[0:05] and we're
[0:05] free to repeat to go go ahead and staff
[0:11] okay good afternoon thank you for
[0:14] joining valley waters virtual public sql
[0:16] scoping meeting on the pacheco reservoir
[0:17] expansion project
[0:19] i'm chris haigs valley waters deputy
[0:21] operating officer for dam safety and
[0:23] capital delivery
[0:24] i'm your mc for today uh today's virtual
[0:26] meeting
[0:27] before we get into the presentation i'd
[0:29] like to turn the floor over to albert
[0:31] who will go over some logistics about
[0:32] the zoom platform
[0:36] thank you chris i am going to screen
[0:38] share real quickly here
[0:39] uh just to go over the zoom platform
[0:41] some of us may be familiar but i know
[0:43] that never
[0:44] everyone is using zoom always so
[0:47] we are using the language interpretation
[0:50] feature of zoom there is a globe icon on
[0:53] your toolbar
[0:54] if you need to have spanish as your
[0:56] language of comfort or to listen into
[0:58] please
[0:59] select the interpretation button and
[1:00] select spanish we have our interpreters
[1:02] already interpreting on that side
[1:04] and i am going to enable one of our
[1:06] interpreters to describe that process
[1:08] in spanish so i'm gonna look for anna
[1:11] here just give me one second
[1:13] i think i might not be on um i'm here
[1:18] okay okay um
[1:37] thank you so much anna and before we
[1:40] move on to
[1:40] our program i do want to cover how to
[1:42] use zoom if you are listening in that's
[1:45] great if you are having issues with your
[1:47] audio please go ahead and call in using
[1:49] the number
[1:49] on the screen and the webinar id that's
[1:52] listed in our materials
[1:54] you will have an opportunity to ask
[1:55] questions please use the q and a portal
[1:58] of the
[1:59] zoom webinar platform you can also
[2:02] ask your question by raising your hand i
[2:05] will enable your microphone
[2:06] and you can unmute yourself after that
[2:10] if you do use the chat box we recommend
[2:12] not using that for questions
[2:13] it tends to get buried real fast other
[2:16] than that
[2:17] back to you chris
[2:21] thank you albert uh now i'd like to
[2:23] provide an overview of today's virtual
[2:24] meeting
[2:25] uh we'll have welcome remarks from our
[2:27] valley water board members uh director
[2:29] richard santos and director john varela
[2:32] who also comprise of two thirds of
[2:34] valley waters water storage exploratory
[2:36] committee
[2:37] uh we may also have our vice chair gary
[2:38] kramen join us
[2:40] um in order to provide some comments as
[2:42] well and i do see that we have uh
[2:43] director shu up
[2:44] as well on here so i'm not sure if she's
[2:46] gonna provide any comments
[2:48] but she is present as well from there
[2:50] we'll move into our main presentation
[2:51] which is divided into two segments the
[2:53] scoping presentation and an open house
[2:56] the scoping presentation will allow
[2:57] volley water to share the latest news
[2:59] about the scope and content
[3:01] of the environmental impact report that
[3:02] we are preparing for the pacheco project
[3:05] we encourage we're encouraging members
[3:07] of the public and agencies to provide
[3:08] comments on the scope and content of the
[3:10] eir
[3:12] comments can be mailed or sent regular
[3:13] mail we'll provide those addresses
[3:15] during the presentation
[3:16] following the presentation uh you will
[3:18] all have an opportunity to ask questions
[3:20] about the presentation that you just saw
[3:22] and the project environmental review
[3:23] process after the presentation in q
[3:26] a we'll move along to the open house
[3:28] portion of the meeting
[3:29] where we encourage you to share your
[3:30] thoughts and ask more general questions
[3:31] about the project
[3:33] not just about the presentation the goal
[3:35] of the open house
[3:36] is to get your feedback on the overall
[3:38] project and allow the community an
[3:40] opportunity to ask questions and share
[3:42] your opinions
[3:43] before we hear from our directors i
[3:44] would like to provide a brief update on
[3:46] recent developments regarding the
[3:47] pacheco reservoir expansion project
[3:50] when we applied for our water storage
[3:52] investment program grant in 2017
[3:56] the application included an initial cost
[3:58] estimate of 969 million dollars for the
[4:00] proposed
[4:01] project this cost was based on 2015
[4:04] which was a requirement of the
[4:05] application due to project inflation
[4:08] that
[4:09] affects all projects uh the estimated
[4:11] project cost rose to about 1.3 billion
[4:14] in 2019 and then in 2020 we performed a
[4:17] more
[4:17] detailed design study which included an
[4:20] updated cost estimate
[4:21] this design study indicated the
