Opinion ID: 2632447
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Long-term Surface Water Supplies

Text: With regard to the long-term provision of surface water supplies to the project, plaintiffs again stress the competing demands for new water in the County, including other planned growth and the replacement of contaminated groundwater. They first note that the only assured source of new surface water supplies, 15,000 afa in federal Fazio water (not all of which is yet available for diversion), is clearly inadequate to meet long-term water demand in the southern part of the County. In so arguing, however, plaintiffs seemingly ignore the additional planned surface water supplies disclosed in the Water Forum Proposal and the FEIR. True, those supplies are not certain to materialize: even the Fazio water may in practice be limited to something less than 15,000 afa by lack of adequate diversion and transmission facilities, while neither binding contracts nor established facilities financing has been demonstrated for the remaining new surface water. But as we have seen, CEQA does not require this level of certainty at planning stages prior to approval of permits, subdivision maps or other development entitlements. (Cf.Gov. Code, § 66473.7, subd. (d) [detailed verification of future supplies required at subdivision approval stage].) The FEIR discloses the remaining uncertainty regarding actual provision of surface water, noting that provision of a long-term reliable water supply ... cannot be ensured until facilities are approved. The EIR thus contains substantial evidence to support the conclusion that some part of the planned new surface water supplies will be developed and made available to the Water Agency for use in its Zone 40. Plaintiffs are correct, however, that the FEIR's discussion of the total long-term water supply and demand in the Water Agency's Zone 40 (which includes the Sunrise Douglas project) leaves too great a degree of uncertainty regarding the long-term availability of water for this project. Factual inconsistencies and lack of clarity in the FEIR leave the readerand the decision makerswithout substantial evidence for concluding that sufficient water is, in fact, likely to be available for the Sunrise Douglas project at full build out. Most fundamentally, the project FEIR and the Water Forum Proposal final EIR provide no consistent and coherent description of the future demand for new water due to growth in Zone 40 or of the amount of new surface water that is potentially available to serve that growth. Regarding demand, the FEIR (in its background water supply discussion) states: The average water demand to support growth approved in the 1993 General Plan for the Zone 40 area, as expanded, is approximately 113,000 AF/yr. But the Water Forum Proposal and its associated final EIR, assertedly working from the same general plan growth projections, provide a lower estimate: 87,000 afa in expanded Zone 40 demand by the year 2030. The reason for divergence in these estimates is not explained. Also left unclear is whether these figures represent water demand from expected growth alone or total demand including that from expected growth. As to supply, the FEIR, relying on the Water Forum Proposal, projects new surface water deliveries of approximately 63,857 afa to the south area of the County (which includes the project and the Well Field), but elsewhere (responding to a comment on the Draft EIR) discloses only 45,000 afa of expected new surface water (15,000 AF/year of `Fazio' water from the [Central Valley Project]; 30,000 AF/year from an assignment of [the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)'s] appropriative water rights on the American River), plus an application for an undisclosed amount of surplus supplies on the Sacramento River. The final EIR for the Water Forum Proposal, however, is more optimistic, disclosing to up to 78,000 afa in new surface water. [10] The FEIR does not explain the divergence between its estimates and those in the Water Forum Proposal, or even the FEIR's own use of divergent new surface water supply figures in different portions of its discussion. In its findings approving the project, the Board used the FEIR's estimated demand figure of 113,000 afa and the FEIR's new surface water supply figure of approximately 63,857 afa, but did not attempt to explain the different estimates appearing elsewhere in the Water Forum Proposal and FEIR. An explanation of the differences among these figures may well exist, but it did not appear in the FEIR presented to the public and the Board. Nor does the FEIR make clear how the available water supply is expected to meet total Zone 40 demand over the long term and, hence, why a sufficient amount of the identified water should reasonably be expected to be available for the Sunrise Douglas project. Demand of 113,000 afa to support growth obviously cannot be met with new supplies of 63,857 afa. Even using the lowest demand figure of 87,000 afa and the highest new surface