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SR-112508-8CCity ofd ' 8r I I SaQLa 1~O111C 8~ City Council Meeting: November 25, 2008 Agenda Item: `~ To: Mayor and .City Council From: Lee E. Swain, Director of Public Works Subject: Charnock Well Field Restoration Project Recommended Action Staff recommends that the City Council: 1. adopt a resolution to certify the Final Environmental Impact Report; 2. adopt a resolution making necessary California Environmental Quality Act findings and approving a Mitigation Monitoring Program (MMP); and 3. approve the proposed. project for the Charnock Well Field Restoration Project subject to the MMP. Executive Summary The Charnock Well Field Restoration Project involves implementation of a water treatment system to remove groundwater contamination from -the Charnock groundwater sub-basin and restore this resource as a water supply for the City. Improvements are proposed at two existing City-operated water service facilities; the Charnock WeII Field site and the Santa Monica Water Treatment Plant. The proposed improvements include a new water treatment system at the Charnock site and upgrades to the water treatment process at the Santa Monica Water Treatment Plant (SMWTP) to soften, disinfect and fluoridate water. The improvements will provide a multiple barrier treatment process to remove contaminants from groundwater. In accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) was prepared to summarize the characteristics of the proposed project. The EIR addresses the potential environmental effects of the project, identifies possible ways to minimize the significant effects, and describes reasonable alternatives to the project. The EIR concluded that, with the implementation of mitigation measures, all potential significant environmental impacts of the proposed project can be reduced to a level that is considered less than significant. Background The City of Santa Monica's public drinking water system directly serves all residents, businesses and visitors. Historically, the City utilized local sources of groundwater for approximately 75% of the City's drinking water supply. In 1996, all five City water wells 1 at the Charnock Well Field were shut down due to MTBE contamination from leakirig underground gasoline storage tanks owned by various oil companies. At that time, the Charnock Well Field provided approximately 50% of the City's drinking water. Since then, the City has relied on imported water from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) to meet customer demand while the process to mitigate the contamination of the Charnock sub-basin was addressed. At the present time, MWD supplies approximately 75% of the City's drinking water. Following litigation, a settlement agreement was reached between the City and various oil companies in December 2003. The terms included the formation of a Charnock Engineering Committee with representatives of the City and the oil companies to coordinate and direct the design, construction, and operation of a treatment facility to restore the Charnock Well Field. In December 2006, a subsequent Settlement Agreement gave the City of Santa Monica sole oversight of the restoration of the Charnock WeII Field. Thereafter, City staff developed a methodology for the restoration of the Charnock wells which accelerates the design, construction, and operation of water treatment facilities at the Charnock Well Field site and the Santa Monica Water Treatment Plant. It is anticipated that water from the new treatment facilities will be delivered to the community by the end of 2010. Discussion The Charnock Well Field Restoration .Project involves implementation of a water treatment system and other improvements that remove contamination from groundwater. Improvements are proposed at both the Charnock Well Field and the Santa Monica Water Treatment Plant. These two existing City owned and operated water service facilities are located in the City of Los Angeles. The Charnock Well Field site encompasses a 10-acre parcel located at 11375 Westminster Avenue in the Palms-Mar Vista-Del Rey Community area. This facility is located adjacent to Windward School, which leases its land from the City, and a residential neighborhood to the south. It is bounded by Sawtelle Boulevard tb the east, 2 Westminster Avenue to the south, Butler Avenue to the west and the Westwood Flood Control Channel to the north. The improvements proposed at the Charnock Well Field site involve the installation of a Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) adsorption s((~~stem to treat contaminated groundwater from three (3) wells within the Charnock~ll~ield. The proposed well head treatment ~` system will have a capacity of 3,000 gallons per minute and will consist of five rows that contain three vessels each. The first vessel is a greensand filter to remove iron and manganese particles followed by two GAC contactors in series to remove organic compounds such as MTBE. In addition to the vessels, the site will contain various tanks, pumps, piping and buildings for chemical feed and storage, control systems,. maintenance and operations. The primary maintenance component includes backwashing the filters and change out of the GAC. Change out of the spent GAC is anticipated to occur six (6) to twelve(12) times per year. During a change out, the spent GAC will be transferred to a bulk trailer and exchanged with fresh GAC. The same truck will be used to deliver fresh GAC and haul away spent GAC. The GAC adsorption system is projected to operate for seven (7) to ten (10) years to mitigate the MTBE contamination. The SMWTP site encompasses a 4.8 acre parcel located at 1228 S. Bundy Drive in west Los Angeles. The facility is bordered by Saltair Avenue on the east, Texas Avenue on the south and is just south of Wilshire Boulevard. The facility is located within a predominantly residential neighborhood, with commercial businesses and office buildings located to the north. The objectives of the SMWTP are to soften, provide disinfection and add fluoride to the water. The upgraded SMWTP treatment facility will have a capacity of 7,000 gallons per minute. The proposed improvements include demolition of three onsite structures and implementation of a greensand filtration facility, reverse osmosis facility, air striping decarbonators, chemical storage and feed facilities for disinfection and fluoridation and 3 electrical upgrades. The treatment process includes filtration using greensand filters to remove .iron and manganese and a softening system utilizing reverse osmosis membrane technology. The reverse osmosis process forces water through a semi- permeable membrane under pressure, while salts and other dissolved solids are retained. This process is proposed to be housed in a new building adjacent to Saltair Avenue. The reverse osmosis softening option offers increased public health protection from various contaminants that can be present in groundwater supply providing a multiple barrier treatment for MTBE and. other contaminants. A detailed description of the characteristics of the proposed project and the significant environmental impacts, mitigation measures, and residual impacts associated with the proposed project are included in the Final EIR (Attachment 1). Environmental Analysis On March 24, 2008, the City circulated a .Notice of Intent to Adopt a Negative Declaration and an Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) for