA’s Porter-Cologne Water Quality
Control Act
 Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act
(California Water Code Section 13000, et
seq.) provides the basis for water quality
regulation within California.
 The Act requires a “Report of Waste
Discharge” to land or surface waters that
may impair a beneficial use of surface or
groundwater of the State.
 In practice, these requirements are typically
integrated with the NPDES permitting process.

11. CA’s Porter-Cologne Water Quality
Control Act
 The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) and the
various RWQCBs throughout the State
 Water Quality Control Plans (Basin Plans).
 These plans establish water quality standards for particular bodies
of water. California water quality standards are composed of three
parts:
 the designation of beneficial uses of water
 water quality objectives to protect those uses
 implementation programs designed to achieve and maintain
compliance with the water quality objectives.
 The RWQCB implements management plans to modify and
adopt standards under provisions set forth in section
303(c) of the Federal CWA and California Water Code
(Division 7, Section 13240). Under Section 303(d) of the
1972 CWA, the State is required to develop a list of waters
with segments that do not meet water quality standards.

12. RWQCBs
 The Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act
took effect on January 1, 1970. It combined the
State Water Rights Board and the State Water
Resources Control Board and created the nine
Regional Water Boards:
 Region 1: North Coastal RWQCB
 Region 2: SF RWQCB
 Region 3: Central Coastal RWQCB
 Region 4: LA REWQCB
 Region 5: Central Valley RWQCB
 Region 6: Lahontan RWQCB
 Region 7: Colorado River RWQCB
 Region 8: Santa Ana RWQCB
 Region 9: SD RWQCB

13. 303 (d) List and TDML’s
 Total Maximum Daily Loads
 A total maximum daily load (TMDL) refers to the
amount of a specific pollutant a river, stream, or
lake can assimilate and still meet federal water
quality standards as provided in the CWA.
 The SWQCB’s 303(d) list is an EPA approved list
of impaired water bodies in the State of California
(2008-2010).
 The list includes a priority schedule for the development
of TMDLs for each contaminant or “stressor” impacting
the water body. The major source of pathogens are
typically:
 septic wastewater treatment systems
 runoff from new urban development

14. National Flood Insurance Program
 The Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) administers the National Flood Insurance
Program (NFIP)
 FEMA issues flood insurance rate maps for communities
participating in the NFIP. These maps delineate flood
hazard zones for each project site. Executive Order
11988 (Floodplain Management) addresses floodplain
issues related to public safety, conservation, and
economics. It requires:
 Avoidance of incompatible floodplain development;
 Consistency with the standards and criteria of the NFIP;
and
 Restoration and preservation of the natural and
beneficial floodplain values.

15. Inundation Hazards
 Seiche- (saysh): a series of standing waves (sloshing
action) of an enclosed body or partially enclosed body of
water caused by earthquake shaking. Seiche action can
affect harbors, bays, lakes, rivers, and canals.
 Tsunami- (soo-NAH-mee): a Japanese word that means
harbor wave; a sea wave of local or distant origin that
results from large-scale seafloor displacements associated
with large earthquakes, major submarine slides, or
exploding volcanic islands. Typically generated by seismic
or volcanic activity or by underwater landslides, a tsunami
consists of a series of high-energy waves that radiate
outward like pond ripples from the area in which the
generating event occurred.
 Folsom Dam- Video

17. Hydrology
 Precipitation
 Mean annual rainfall
 Drainage Manuals- City and County Specific
 100-year storm event
 Soils
 Soil classification- NRCS Soil Surveys
 Hydrologic Soil Group
 Infiltration
 SCS runoff curve numbers
 Topography
 Surveying line elevations

18. Hydraulics Analysis
 Capture it:
 Do you have enough capacity?
 Retention Basin= Hold and release
 Detention Basin= Holds for evaporation and percolation
 Stormwater Cells= Percolation
 Urban Stormwater System
 Infrastructure capacity- StormCAD
 Discharge it:
 Does the river or stream have enough capacity?
 Pre and Post Project Flow modeling:
 HEC-RAS Modeling

19. Groundwater and Recharge
Analysis
 Groundwater Recharge?
 Large land development projects
Large areas of impervious surfaces
 Recharge wells?
 Geotechnical Study
 Stormwater or Infrastructure Study
 Urban Water Management Plan
High recharge area?
Impaired water basin?

20. Groundwater Use and WSA’s
 Vineyard Area Citizens (4 Approaches)
1) Applicable to multi-phased projects requiring
procurement of additional supply for each
phase.
 EIR to indicate whether there likely would be a
rough regional balance between water supply and
demand by analyzing competing long-term water
demands within the applicable region (e.g., the
relevant water agency zone) and the potential effect
of such competing demands on the project’s ability
to obtain sufficient water.
Example: Conversion from Agricultural Use to Residential Use

21. Groundwater and WSA’s Cont.
2) The second approach is to demonstrate a
“reasonable likelihood” that water will be
available for the project from an identified
source “by other means.”
 Such a demonstration could be supported by:
 A description of infrastructure proposed to connect the water
supply to the project
 The scheduled timing for constructing such infrastructure
 a funding mechanism that is in place for the infrastructure
construction
 And evidence that available supply will not be allocated to
other competing development.
Evidence of contractual or other rights to water supply
would also support a demonstration that an identified
source is reasonably likely to be available
Example: Prison Expansion, planned infrastructure.

22. Groundwater and WSA’s Cont.
3) The third possible approach to CEQA compliance could be
used in circumstances where it is not possible to
demonstrate a reasonable likelihood that water from
identified sources will be sufficient.
 In such circumstances, the EIR must identify:
 Potential sources of water
 The environmental impacts of relying on those sources
 The likelihood the identified sources will be available.
Additionally, the EIR must disclose any uncertainty regarding
the supply, and where uncertainty exists, identify possible
replacement sources or alternatives to use of the
anticipated water, discuss their environmental
consequences, and identify mitigation measures to
minimize each adverse impact.
Example: Basin in overdraft. Now what? Water right acquisition?

23. Groundwater and WSA’s Cont.
4) The Court also indicated that a fourth
approach would be for the EIR to
incorporate or rely on an existing urban
water management plan (UWMP)
 provided the UWMP accounted for the expected
new demand of the development project at issue
 Urban water suppliers are required to prepare and
periodically update UWMPs
 Must :describe and project estimated past, present, and
future water sources, supply, and demand for at least a
20-year
 Vineyard Area Citizens makes it clear that in relying
upon the information in the UWMP, or for that matter
in relying upon any evidence in other outside
documents, the drafter of a CEQA water supply
analysis must be careful to properly reference,
summarize, or otherwise guide the reader to the
relevant information in that document.
Example: Basin in overdraft. General Plan EIR?

24. Sample EIR Discussion

25. Significant Hydrology Impacts
 What are a few types of projects?
 Oil and Natural Gas Wells- Hydraulic Fracturing
 Concentrated Solar Thermal
 Sand and Gravel Mining
 Large Industrial/Residential Developments
 Many many more.

26. Questions?
Thank You