water supply figure of 78,000 afa (both drawn from the Water Forum Proposal, not from the FEIR), a significant gap remains. The general answer given in the FEIR, and echoed by real parties and Rancho Cordova, is that the new surface water supplies are to be used conjunctively with groundwater supplies. But this explanation is vague and unquantified. By itself, reliance on conjunctive use is inadequate, for, as plaintiffs argue, CEQA requires more than a reference to a water supply management practice as water supply analysis. How much groundwater, existing and new, will be used with how much new surface water? In what combinations will these sources be used during wet and dry years, respectively? No such description of planned future water use appears in the FElIR. As an amicus curiae observes: The conjunctive use program ... lacks quantification, with no analysis that would disclose whether the program will produce sufficient supplies and storage capacity to meet expected demands. Instead of itself providing an analytically complete and coherent explanation, the FEIR notes that a full analysis of the planned conjunctive use program must await environmental review of the Water Agency's Zone 40 master plan update, which was pending at the time the FEIR was released. The Board's findings repeat this explanation. To the extent the FEIR attempted, in effect, to tier from a future environmental document, we reject its approach as legally improper under CEQA. If the environmental impact analysis the Water Agency expects to perform on its Zone 40 master plan update is important to understanding the long-term water supply for the Sunrise Douglas project, it should be performed in the Sunrise Douglas project FEIR even though that might result in subsequent duplication by the master plan update. If, as Rancho Cordova argues, such duplication would be an impractical waste of resources, the County could instead have deferred analysis and approval of the Sunrise Douglas project until the master plan update analysis was complete, then tiered the project FEIR from the programmatic analysis it performed there. What the County could not do was avoid full discussion of the likely water sources for the Sunrise Douglas project by referring to a not yet complete comprehensive analysis in the Zone 40 master plan update. CEQA's informational purpose is not satisfied by simply stating information will be provided in the future. ( Santa Clarita, supra, 106 Cal. App.4th at p. 723, 131 Cal.Rptr.2d 186.) A reader of the FEIR, moreover, cannot readily derive the missing quantitative analysis of conjunctive use from the figures provided. The 10,000 afa in new groundwater to be drawn from the Well Field does not appear sufficient to bridge the dry-year gap between new surface water supplies and demand due to Zone 40 growth, which appears to be 42,000 afa at a minimum: 45,000 afa in planned dry-year surface water diversion rights versus 87,000 afa in demand (both figures per the Water Forum Proposal final EIR). In wet years even less groundwater would be available for extraction, as conjunctive use involves recharging the aquifer in wet years. To be sure, the County's burden in preparing the FEIR for the Sunrise Douglas project was not necessarily to demonstrate with certainty that the County's total water supply in the year 2030 would be sufficient to meet its total demand, though some discussion of total supply and demand is necessary to evaluate the long-term cumulative impact of development on water supply. ( Santa Clarita, supra, 106 Cal.App.4th at p. 719, 131 Cal. Rptr.2d 186; see also CEQA Guidelines, Cal.Code Regs., tit. 14, § 15130, subd. (b)(1)(B) [cumulative impact analysis may employ projections in general planning documents].) But CEQA did require that the FEIR show a likelihood, water would be available, over the long term, for this project. [11] Without an explanation that shows at least an approximate long-term sufficiency in total supply, the public and decision makers could have no confidence that the identified sources were actually likely to fully serve this extraordinarily large development project. An EIR that neglects to explain the likely sources of water and analyze their impacts, but leaves long-term water supply considerations to later stages of the project, does not serve the purpose of sounding an `environmental alarm bell' ( Laurel Heights I, supra, 47 Cal.3d at p. 392, 253 Cal.Rptr. 426,' 764 P.2d 278) before the project has taken on overwhelming bureaucratic and financial momentum ( id. at p. 395, 253 Cal.Rptr. 426, 764 P.2d 278). In this respect, the FEIR's discussions of near- and long-term water supplies differ significantly. As explained in part I.B. above, the FEIR included substantial evidence that competing users would not deprive the Sunrise Douglas project of most of its planned groundwater from the Well Field. But the FEIR contains no evidence, other than the gross demand figures (which are, as noted, inconsistent) regarding the uses that might be expected to