the proposed project. The IS/MND was circulated fora 30-day public review period. Based on the input received,. the City re-examined the project and elected to prepare an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). In accordance with the CEQA Guidelines, an EIR was prepared for the project and a Notice of Preparation was distributed to affected agencies and the public fora 30-day period on May 20, 2008. A public scoping meeting was held at Windward School on June 12, 2008, to receive comments on the scope of the EIR for. the proposed project. Written and verbal comments on the intended scope and focus of the EIR were received. The issues identified by the scoping process included: aesthetic impacts of tall structures, cultural resources, air quality impacts, operational noise, operational truck impacts, presence of chemicals/hazardous materials, groundwater pumping effects, City of Los Angeles permit oversight, pumping Charnock water to SMWTP, construction hours, relocating project to a Santa Monica location, and additional groundwater contamination. The EIR addresses the issues identified during the scoping process that were determined to be potentially significant including: aesthetics, construction, geology, hazards and hazardous .materials, 4 hydrology and water quality; neighborhood, and noise. The EIR examines these issues and identifies the potentially significant environmental impacts, including site-specific and cumulative effects, of the project. In addition, the EIR recommends feasible mitigation measures, where possible, that would eliminate or reduce adverse environmental effects of the project. All potential significant environmental impacts were eliminated or reduced to below a level of significance. In addition to the proposed project, the EIR evaluated alternatives that are capable of avoiding or substantially lessening the significant environmental effects of the proposed project. A range of reasonable alternatives were developed including: Alternative 1; No Project ® Alternative 2: Reduced Project Profile Alternative ® Alternative 3: Equipment Housing Alternative ® Alternative 4: Alternative Site (Move the Charnock treatment facility to the SMWTP) The "No Project" alternative would eliminate potential environmental impact associated with the proposed .project; however, the importation of drinking water would continue and the local groundwater would remain contaminated and unusable. This alternative achieves none of the project objectives. The "Reduced Project Profile" alternative would reduce the visual impact at the cost of increasing the construction effects because of the excavation and removal of soil. The "Equipment Housing" alternative would eliminate the view of the vessels, but replace it with a rectangular building that may be considered a greater visual impact by viewers. This alternative would also increase the construction effects of air pollution emissions, noise, and temporary traffic congestion. The "Alternative Site" alternative would reduce local effects at the Charnock facility but it relocates those same effects to the existing SMWTP. In summary, none of the alternatives, including the "No Project" alternative, is clearly superior to the proposed project with the recommended mitigation measures. A Public Notice of Availability for the Draft EIR was published on August 18, 2008 and the Draft EIR was circulated fora 45-day public review period from August 18, 2008 to October 1, 2008. Seven written comments were received on the Draft EIR. The 5 responses to comments are included in the Final EIR. The EIR identified potentially. significant impacts of the proposed project in the areas of aesthetics effects, geology, hazards and hazardous materials, hydrology and water quality, and noise and recommended mitigation measures to reduce significant environmental impacts. As stated, with the adoption of recommended mitigation measures, the EIR determined that impacts of the proposed project in all areas could be reduced to less than significant levels. During the CEQA process, staff continued to review and develop the specific design details for both the Charnock and SMWTP facilities based on input received during the public review process on the Draft EIR, specific site characteristics and technical design parameters. As a result, more detailed design information has become available since circulation of the Draft EIR. An updated project description and a comparison of the environmental impacts associated with the updated design concept was prepared and. included in the Final EIR. At the Charnock location, modifications to the proposed project include lowering the 'profile and reducing the number and height of filtration vessels and onsite tanks by placing some facilities underground. The updated project description results in additional onsite demolition and grading and an extended construction period of approximately three months.. This design modification is generally consistent with input received during the public review period which suggested lowering the profile of the project to reduce the visual effects and to be more consistent with the visual character of the surrounding neighborhood. It is also a variation of the "Reduced Project Profile" alternative examined in the Draft EIR. At the SMWTP, the updated project description reflects the selection of the reverse osmosis technology as the preferred treatment technology at this facility and provides greater detail on the design elements of implementing that technology at the existing facility. The proposed improvements are consistent with those described in the Draft EIR. The revised project proposed at both. locations was analyzed for each of the environmental issues studied in the Draft EIR. The revised project does not result in 6 any new significant impacts, substantial increases to impacts or impact classifications identified in the- Draft EIR, or new mitigation requirements for Charnock and SMWTP components of the proposed project Therefore, staff recommends that prior. to approving the project, City Council adopt a Resolution to certify the Final Environmental Impact Report (Attachment 2); and adopt a Resolution making necessary CEQA findings and approving a Mitigation Monitoring Program (Attachment 3). Public Outreach During the CEQA process all environmental review documents were available on the City's website and copies were available at various public facilities. Notices of the availability of environmental documents were published in the Santa Monica Daily Press and the Argonaut. Public outreach efforts included mailing of informational notices to the surrounding community and numerous public meetings with the neighbors adjacent to the project sites. Financial Impacts & Budget Actions The recommendations presented in the report do not have a budget or financial impact. Staff anticipates returning to Council in May 2009 for further Council consideration of this project, including establishing a Guaranteed Maximum Price for project construction. Prepared by: Spiros Lazaris, Civil Engineer 7 Approved: Forwarded to Council: Lee E. Swain `~F~I ~mont Ewell / / T Director, Department of Public Works City Manager ~ Attachments: 1. Final Environmental Impact Report 2. Resolution to Certify the Final Environmental Impact Report 3. Resolution making necessary CEQA findings and approving a Mitigation. Monitoring Program 8 Reference Resolution Nos. 10362 (CCS) & 10363 (CCS).