[4:23] construction cost for the proposed
[4:24] project had increased to about 2.5
[4:27] billion
[4:28] that was prompted largely by major
[4:29] changes to the dam and spillway design
[4:31] associated with the foundation
[4:33] um so that's uh where we've been and
[4:35] where we currently are
[4:37] uh i'm taking a look to see if director
[4:39] kremen is online yet
[4:40] it doesn't look like he is so i'm going
[4:43] to
[4:43] pass the mic over to let's see
[4:47] i believe it's going to be director
[4:48] santos director santos would you like to
[4:50] say a few words
[4:52] well thank you very much and to
[4:53] everybody who's listening welcome this
[4:55] is i'm sure it's going to be a good
[4:56] uh public testimony in terms of
[4:58] education and so on
[5:00] all i know is this that this is a very
[5:03] very
[5:03] valuable source of water we need all we
[5:06] can do to preserve it
[5:08] i know it's going to be a very tough
[5:10] issue but people continue to worry about
[5:12] costs and we all should but you'll pay
[5:14] more in damage control when you don't
[5:16] take advantage of this great opportunity
[5:18] so with that i'm going to sit back and
[5:20] staff always does a fine job
[5:21] and looking forward to educating
[5:23] everybody on this source of water that
[5:25] is needed
[5:25] thank you thank you director santos for
[5:28] the kind words
[5:29] uh now i'd like to introduce director
[5:31] john varela who's also on the water
[5:33] storage exploratory committee
[5:34] director varela also represents the
[5:36] district with pacheco project is located
[5:38] district 1
[5:39] please welcome director varela
[5:42] thank you chris and hello everybody good
[5:44] afternoon
[5:46] so my name again is john varela and i am
[5:48] the director on valley water board of
[5:49] directors
[5:50] representing district one as many of you
[5:54] know
[5:55] we are off to another dry start to this
[5:57] rainfall
[5:58] season much of our county is
[6:00] experiencing drought conditions
[6:02] and we don't know how much more rain we
[6:04] might receive this
[6:06] season increasing our ability to store
[6:08] water is a vital part for
[6:10] the region the pacheco reservoir
[6:13] expansion project's goal is to help
[6:16] ensure
[6:17] a reliable supply of water for all our
[6:19] communities in santa clara
[6:21] and san benito counties the project aims
[6:24] to reduce the frequency and severity of
[6:26] water shortages
[6:28] during droughts provide water supply
[6:30] during emergencies
[6:31] protect infrastructure and enhance
[6:34] groundwater storage and recharge
[6:36] and improve the habitat for the native
[6:39] steelhead population
[6:41] a species federally listed as threatened
[6:44] in the face of climate change and the
[6:46] risk of more prolonged droughts
[6:48] we must take strategic measures to
[6:50] protect our
[6:51] water supply santa clara county two
[6:55] million residents
[6:56] are counting on us to ensure we have a
[6:59] safe
[6:59] water supply to support our population
[7:02] growth
[7:02] and a thriving community and
[7:06] thriving economy so with that
[7:09] enjoy the afternoon participate engage
[7:13] back to you chris thank you director
[7:15] orella i see our vice chair director
[7:17] gary creman has joined us i would like
[7:19] to uh
[7:20] offer him the opportunity to say a few
[7:21] words before we get into our
[7:22] presentation
[7:23] director kremen hey thanks chris
[7:26] and uh welcome everyone for attending
[7:29] today
[7:30] uh my name is gary kramen i'm the vice
[7:32] chair of the water district i represent
[7:35] district 7 stretching all the way up
[7:37] north from palo alto all the way down
[7:39] the almaden
[7:40] valley and i know everyone's busy and
[7:44] during your busy day i want to thank you
[7:46] for your interest in the pacheco pass
[7:48] reservoir expansion uh project um
[7:52] two of our primary project partners
[7:54] we're not doing this alone we're doing
[7:56] it with partners san benito county water
[7:58] district which serves almost all of san
[8:00] benito county and pacheco pass water
[8:02] district
[8:04] which actually owns the current
[8:06] reservoir um
[8:07] i'd like to welcome members to both
[8:10] agencies
[8:11] on the call today um so let's see
[8:14] i'd like to thank any representatives
[8:16] any other elected officials who are here
[8:18] any state federal and local folks i
[8:21] understand that uh
[8:22] congresswoman lofgren staffer ms
[8:26] duncan is here um so
[8:29] i think you know that basically with our
[8:33] um we were lucky enough to place
[8:36] one in proposition one water storage
[8:38] funding that that is nearly 500 million
[8:41] dollars
[8:42] for this project and it was the highest
