3.0 PROJECT DESCRIPTION Chapter 3.0 Project Description 3.0 Project Description 3.1 Proposed Project The El Dorado Water & Power Authority (EDWPA) has filed with the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), Division of Water Rights, 5644X02 and 5645X12 for partial assignment of each of State Filed Applications (SFAs) 5644 and 5645, and accompanying applications allowing for the total withdrawal for use of 40,000 acre-feet annually (AFA) from the American River Basin. The proposed project is defined as the acquisition of these water rights and to make consumptive use of this water. The proposed partial assignment from SFAs with a 1927 priority date would make these new water rights senior to many downstream appropriators on the American River, such as the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) and the City of Sacramento (City). This 1927 priority date is legally significant because, under California water law, appropriative water rights are granted on the principle of, “First in time, first in right.” Under this system, the most senior appropriator is entitled to take its entire appropriation before the next most senior appropriator can successfully lay claim to its water right. Depending on water availability, there may be years when junior right holders may not be entitled to take the full amounts of water to which they are ostensibly entitled, even though they hold a valid right. The water supply sought originates from American River sources, including water presently stored and released from Loon Lake Reservoir, Union Valley and Ice House Reservoirs and certain direct diversions from the upper Rubicon River (tributary to the Middle and North Fork American Rivers) and Silver Creek (tributary to the South Fork American River), all of which have been used by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) for approximately 50 years for hydroelectric power generation in its FERC Project No. 2101, also known as the Upper American River Project (UARP) located in El Dorado County, California. The proposed project is consistent with the diversion and storage locations allowed under the El Dorado-SMUD Cooperation Agreement, which can be found in Appendix B. Under the terms of the Cooperation Agreement, SMUD would continue to operate the UARP pursuant to its FERC operational license, while also meeting water deliveries called for by EDWPA. EDWPA has prepared this EIR as the Lead Agency pursuant to Section 15051(a) of the CEQA Guidelines, since EDWPA is the public agency that will carry out the proposed project. As noted in Chapter 1.0 Introduction, this EIR represents a two-tier document. At the project level, it addresses the potential environmental effects of the new water right acquisition at the local, regional and State-wide levels across a broad range of water- 3.0-1 Chapter 3.0 Project Description related environmental resources. It also addresses at the project level the potential indirect effects of serving this new water supply within the existing service areas and favorable areas (i.e., Favorable Areas) consistent with the growth projections and conclusions reached by the El Dorado General Plan and its accompanying EIR. This current EIR, however, does not evaluate the final infrastructure and facility requirements necessary to fully implement the proposed project. This is because it is not possible at this time for water purveyors to determine facility siting, design, and construction-related surveying prior to acquiring a new water supply that would generate such a need. Pursuant to Section 15145 of the CEQA Guidelines, the EIR cannot speculate on the site- specific, project-level environmental effects of these facilities. Such facilities and infrastructure, however, are described to the extent known and this discussion sets the framework for the program level impact analysis provided later in the EIR regarding the types of construction and operational effects these facilities would impart on the environment. 3.2 Project Objectives The fundamental objective of the proposed project is to establish new permitted water rights allowing for the diversion of water from the American River basin meeting planned future consumptive water demands within the western slopes of El Dorado County. EDWPA, as the permittee, would contract with the El Dorado Irrigation District (EID) and Georgetown Divide Public Utility District (GDPUD), or other future newly formed entity, to allow the use of water under the permit within the EID and GDPUD service areas as well as other areas located within the western slopes of El Dorado County as those demands are realized in the future. A secondary but very important project objective is to obtain the benefits of policies in California water law protecting the interests of so-called “counties of origin” or “areas of origin.” Here, that benefit can be obtained through the acquisition of water rights with the 1927 priority date associated with State Filed Applications (SFAs) 5644 and 5645. The fundamental objective of the proposed