compete with Sunrise Douglas for the planned new surface water over the next 20 or more years. Real parties point to a discussion of conjunctive use in the Water Forum Proposal that refers to larger amounts of groundwater than will be drawn from the Well Field. But the origin and precise reference of these figures is not explained, nor is their connection to the demand figures made entirely plain. [12] More important, neither these figures nor any reference to this analysis appears in the FEIR or even, so far as we are able to determine, in the Water Forum Proposal's final EIR. A reader of the FEIR could not reasonably be expected to ferret out an unreferenced discussion in the earlier Water Forum Proposal, interpret that discussion's unexplained figures without assistance, and spontaneously incorporate them into the FEIR's own discussion of total projected supply and demand. The data in an EIR must not only be sufficient in quantity, it must be presented in a manner calculated to adequately inform the public and decision makers, who may not be previously familiar with the details of the project. [1 Information `scattered here and there in EIR appendices' or a report `buried in an appendix,' is not a substitute for `a good faith reasoned analysis.' ( California Oak, supra, 133 Cal.App.4th at p. 1239, 35 Cal.Rptr.3d 434, quoting Santa Clarita, supra, 106 Cal.App.4th at pp. 722-723, 131 Cal.Rptr.2d 186.) To the extent the County, in certifying the FEIR as complete, relied on information not actually incorporated or described and referenced in the FEIR, it failed to proceed in the manner provided in CEQA. We do not hold or suggest that the Sunrise Douglas FEIR needed to reproduce or repeat an environmental impact analysis for new surface water supplies already performed in connection with the Water Forum Proposal. As discussed in the statement of facts, the final EIR for the Water Forum Proposal did discuss the impacts of the planned additional diversions of American River water; indeed, a summary of these impacts and the proposed mitigation measures occupies 85 pages of that EIR. The contemplated diversions include additional water for the Water Agency to use in its Zone 40 area, which, as noted, includes Sunrise Douglas. To the extent the Community and Specific Plans call for that same surface water to be used by the Sunrise Douglas development, the FEIR could have properly tiered from or incorporated the earlier environmental analysis. CEQA does not require that the information on impacts of diversion laid out in the Water Forum Proposal's final EIR be repeated in environmental documents for every development that depends on that water. (See § 21068.5 [through tiering, applicable analysis information in an EIR for a policy or program may be incorporated by reference in later narrow or site-specific project EIR's].) [13] The FEIR did not, however, make sufficiently clear its relationship with the Water Forum Proposal's environmental impact analysis. Although the FEIR's water supply discussion refers at several points to the Water Forum Proposal's final EIR, the FEIR does not state that it is tiered from or incorporates parts of the earlier document. In its background discussion, the FEIR lists the Water Forum Proposal's final EIR as one of the technical analyses upon which it is based but, again, does not expressly incorporate any part of that document by reference or state that it is formally tiered from the earlier environmental impact analysis. Because it does not expressly tier from or incorporate the earlier documents, a reader of the FEIR would not be alerted that in order to apprehend the intended surface water supply for the Sunrise Douglas project, and particularly the impacts of exploiting that supply, he or she must separately read parts of those earlier documents. And the reader who did look to the earlier documents would do so without explicit reference in the FEIR to the particular portions incorporated. When an EIR uses tiering or incorporation, it must give the reader a better road map to the information it intends to convey. (See CEQA Guidelines, Cal.Code Regs., tit. 14, §§ 15150, subd. (c) [when an EIR incorporates an earlier environmental document by reference, the incorporated part of the referenced document shall be briefly summarized where possible and [t]he relationship between the incorporated part of the referenced document and the EIR shall be described], 15152, subd. (g) [when tiering is used, [t]he later EIR or negative declaration should state that the lead agency is using the tiering concept and that it is being tiered with the earlier EIR].) The audience to whom an EIR must communicate is not the reviewing court but the public and the government officials deciding on the project. That a party's briefs to the court may explain or supplement matters that are obscure or incomplete in the EIR, for example, is irrelevant, because the public and decision makers did not have the briefs available at the time the project was reviewed and approved. The