Notice of Availability of Final Environmental Impact Report
See links to the EIR documents under "Published studies and other resources" below. The Final EIR (FEIR) includes the public comments received on the Draft EIR, EBMUD responses to the public comments, as well as revisions and changes to the Draft EIR.
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, and held a virtual community meeting in October 2023. The 45-day public review period for the Draft EIR was September 29 to November 13, 2023. The Final EIR was released on May 30, 2024. The EBMUD Board of Directors certified the Final EIR and approved the Project on July 9, 2024, at a regularly scheduled Board meeting 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.
