Notice of Availability of Draft Environmental Impact Report
See links to the DRAFT EIR volumes under "Published studies and other resources". Deadline for written comment is November 13, 2023 at 4:30 p.m.
The recording of the October 19, 2023 virtual community meeting is available below.
Public Review of Draft EIR
The Draft EIR will also be available for public review at:
EBMUD Offices, 375 Eleventh Street, MS 701, Oakland, California 94607
Walnut Creek Public Library, 1644 North Broadway, Walnut Creek, CA 94596
Lafayette Library, 3491 Mt. Diablo Boulevard, Lafayette, CA 94549.
The 45-day public review period is from September 29, 2023, to November 13, 2023. Comments must be received by 4:30 p.m. on November 13, 2023. Written comments must be submitted to: Chien Wang, 375 Eleventh Street, MS 701, Oakland, California 94607, or emailed to wcwtp.pretreatment@ebmud.com.
Project description
The Walnut Creek Water Treatment Plant (WTP), located at 2201 Larkey Lane, Walnut Creek, is the primary water supply for approximately 225,000 people in the District’s East-of-Hills service area, which includes portions of Pleasant Hill, portions of Walnut Creek, Alamo, Lafayette, Danville, Blackhawk, and San Ramon Valley communities. The Walnut Creek WTP treats Mokelumne River water stored in the Sierra foothills at Pardee Reservoir and water stored locally in Briones Reservoir. The Walnut Creek WTP lacks pretreatment and ozone facilities that limit its ability to treat water from the Sacramento River or other water transfers via the Freeport Regional Water Project facility (Freeport) and from neighboring water agencies via interties during planned and unplanned outages, as well as during droughts.
The Walnut Creek WTP Pretreatment Project (Project) would add pretreatment facilities to the Walnut Creek WTP to more reliably treat a broader range of untreated Pardee and Briones water resulting from high rainfall runoff, wildfires, algae blooms, climate change, improve the ability to treat supplemental supplies from Freeport or the interties during planned and unplanned outages and droughts, and improve treated water taste and odor by removing organics and by adding ozone treatment. The Project would increase the Walnut Creek WTP capacity to meet planned future demands, improve water system reliability and operational flexibility, and allow for the potential decommissioning of the Lafayette WTP. Hydraulic changes at the Walnut Creek WTP would require modification of weir structures at the Lafayette WTP, located at 3848 Mt. Diablo Boulevard in Lafayette.
Workplan and schedule
EBMUD published a Notice of Preparation (NOP) of an EIR in February 2022 and held a virtual community meeting in March 2022. EBMUD released the Notice of Availability of a Draft EIR on September 28, 2023. Action on the EIR is currently scheduled to be taken by the EBMUD Board of Directors at a regularly scheduled board meeting in June 2024 at 375 Eleventh Street, Oakland, CA.
The Project would be designed and constructed in two separate phases. Phase 1 is planned for construction from 2027 to 2030 and would allow EBMUD to more reliably treat a broader range of water quality up to a capacity of 125 million gallons per day (MGD). Phase 2 would allow the Walnut Creek WTP to further improve the ability to treat a broader range of water quality and would increase the capacity to 160 MGD. The construction timing of the Phase 2 improvements is not firmly established but will depend on untreated water quality conditions in the future and the timing of future demands.
Recording of Thursday, October 19, 2023 Virtual Community Meeting
Recording of Wednesday, March 16, 2022 Virtual Community Meeting
Contact
Community Affairs
Email: construction-east@ebmud.com
Phone: 510-287-2053
For after-hours assistance, please contact: 1-866-403-2683
Contractors: For bid opportunities on EBMUD projects, see Business Center.