[8:43] rating project of any of the other
[8:46] projects
[8:47] so we did pretty well because we've been
[8:49] peer reviewed that this is a good
[8:51] project and um
[8:54] i think they gave us even some early
[8:56] advanced money so that was really good
[8:58] so
[8:58] um we're going to really figure out the
[9:01] reason the scoping
[9:02] meetings happening is we want to kind of
[9:04] hear from you the public
[9:06] and other stakeholders if this makes
[9:09] sense
[9:09] and get any feedback on the project
[9:12] could we do it better
[9:13] is the design elements can we do stuff
[9:16] and of course we're looking at other
[9:18] stuff whether it be
[9:19] style storage
[9:30] other storage projects thank you
[9:36] director kramen uh we broke up there at
[9:37] the end but i think uh we have a
[9:39] second opportunity for you to go ahead
[9:41] and say some words a little bit later on
[9:43] but thank you for joining and we did
[9:44] receive some early funding about 24.2
[9:47] million dollars just as you referenced
[9:48] um so that was one of the benefits of
[9:50] being the top rated uh
[9:52] project in the prop 1 grant now i'd like
[9:55] to turn things over to ryan mccarter
[9:56] valley waters project
[9:57] delivery manager for the project he'll
[10:00] be
[10:01] presenting on the process that we're
[10:03] currently engaged in
[10:05] after the presentation there'll be an
[10:06] opportunity to address any questions
[10:07] regarding the project presentation from
[10:09] our virtual audience
[10:10] with that said i now turn it over to
[10:12] ryan mccarter for the presentation
[10:15] great thank you chris pull up a
[10:18] powerpoint presentation here
[10:22] to go through for the scoping meeting
[10:26] okay so the first segment of this
[10:28] presentation will cover the
[10:30] california environmental quality act
[10:32] otherwise known as seqa
[10:33] process and the purpose of the scoping
[10:35] meeting
[10:38] the items shown in blue on this slide
[10:42] represent the steps in the sql process
[10:44] the initial study and the notice of
[10:46] preparation were released in august
[10:47] 2017 just before the water storage
[10:50] investment program application that was
[10:52] mentioned earlier
[10:54] the first green box on the right
[10:56] indicates where the project currently
[10:57] stands as the team is beginning to
[10:59] prepare the draft environmental
[11:01] impact report or eir and the second
[11:04] green box
[11:05] notes the actions the team will
[11:06] undertake after public comment on the
[11:08] draft eir
[11:10] in preparation for the final eir that is
[11:12] slated for completion
[11:14] in 2023
[11:19] the purpose of the scoping meeting at
[11:20] this stage is to provide a public update
[11:23] of the project status
[11:24] provide an opportunity to receive
[11:26] additional public and agency input
[11:29] and specifically receive input for the
[11:31] scope and content of the eir
[11:33] as begin preparing the draft to be
[11:35] released to the public
[11:36] later this year in 2021
[11:43] the next segment of this presentation
[11:44] will cover the background of the project
[11:50] the existing dam on the north fork of
[11:52] pachico creek forms pacheco reservoir
[11:54] just north of pacheco pass highway
[11:56] or state route 152. the approximately
[12:00] 100 foot tall dam was built in 1939 and
[12:03] pounds up to 5500 acre feet of water
[12:08] pacheco pass water district owns and
[12:10] operates the dam and releases water
[12:12] stored in the reservoir into pacheco
[12:14] creek to recharge the downstream
[12:16] groundwater aquifers
[12:18] the groundwater is then pumped to the
[12:20] surface through wells for agricultural
[12:22] use
[12:23] it is important to note the existing
[12:25] reservoir facility only has the ability
[12:27] to directly divert water into the creek
[12:29] and has no other conveyance capability
[12:32] such as a pipeline connection to a water
[12:36] system
[12:39] over the years there have been many
[12:40] historical evaluations related to the
[12:42] pacheco reservoir
[12:43] the most relevant to the current project
[12:45] dating back to the 1990s
[12:48] california's proposition 1 of 2014
[12:51] dedicated 2.7 billion
[12:53] for investments in water storage
[12:55] projects
[12:56] as mentioned earlier the pacheco
[12:58] reservoir expansion projects 2017
[13:00] application
[13:01] for this water storage investment
[13:03] program scored highest out of the eight
[13:05] projects that received eligibility
[13:08] for conditional funding administered by
[13:10] the california water commission
[13:17] the pacifico reservoir expansion project
[13:19] is related to a project called the san
[13:21] luis
[13:21] lowpoint improvement project being
[13:23] pursued by the u.s bureau of reclamation