question is therefore not whether the project's significant environmental effects can be clearly explained, but whether they were. The Sunrise Douglas FEIR fails that test. Because the FEIR failed to explicitly incorporate the impacts and mitigation discussion in the Water Forum Proposal's final EIR, it lacks, contrary to CEQA's requirements, enforceable mitigation measures for the surface water diversions intended to serve the Sunrise Douglas project. A public agency shall provide that measures to mitigate or avoid significant effects on the environment are fully enforceable through permit conditions, agreements, or other measures. Conditions of project approval may be set forth in referenced documents which address required mitigation measures or, in the case of the adoption of a plan, policy, regulation, or other public project, by incorporating the mitigation measures into the plan, policy, regulation, or project design. (§ 21081.6, subd. (b); see also CEQA Guidelines, Cal.Code Regs., tit. 14, § 15126.4, subd. (a)(2).) The County could have complied with this command by incorporating the Water Forum Proposal final EIR's mitigation measures into the Community and Specific Plans. But absent such incorporation, the FEIR, and the County's findings based on it, are inadequate to support project approval under CEQA because they do not discuss the impacts of new surface water diversions, enforceable measures to mitigate those impacts, or the remaining unmitigated impacts. (See § 21081.) [14] In this respect, the County failed to proceed in the manner required by CEQA. Real parties also assert that the FEIR's mitigation measure WS-1, which states that entitlements for development within the Sunrise Douglas project shall not be granted without firm proof of available water supplies, assures that water will be available for later phases of the project. As discussed earlier, however, an EIR may not substitute a provision precluding further development for identification and analysis of the project's intended and likely water sources. While it might be argued that not building a portion of the project is the ultimate mitigation, it must be borne in mind that the EIR must address the project and assumes the project will be built. ( Stanislaus Natural Heritage, supra, 48 Cal.App.4th at p. 206, 55 Cal.Rptr.2d 625.) A provision like WS-1 could serve to supplement an EIR's discussion of the impacts of exploiting the intended water sources; in that case, however, the EIR, in order adequately to inform decision makers and the public, would then need to discuss the probability that the intended water sources for later phases of development will not eventuate, the environmental impacts of curtailing the project before completion, and mitigation measures planned to minimize any such significant impacts. The Sunrise Douglas FEIR did not attempt such an analysis. In this respect as well, the County erred procedurally. In short, the FEIR's long-term water supply discussion suffers from both lack of substantial evidence to support its key factual conclusion and legally defective procedures. On the factual question of how future surface water supplies will, serve this project as well as other projected demand in the area, the project FEIR presents a jumble of seemingly inconsistent figures for future total area demand and surface water supply, with no plainly stated, coherent analysis of how the supply is to meet the demand. The reader attempting to understand the County's plan for providing water to the entire Sunrise Douglas development is left to rely on inference and speculation. In this respect, the FEIR water supply discussion fails to disclose the `anahytic route the ... agency traveled from evidence to action' and is thus not sufficient to allow informed decision making. ( Laurel Heights I, supra, 47 Cal.3d at p. 404, 253 Cal.Rptr. 426, 764 P.2d 278.) The concurring and dissenting opinion purports to find our holdingthat the FEIR's long-term water supply discussion is legally insufficient, while the short-term discussion is adequatesurprising and the distinctions on which it rests elusive. (Conc. & dis. opn. of Baxter, J., post, 53 Cal.Rptr.3d at pp. 851, 852, 150 P.3d at p. 734.) For maximum clarity, we summarize the pertinent distinctions here. (1) The time periods involved: According to the FEIR, the first phase of groundwater supply is to occur within about 18 months of project approval, with the second phase following as needed. In contrast, real parties suggest full build out of the Community Plan may take 15 to 20 years. As the planning horizon is extended, one's confidence that large quantities of new surface water will be available, and not allocated to competing projects that may be developed in the future, necessarily decreases. (2) Discussion of facilities and competing uses: As already discussed (see ante, 53 Cal.Rptr.3d at p. 839, 150 P.3d at p. 724), the administrative record contains information on the potential competitors for Well Field water that, taken together with