SDIP Documents

Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report South Delta Improvements Program

Prepared by the Bureau of Reclamation for the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Department of Water Resources for the State of California Resources Agency

This Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) is prepared in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) policy and procedures for implementing NEPA. Additionally, this EIS/EIR is prepared in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and Guidelines.

Reclamation and the Department of Water Resources (DWR) are evaluating the impacts of implementing the South Delta Improvements Program (SDIP). The general purposes of the SDIP were identified by the Agencies, as follows:

(a) reduce the movement of San Joaquin River watershed Central Valley fall-/late fall–run Chinook salmon into the south Delta via Old River;

(b) maintain adequate water levels and, through improved circulation, water quality available for agricultural diversions in the south Delta, downstream of the head of Old River; and

(c) increase water deliveries and delivery reliability for State Water Project (SWP) and Central Valley Project (CVP) water contractors south of the Delta and provide opportunities to convey water for fish and wildlife refuge purposes by increasing the maximum permitted level of diversion through the existing intake gates at Clifton Court Forebay from 6,680 to 8,500 cubic feet per second.

This Draft EIS/EIR documents the assessment of a long-term comprehensive plan to improve water management for beneficial uses and coordination between state and federal water projects. The Draft EIS/EIR focuses on site specific and system-wide impacts of implementing actions that will improve water deliveries for south Delta agriculture, improve fish protection, and increase the amount and reliability of water deliveries for the SWP and CVP. The impact assessment focuses on benefits and impacts to hydrology, water quality, fish resources, recreation, vegetation and wildlife, visual resources, cultural resources, land use, geology, soils, seismicity, groundwater, traffic and circulation, air quality, noise, public health and safety, economics, and growth inducement. The Draft EIS/EIR also considers cumulative hydrologic and water service area impacts of reasonably foreseeable land and water resource actions.

For further information regarding this Draft EIS/EIR, please contact Mr. Paul Marshall, State of California Department of Resources, Bay Delta Office, 1416 Ninth Street, Sacramento, California, 95814, or Ms. Sharon McHale, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Mid-Pacific Region, 2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento, California 95825.