[13:26] the san luis reservoir provides storage
[13:28] for both state and federal water
[13:30] contractors
[13:31] and valley water imports about 45 of its
[13:34] annual water supply
[13:35] and over half of that water comes from
[13:38] the san luis reservoir through a pumping
[13:40] plant and pipeline
[13:41] called the pacheco conduit
[13:44] in dry years when the reservoir reaches
[13:46] low levels the intakes for the pumping
[13:48] plant
[13:48] begin to pull in poor quality water near
[13:50] the surface and the water level
[13:52] can even drop below the intakes to the
[13:54] pumping plant
[13:56] the san luis lowpoint improvement
[13:57] project intends to resolve this issue
[14:00] and the pacheco reservoir expansion
[14:01] project is one of the five action
[14:03] alternatives identified
[14:04] as one of its solutions
[14:08] in addition to helping solve the low
[14:09] point problem the pacheco project
[14:11] offers emergency water supply and
[14:13] improves habitat for steelhead in
[14:15] pacheco creek
[14:17] these two efforts can come together as a
[14:19] nexus project that can solve an array of
[14:21] deficiencies
[14:27] the next segment will describe where the
[14:28] project is located and why it provides a
[14:31] unique opportunity to meet multiple
[14:32] objectives
[14:37] the pacheco reservoir is situated in
[14:39] southeast santa clara county
[14:41] just off state route 152 about 30
[14:44] minutes
[14:44] east of gilroy san luis
[14:48] reservoir is located about eight miles
[14:50] east of the pacheco reservoir
[14:54] after water from the current pachico
[14:56] reservoir is released into pacheco creek
[14:58] it travels about 17 miles to san felipe
[15:01] lake before it makes its way into the
[15:03] pajaro river
[15:10] as we face future climate change
[15:11] potential multi-year droughts
[15:14] and the water supply outages due to
[15:15] earthquakes or other disasters
[15:17] valley water recognizes a need to
[15:19] develop solutions to these emergencies
[15:25] the national oceanic and atmospheric
[15:27] administration
[15:28] office of marine fisheries has
[15:30] identified the south central california
[15:32] coast
[15:32] steelhead as a federally threatened
[15:35] species
[15:36] the pajaro river watershed that includes
[15:39] pacheco creek
[15:40] has been identified as a critical
[15:41] recovery domain needed for these fish
[15:48] the primary objectives of the project
[15:50] are to meet the needs previously
[15:52] described
[15:53] while the primary objectives are
[15:55] considered to have equal importance
[15:57] the secondary objectives will be pursued
[15:59] to the extent possible without
[16:01] adversely affecting the primary
[16:06] objectives
[16:10] project alternatives will be described
[16:12] in the following segment
[16:18] the project team is looking at various
[16:20] alternatives including a no project
[16:22] alternative
[16:23] these alternatives have been formed by
[16:26] investigations
[16:27] analysis and coordination with
[16:29] stakeholders and regulatory agencies
[16:35] all of the action alternatives include a
[16:37] new dam upstream of the existing dam
[16:40] an expanded reservoir and related
[16:41] facilities
[16:43] a connection to the existing pacheco
[16:46] conduit
[16:46] that allows imported water from san luis
[16:49] reservoir to be pumped into the expanded
[16:51] reservoir
[16:52] and stored until it's needed
[16:55] decommissioning and removal of the
[16:56] existing dam along with restoration of
[16:59] the channel between the sites
[17:00] for the new dam roadway improvements
[17:05] power transmission upgrades and
[17:09] construction material borrow source
[17:11] stockpiling and staging areas
[17:18] the variations between the action
[17:19] alternatives include two different dam
[17:21] sites two reservoir sizes and two dam
[17:24] types
[17:26] the alternatives also include variations
[17:28] of the operations
[17:29] after construction
[17:37] the project team has explored two dam
[17:39] sites referred to as the upstream
[17:41] and downstream sites the figure
[17:44] shows the distance relative to highway
[17:46] 152 and the existing dam
[17:49] you can see the upstream site would
[17:50] allow for a greater amount of channel
[17:52] restoration
[17:53] between it and the existing dam which
[17:55] would be new habitat for steelhead
[17:57] and other species
[18:02] two reservoir sizes are being considered
[18:04] as part of the analysis
[18:06] a 140 000 acre foot reservoir at each
[18:09] site
[18:10] and a 96 000 acre foot reservoir at the
[18:12] upstream site
[18:19] two different dam types are being
[18:21] considered in the alternatives
[18:23] heart fill which is a newer technology
[18:25] using rock materials