project – to establish the right to divert up to 40,000 AFA from the American River basin – reflects the legal mandates and obligations of the various participating agencies, which generally require them to identify and obtain sufficient amounts of water to serve projected and approved demand in their respective service areas. As explained previously, EDWPA is a Joint Powers Authority, organized under the Joint Exercise of Powers Act (Gov. Code, § 6500 et seq.), comprised of the County of El Dorado (the “County”), the El Dorado County Water Agency (EDCWA) and EID. In 2004, the County, EDCWA and EID formed EDWPA in order to enable them to jointly negotiate with SMUD their storage and water delivery use rights to the Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s (SMUD’s) Upper American River Project 3.0-2 Chapter 3.0 Project Description (UARP), and to jointly represent its member agencies with regard to SMUD’s applications for UARP relicensing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). EDCWA is a district created by Chapter 96 of the California Water Code Appendices. Its mission is to ensure that present and future water demands within the County are met. EDCWA’s jurisdictional area consists of all territory lying within the boundaries of El Dorado County. EID is an irrigation district organized and existing under the Irrigation District Law, California Water Code Division 11. GDPUD is a public utility district formed pursuant to the Public Utility District Act (Pub. Util. Code, §§ 15501 – 18055), whose duties include providing water supply within its boundaries. (See also Pub. Util. Code, §§ 16407 [provision of water to customers], 16461 [powers of public utility districts].) The traditional understanding of water suppliers under California law is that there is a “duty to serve” new development as anticipated in adopted general plans. As reflected in case law, this obligation has been understood to require water suppliers to find and develop any new water supplies needed to meet projected growth levels in their service areas. (See Swanson v. Marin Municipal Water Dist. (1976) 56 Cal.App.3d 512, 524 (water district has a “continuing obligation to exert every reasonable effort to augment its available water supply in order to meet increasing demand”); Glenbrook Development Co. v. City of Brea (1967) 253 Cal.App.2d 267, 277 (“county water district has a mandatory duty of furnishing water to inhabitants within the district’s boundaries”); see also Lukrawka v. Spring Valley Water Co. (1915) 169 Cal.318, 322; Building Industry Assn. of Northern California v. Marin Municipal Water Dist. (1991) 235 Cal.App.3d 1641, 1648-1649.) Consistent with this traditional obligation, a “distributor of a public water supply” can refuse to supply water to new development only if the distributor “finds and determines that the ordinary demands and requirements of water customers cannot be satisfied without depleting the water supply of the distributor to the extent that there would be insufficient water for human consumption, sanitation, and fire protection.” (Cal. Water Code, § 350.) The Urban Water Management Planning Act (Cal. Water Code, § 10610 et seq.), as amended in 2001, contains provisions embodying this “duty to serve.” The Act was passed in response to the California Legislature’s concern that California’s water supply agencies might not be engaged in adequate long-term planning. That Act requires “urban water suppliers” to maintain an “urban water management plan” that must identify existing water supply and demand, and must identify any new water sources required to 3.0-3 Chapter 3.0 Project Description satisfy demand as projected at least 20 years into the future. The projected 20-year supply must account for “average, single-dry, and multiple-dry water years.” In predicting 20-year water demands, urban water agencies must rely on “data from the state, regional, or local service agency population projections.” Thus, for example, to the extent that El Dorado County anticipates large population increases in its adopted general plan, EDCWA and water suppliers in the County are required to identify water sources necessary to serve such planned development, and are not in a position to refuse to comply with that legal obligation as a means of reducing the “growth-inducing” effects of obtaining new water supplies. Under California Water Code sections 10910 and 10912, as amended in 2001 (also known as Senate Bill [SB] 610), an urban water supplier must consult with the county and cities within the supplier’s service area when those entities propose development projects of a certain magnitude (e.g., residential projects with more than 500 dwelling units or a retail or business establishment employing more than 1,000 persons or having more than 250,000 square feet). The water supplier must respond to these requests either by identifying the water sources available to serve such development or by identifying the plans it would follow to obtain new water supplies for such developments.