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Storage and Return of Westlands Water District's Central Valley

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Storage and Return of Westlands Water District's Central Valley Draft Environmental Assessment Storage and Return of Westlands Water District’s Central Valley Project Water in Semitropic Water Storage District EA-08-64 U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation Mid Pacific Region South Central California Area Office Fresno, California August 2008 This page intentionally left blank Table of Contents Section 1 Purpose of and Need for Action ................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background..................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Purpose and Need ........................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Scope............................................................................................................................... 2 1.4 Potential Issues................................................................................................................ 3 Section 2 Alternatives Including Proposed Action....................................................................... 6 2.1 Alternative A: Continue Present Actions – No Action.................................................. 6 2.2 Alternative B: Proposed Action..................................................................................... 6 Section 3 Affected Environment & Environmental Consequenses.............................................. 9 3.1 Surface Water Resources ................................................................................................ 9 3.2 GroundWater Resources ............................................................................................... 14 3.3 Land Use ....................................................................................................................... 20 3.4 Biological Resources .................................................................................................... 25 3.5 Cultural Resources........................................................................................................ 30 3.6 Indian Trust Assets ....................................................................................................... 31 3.7 Socioeconomic Resources ............................................................................................ 31 3.8 Environmental Justice................................................................................................... 33 Section 4 Consultation and Coordination ................................................................................... 35 4.1 Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (16 USC § 651 et seq.)........................................ 35 4.2 Endangered Species Act (16 USC § 1521 et seq.)........................................................ 35 4.3 National Historic Preservation Act (16 USC § 470 et seq.) ......................................... 35 4.4 Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 USC Sec. 703 et seq.).................................................. 36 4.5 Executive Order 11988 –Floodplain Management and Executive Order 11990- Protection of Wetlands.............................................................................................................. 36 Section 5 List of Preparers and Reviewers ................................................................................. 37 Section 6 References................................................................................................................... 38 List of Figures and Tables Figure 1-1: Westlands Water District General Location Map.........................................................4 Figure 1-2: Semitropic Water Storage District General Location Map..........................................5 Figure 3-1: Semitropic Water Storage District History of Ground Water Pumping Lifts………18 Figure 3-2: Poso Creek Water Co LLC Ownership & Accompanying Lands Northern portion 23 Figure 3-3: Poso Creek Water Co LLC Ownership & Accompanying Lands Southern portion 24 Table 3-1: Poso Creek Water Company, LLC Ownership & Acreage.........................................22 Table 3-2: WWD Banking In Semitropic .....................................................................................12 Table 3-3 July’s Average Aqueduct Water Quality……………………………………………..13 Table 3-4: Groundwater Quality Beneath Semitropic ..................................................................19 Table 3-5: Land Use in Semitropic Water Storage District……………………………………..25 Table 3-6: Federal Status Species on Quad Lists...………………………………………….28-29 Draft Environmental Assessment ii EA-08-64 List of Acronyms, Abbreviations and Definition of Terms AF acre-foot (feet) Af/y acre-feet per year APE area of potential effect Aqueduct California Aqueduct a State Water Project facility stretching from the Delta to southern California Contract Year Begins March 1st and ends February 28th of the following year. CVP Central Valley Project Delta Sacramento and San Joaquin River Delta DWR Department of Water Resources EA Environmental Assessment ESA Endangered Species Act FWCA Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act FWS U .S. Fish and Wildlife Service FONSI Finding of No Significant Impact ITAs Indian Trust Assets KCWA Kern County Water Agency MBTA Migratory Bird Treaty Act NEPA National Environmental Policy Act NHPA National Historic Preservation Act NRHP National Register of Historic Places Poso Creek Poso Creek Water Company, LLC Reclamation U.S. Bureau of Reclamation SCVWD Santa Clara Valley Water District Semitropic Semitropic Water Storage District SJV San Joaquin Valley SLC San Luis Canal SLR San Luis Reservoir SOD south of the Delta State State of California Subsidence Sinking of the ground surface, because of pore collapse, over an aquifer that is slowly being drained by groundwater pumping. SWP State Water Project SWRU Stored Water Recovery Unit WWD Westlands Water District EA-08-64 iii Draft Environmental Assessment SECTION 1 PURPOSE OF AND NEED FOR ACTION 1.1 BACKGROUND On February 27, 2008, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) announced that the Central Valley Project (CVP) allocation would be 40 percent for all agricultural water users south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Rivers Delta (Delta) (SOD) for Contract Year 2008 (a Contract Year begins March 1st and ends February 28th of the following year). The 5-year historic average for CVP SOD agricultural water service contractors is 76 percent. Additionally, delivery limitations were put in place over the summer limiting the quantity of water available in June, July and August 2008. In response to this loss of water supply, many acres of fields in Westlands Water District (WWD) were fallowed. These actions further reduced the water demand in the post summer time period (a period of normal decreased demand due to seasonal changes.) This will potentially result, counter intuitively, in WWD having more water in the remainder of 2008 Contract Year, despite the dryness of the year and the low allocation, than it needs to meet crop demands. There is also a potential that the winter will be wet which could also result in water supplies above crop demands. Proactively WWD would like to have the effects of banking water excess to their demands for future years so that the water needs in future dry years can be offset by banked supplies. Groundwater banking is allowable under Article 3 (d) of WWD interim-term contract, Contract No. 14-06-200-495A-IR1. WWD has a history of banking water in Semitropic Water Storage District (Semitropic) and currently has a balance of 20,922 acre-feet (AF) of CVP water at Semitropic from 2005, and 2006 banking. Although environmental documents were developed for a potential banking action, no CVP water was banked in Contract Year 2007. The 2005 banking was analyzed in the EA-05-96 entitled, Storage of Central Valley Project Water from Westland Water District in Semitropic Water Storage District, Final Environmental Assessment, November 2005. The return of the previously banked 2005 CVP water and the up to 50,000 AF of CVP water to be banked in 2006 were both included as part of the Proposed Action for EA-06-67 entitled Poso Creek Water Company, LLC Execution of Temporary Water Service Contract and Banking and Exchange of Section 215 Water at Semitropic Water Storage District. EA-06-67 analyzed Poso Creek Water Company LLC (Poso Creek,) (a consortium of landowners in WWD,) banking up to 15,000 AF of unstorable CVP flood flows in Semitropic in 2006. No unstorable flood flows analyzed in the document were delivered for banking in Semitropic in 2006. EA-06-78 entitled Storage and Exchange of Central Valley Project Water Westlands Water District to Semitropic Water Storage District analyzed the banking of 50,000 AF of WWD’s 2006 CVP supplies in Semitropic and the return of the previously banked 10,156 AF.. Another EA dated December 2008 entitled Madera Irrigation District Transfer, Banking and Exchange of Friant Central Valley Project Water to Westlands Water District as facilitated by North Kern Water Storage District, Semitropic Water Storage District and Kern County EA-08-64 1 Draft Environmental Assessment Water Agency analyzed Reclamation’s approval of a water transfer, banking and exchange project in which WWD would acquire and bank up to 25,000 AF of Madera Irrigation District’s 2006 allocated Friant Unit CVP contract supply in NKWSD’s and Semitropic’s facilities for use by WWD at a later date. This EA will analyze the potential banking of CVP water under WWD’s contract
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