[18:27] from the site that are mixed with cement
[18:29] and compacted
[18:30] the strength of this material allows for
[18:32] steeper slopes on the dam faces
[18:34] and a smaller footprint the emergency
[18:37] spillway and inlet
[18:38] outlet pipelines can be integrated into
[18:41] the hard fill dam
[18:42] allowing reservoir overflows to spill
[18:44] over the body of the structure
[18:46] through a channel and then there's the
[18:49] earthville dam
[18:50] which is similar to valley waters
[18:52] existing dams that would require
[18:54] separate construction work areas for the
[18:55] spillway and inlet outlet pipelines
[19:04] the long-term operations variations in
[19:06] the alternatives include
[19:08] two flow target scenarios for releases
[19:10] into pacheco creek
[19:11] the original target flow was identified
[19:14] for the water storage investment program
[19:16] application in 2017
[19:18] and the refined target flows developed
[19:20] over the past few years with input from
[19:23] state and federal resource agencies
[19:25] with consideration of the water year
[19:27] type
[19:28] and these releases are for the steelhead
[19:30] benefit
[19:37] there are also two different
[19:38] participation scenarios in the
[19:40] alternatives for comparison
[19:42] a scenario without project participation
[19:44] from san benito water
[19:45] county water district and another with
[19:48] 10
[19:49] which is their maximum anticipated
[19:51] participation
[19:53] san benito county water district is a
[19:54] key partner for this project since their
[19:56] system
[19:57] also directly connects to the pacheco
[19:59] conduit that delivers imported water
[20:01] from san luis reservoir
[20:09] this is a summary of the preliminary
[20:11] range of alternatives to be assessed in
[20:12] the draft eir
[20:14] which will include a no project
[20:15] alternative
[20:17] in preliminary alternative number one
[20:20] represents the original project
[20:21] presented in the initial study
[20:23] and the 2017 water storage investment
[20:26] program application
[20:27] while the other alternatives have one or
[20:29] more variations
[20:30] to the original project which will be
[20:32] covered in greater detail
[20:34] on the subsequent slides
[20:41] this is a bird's eye view of the
[20:42] expanded reservoir area in blue
[20:45] and a close-up of the new dam and
[20:46] related facilities is for alternative
[20:48] number one
[20:51] the reddish brown area represents the
[20:52] proposed dam footprint
[20:56] the green lines show the arrangement of
[20:58] the new pipelines and pump station to
[21:00] deliver water in and out of the expanded
[21:02] reservoir
[21:04] the emergency spillway will be located
[21:06] in the brown area shown
[21:10] the yellow lines show the roads to
[21:12] access the site and the new facilities
[21:17] and the red lines represent the proposed
[21:19] power transmission line alignment
[21:21] and these colors are used on the
[21:23] subsequent slides for each alternative
[21:24] as well
[21:26] and again this is the downstream earth
[21:29] bill option
[21:32] alternative number two replaces the
[21:35] earth build dam with the hard fill dam
[21:37] at the downsteering site as mentioned
[21:40] this integrates the spillway into the
[21:42] body of the dam
[21:43] as well as the inlet outlet pipeline
[21:45] arrangement which significantly reduces
[21:47] the area of ground disturbance
[21:56] alternative number three moves the
[21:57] earthville dam to the upstream site
[22:00] the preliminary design utilizes a
[22:02] natural slope over the west abutment
[22:05] for the emergency spillway which is a
[22:06] favorable characteristic of
[22:08] the site when compared to the earthville
[22:10] dam at the downstream site
[22:18] alternative number four has two
[22:20] variations from the original concept
[22:22] with the hard fill dam located at the
[22:24] upstream site
[22:26] as compared to the previous alternative
[22:28] at the upstream site
[22:29] the hartfield dam allows a much smaller
[22:31] construction footprint
[22:33] with the spillway and pipeline
[22:34] arrangement again integrated within
[22:36] the body of the dam
[22:43] the last action alternative to be
[22:45] assessed in the eir
[22:46] is a smaller earth build dam at the
[22:48] upstream site with a reservoir size
[22:51] of 96 000 acre feet
[22:59] in this next segment we will review the
[23:01] project impacts to be assessed in the
[23:06] eir
[23:09] the activities of the project and
[23:11] effects can be broken down into three
[23:12] areas
[23:14] the reservoir and work areas that would
[23:15] be directly affected by construction
[23:17] activities and inundation with the
[23:19] expanded reservoir
[23:21] the downstream areas that would be