information on the planned development of the facilities for delivering the water to Sunrise Douglas, is sufficient to demonstrate a likelihood of its availability for Sunrise Douglas. In contrast, the record contains no information (beyond the County's general plan projections) on other planned long-term developments in Zone 40. Nor does the FEIR disclose any concrete plans for new surface water diversion, treatment and transmission facilities that would tend to tie the new water particularly to Sunrise Douglas. A reader of the FEIR is not informed what other Zone 40 development projects are in prospect over the long term, what their specific water needs will be, or when they will draw on available supplies. [15] In these circumstances, the FEIR could not demonstrate a likelihood of adequate long-term supply for Sunrise Douglas without showing that plans for the Zone 40 area call for at least a rough balance between water supply and demand, a showing the FEIR fails to make. (3) Analysis of impacts and mitigation measures: The FEIR analyzes the impacts of withdrawing groundwater from the Well Field to meet the project's water needs in the near term and proposes mitigation measures, which the County adopted in approving the project. As already discussed, however, the FEIR contains no discussion of the impacts of new surface water diversion or the measures needed to mitigate those impacts and does not adequately incorporate the impact and mitigation discussion contained in the Water Form Proposal's final EIR. (See ante, 53 Cal.Rptr.3d at pp. 844-845, 150 P.3d at pp. 728-729.) The FEIR neither states that it is tiered from that earlier EIR, nor expressly incorporates the pertinent discussion from it, nor guides the reader with a summary of the contents of the earlier discussion or a specific reference to the discussion's location within the earlier document, nor incorporates mitigation measures proposed in the earlier EIR into proposed measures the County could adopt as enforceable requirements for implementing the Community and Specific Plans. The concurring and dissenting opinion also asserts that our decision here will hold Sunrise Douglas and other developments hostage to a balancing of supply and demand for all conceivable development that is not prohibited by the County's general plan. (Conc. & dis. opn. of Baxter, J., post, 53 Cal.Rptr.3d at p. 852, 150 P.3d at p. 735.) This claim misses the mark for two reasons, both of which we have already explained. First, CEQA does not necessarily require that an EIR show that total water supply and demand are or will be in balance in an area. The EIR may by other means demonstrate a reasonable likelihood that water will be available for the project from an identified source (see ante, 53 Cal.Rptr.3d at pp. 839-840, 150 P.3d at pp. 724-725 [near-term water supply discussion for this project]) and, even without a showing that water from the identified source is likely to be sufficient, an EIR may satisfy CEQA by fully disclosing the uncertainty, the other possible outcomes, their impacts and appropriate mitigation measures. (See ante, 53 Cal.Rptr.3d at pp. 836-837, 150 P.3d at p. 722.) [16] Second, long-term local water planning is not a burden that must be taken up anew, for CEQA purposes, each time a development is proposed; rather, cities and counties may rely on existing urban water management plans, so long as the expected new demand of the development was included in the water management plan's future demand accounting. (See ante, 53 Cal. Rptr.3d at pp. 836-837, 150 P.3d at pp. 722-723; Wat.Code, § 10910, subd. (c)(2); Pub. Resources Code, § 21151.9.) In summary, the FEIR's long-term water supply discussion suffers from both procedural and factual flaws. Procedurally, the FEIR improperly purports to tier from a future environmental document, the pending Zone 40 master plan analysis. The FEIR also fails to properly incorporate or tier from the impact and mitigation discussion of the Water Forum Proposal and hence to include in the present project enforceable mitigation measures for the large new surface water diversions proposed. Finally, it relies on a provision for curtailing later stages of development if water supplies do not materialize without disclosing, or proposing mitigation for, the environmental effects of such truncation. Factually, the FEIR's use of inconsistent supply and demand figures, and its failure to explain how those figures match up, results in a lack of substantial evidence that new surface water diversions are likely to supply the project's long-term needs. We think that with approval at stake of a development project ultimately expected to use more than 22,000 afa of wateralmost 4 percent of the entire County's projected urban demand in the year 2030CEQA entitles the decision makers and the public to a legally proper procedure and to a clearer, more coherent and consistent explanation of how, given the competing demands expected to arise for new watersupplies, water is to be provided to the project.