[23:23] affected by the changes in water flow
[23:25] releases
[23:27] and water service areas that would be
[23:29] affected by changes in water storage
[23:31] and deliveries
[23:38] impacts to the physical environment to
[23:41] be assessed include
[23:42] aesthetics agricultural and forestry
[23:46] resources
[23:47] air quality energy
[23:50] geology and soils greenhouse gas
[23:53] emissions
[23:55] hazards and hazardous materials
[23:57] hydrology
[23:58] and water quality mineral resources
[24:02] and wildfire
[24:08] impacts to biological resources to be
[24:10] assessed include
[24:12] botanical resources fisheries and
[24:14] aquatic resources
[24:16] and terrestrial and other wildlife
[24:18] resources
[24:25] impacts to the human environment to be
[24:27] assessed include
[24:28] land use and planning noise
[24:32] population and housing transportation
[24:35] and traffic
[24:36] public services utilities and service
[24:39] systems
[24:41] and recreation
[24:46] impacts to cultural resources to be
[24:48] assessed include anything with historic
[24:50] or prehistoric importance
[24:52] and impacts to tribal cultural resources
[24:55] to be assessed
[24:55] include sites places cultural landscapes
[24:59] features sacred places and objects with
[25:02] cultural value
[25:03] to native american tribes
[25:09] the last segment of this presentation
[25:11] will describe the process for the
[25:12] additional scoping comment period
[25:19] one of the primary purposes of the
[25:20] virtual scoping meeting we're having
[25:22] today
[25:22] is to solicit input from the public and
[25:24] agencies on the information
[25:26] to be included in the draft eir input
[25:29] may be provided for the range of
[25:31] alternatives
[25:32] environmental impacts and potential
[25:34] mitigation measures
[25:40] we would like to receive comments by
[25:42] march 12 2021
[25:43] to allow time to consider them as we
[25:45] prepare the draft eir
[25:48] in order to be considered comments must
[25:50] be written
[25:51] and emailed to pacheco expansion
[25:53] valleywater.org
[25:55] or mail to santa clara valley water
[25:57] district attention todd sex
[25:58] hour at five seven five zero almaden
[26:01] expressway
[26:02] san jose california 95118
[26:10] for additional information please
[26:11] explore our project page on
[26:13] valleywater.org
[26:14] backslash pacheco expansion you can also
[26:17] find a pre-recorded
[26:18] presentation just like this one as well
[26:20] as the slides and pdf
[26:23] additional questions can also be emailed
[26:25] to pacheco expansion
[26:26] at valleywater.org
[26:31] that concludes the presentation and i
[26:33] will send it back to chris
[26:35] thank you ryan appreciate the
[26:37] presentation as always
[26:38] uh now i would like to open it up to the
[26:40] audience uh for any questions that you
[26:42] may have
[26:43] about the project information that was
[26:44] just shared with you today
[26:46] um there is the second open house for
[26:48] kind of more general questions so we'd
[26:50] appreciate it if you do focus your
[26:51] questions
[26:52] on the material that ryan just discussed
[26:54] or the environmental process in general
[26:56] you can put your questions in the q a or
[26:59] raise your hand
[27:00] and you can also put your questions in
[27:02] chat but as albert mentioned
[27:03] they tend to get buried down there so
[27:05] the q a portal or the
[27:07] raise your hand feature is probably the
[27:08] best bet to get your questions in
[27:11] again we are happy to address questions
[27:12] related to clarifying the presentation
[27:13] itself
[27:14] ask that you save the broader questions
[27:15] for the open house that's right after
[27:17] this
[27:17] should you have any input that you would
[27:19] like us to consider as we prepare the
[27:20] eir
[27:21] then please provide written comment to
[27:23] the email previously provided
[27:25] once we've addressed all your questions
[27:26] about the environmental process we will
[27:28] transition to the open house
[27:29] where we will be happy to answer
[27:31] additional questions about the jayco
[27:32] project
[27:34] okay uh albert you want to give us a
[27:36] quick zoom reminder
[27:38] absolutely uh just for those joining us
[27:41] on the zoom itself please
[27:43] answer your questions from the q a
[27:44] portal i'm just going to replace my
[27:46] spotlight here there you go
[27:47] to raise your hand to ask a verbal
[27:49] question uh once
[27:51] you raise your hand we will call it your
[27:52] name and i will enable your microphone
[27:54] please unmute yourself
[27:55] following that uh if you are speaking or
[27:59] have a question in spanish go ahead and
[28:00] ask your questions spanish
[28:02] our interpreter will repeat the question
[28:04] in english for us
[28:05] as well if you are joining us via
[28:07] facebook live feel free to comment your
[28:08] question we will transfer it over and
[28:10] ask it live in the zoom
[28:12] chris back to you thank you albert
[28:15] um so we've got uh well we had a hand
[28:17] raised but it seems to have
[28:18] gone down so we'll go to the uh q a
[28:20] section i believe that's from katja
[28:22] irvin
[28:23] is all the information in this
[28:24] presentation in the nop
[28:26] i'm going to send that over to todd todd
[28:28] are you available to answer that
[28:30] question
[28:30] yeah sure
[28:34] there's most of the information is
[28:36] available in the nlp
[28:38] for the general project however we we
[28:39] did look at
[28:41] some additional alternatives that are
[28:43] being considered now that weren't
[28:45] discussed in the original nop back in
[28:47] 2017
[28:48] and so those are those additional uh
[28:51] items are now
[28:53] in the veteran the project presentation
[28:56] are not discussed in the nlp
[28:59] thank you todd uh we have a question
[29:01] from ann hard
[29:02] versus earth and dam cost difference and
[29:05] why use
[29:05] older technology i'm going to send that
[29:07] over to ryan
[29:10] ryan
[29:14] okay i just had to get unmuted there
[29:16] yeah so the hardfield dam is
[29:18] is a fairly newer technology um similar
[29:20] to roller compacted
[29:22] concrete and when we went through a
[29:24] large range of alternatives for
[29:26] our engineering analysis we considered
[29:28] many different types of dams
[29:30] and the hardfield dam did flush out
[29:32] towards the top um earthville dams are
[29:34] very common
[29:35] um the california dsod is very
[29:37] comfortable with
[29:38] with the earthville dam technology that
[29:41] we have in our current reservoirs
[29:43] and we are considering the hartford dam
[29:45] is something new
[29:46] that we want to look into in further
[29:48] detail
[29:50] thank you ryan um so there's a question
[29:53] related to hardcore dams that came in by
[29:55] a facebook from allen
[29:57] is the hard fill damn option more
[29:59] seismically resilient
[30:01] right
[30:04] i think that comparing the hardfield dam
[30:07] and the earthville dam
[30:08] i don't think one is more seismically
[30:09] resilient than the other
[30:11] as far as my understanding um we can we
[30:14] can return back to that question later
[30:16] with more information from our
[30:18] our technical design team thank you ryan
[30:21] uh we do have a hand raise from swanny
[30:24] uh albert can we
[30:25] activate swany's mic go ahead and make
[30:28] yourselves funny
[30:30] can you hear me yes we can thank you
[30:35] um i i kind of got in late but
[30:38] in looking at the map of the proposed
[30:41] dam i noticed there is an electric
[30:43] line that kind of goes towards the dam
[30:47] and then just kind of ends out in space
[30:49] is that existing
[30:51] and have you thought at all of having a
[30:55] small
[30:55] generating plant there to run your pumps
[30:58] and that kind of thing
[31:00] ryan i think that one's for you as well
[31:02] yeah the the transmission
[31:04] upgrades needed are at a fairly early
[31:07] stage
[31:07] in the project design process we have
[31:10] just recently identified the alignment
[31:12] that was shown
[31:13] there is an existing alignment there but
[31:16] we do expect to do
[31:17] some power upgrades to the the poles and
[31:20] lines in order to
[31:21] to generate the capacity needed to
[31:23] operate the pump station
[31:24] uh we we have considered generators for
[31:27] for backup power but um
[31:29] having generators capable of powering um
[31:32] the
[31:32] the full pump station when when needed
[31:34] at full capacity would be uh
[31:36] probably not feasible thank you ryan
[31:40] a question from margaret how long is the
[31:42] estimated construction for the project
[31:44] ryan based on the different alternatives
[31:48] we're looking at a range of five to
[31:50] eight years
[31:52] thank you um we have a question from uh
[31:55] i apologize if i mispronounce this
[31:57] either loa or
[31:59] um i live in northeast san benito county
[32:01] ran regarding the 10
[32:03] 10 san benito county participation
[32:05] option will that translate to 10
[32:08] availability i'm going to send it back
[32:10] to ryan
[32:13] um i'd have to check with san benito
[32:15] county water district on the
[32:17] details and logistics and on how they
[32:18] plan to do it um
[32:20] for now the way we're looking at an eir
[32:22] is a is a range of participation from
[32:25] from zero to ten percent and those are
[32:26] kind of our bookends
[32:28] it will be up to san benito county water
[32:30] district to make the final determination
[32:32] on on how much
[32:33] participation they'd like in the project
[32:36] thank you ryan
[32:36] i think jeff matano from san benito
[32:38] county is on the line um
[32:40] and basically we'll make sure that that
[32:41] question makes his way to him
[32:43] uh and get that answer posted to our
[32:44] website as well
[32:46] okay uh katja is it is this an official
[32:50] nlp
[32:51] why wasn't it noticed and posted to
[32:53] sqnet
[32:54] uh i believe that's a question for todd
[33:00] yes um i believe it's my understanding
[33:04] that it was posted to sequence i'm
[33:05] surprised to hear that it wasn't
[33:06] we normally as our normal practice we do
[33:10] post all of our nlps to sqnet i'll look
[33:12] into that
[33:13] thank you todd i think uh clarification
[33:15] i think um
[33:16] kacho was asking if this particular
[33:18] meeting needed a specific nlp
[33:20] i believe the original project nlp might
[33:22] have been posted previously on people
[33:24] is that correct yes it's my
[33:27] understanding that it was but i would
[33:28] have to confirm that
[33:29] uh because i wasn't on the project at
[33:31] the time um
[33:33] this this i guess we should have posted
[33:36] on supernet
[33:37] but for the public scope community but i
[33:39] guess that was an oversight we apologize
[33:40] for that
[33:41] okay thank you todd
[33:45] um we have a hand raised from bill
[33:47] sherman albert can we uh activate his
[33:49] mic
[33:50] bill you're mike's activated please
[33:52] don't meet yourself
[33:56] got it i think can you hear me we can
[33:59] okay uh i plan on sending in comments
[34:03] but to help that
[34:04] i have two questions the first one are
[34:07] you aware
[34:08] that the cost that you're presently
[34:10] projecting
[34:12] amounts to over seventeen thousand
[34:14] dollars per
[34:16] one acre foot of capacity
[34:19] added most of your uh supply
[34:23] projects are in the range of two
[34:25] thousand dollars or less
[34:28] to add one cc
[34:31] uh or one acre foot of
[34:34] delivery so this only adds capacity
[34:37] versus delivery that's my first question
[34:40] and secondly where is the water
[34:44] coming from what sources will it be
[34:46] coming from to fill
[34:47] the reservoir i'll go ahead and take
[34:51] that one and spare ryan from having to
[34:53] talk on everything um so you're correct
[34:55] the price per acre foot
[34:57] is higher than what our traditional
[34:59] storage projects are that's because the
[35:01] use of this
[35:02] facility is different from our
[35:03] traditional operational storage projects
[35:06] this is an emergency supply facility so
[35:08] basically what we're looking at
[35:09] is the cost to have water available when
[35:12] water is not available through
[35:13] traditional means either groundwater
[35:15] importation or in our existing supplies
[35:18] our board will be considering the cost
[35:20] as it
[35:20] factors into our water supply master
[35:22] plan and our demand projections
[35:24] and we'll be making decision moving
[35:25] forward on just how valuable
[35:27] that commodity is to have that safety
[35:29] net to fall back on
[35:30] um so that's the question on cost per
[35:32] acre foot um
[35:34] bill can you repeat the second question
[35:37] let me just re-enable him real quick
[35:39] hold on
[35:42] they'll go ahead and repeat your second
[35:44] part of question again
[35:46] sorry uh the second question is where is
[35:50] the water
[35:51] coming from from the pacheco reservoir
[35:54] from the watershed
[35:55] from the central valley projects etc
[35:59] so yeah the reservoir will be fed both
[36:04] locally from the sheikah watershed and
[36:06] from
[36:07] our supplies in the san luis reservoir
[36:09] now currently
[36:10] the secular valley water district is
[36:12] both a state water contractor and
[36:14] federal uh cbp contractor right now the
[36:18] intent is to put cvp water into
[36:21] the pacheco reservoir so basically if we
[36:23] have extra supply in san benito
[36:25] rather than spilling and losing that
[36:26] water we would then import it up into
[36:28] our pacheco reservoir and have it for
[36:30] future use
[36:31] of course we'll also collect any water
[36:33] from the local watershed
[36:34] and depending on the water year uh will
[36:36] depend on what kind of balance we have
[36:38] between those two sources
[36:40] okay let's go back to some of our q a
[36:44] i have a question from stephanie i'm a
[36:46] bit confused
[36:47] where is it going to connect to the
[36:49] existing pipe that is across the freeway
[36:52] is it going to be a t-pipe are you going
[36:53] to have and put in a new pipe
[36:55] on land across the freeway that one's
[36:57] back to you ryan
[37:02] yeah the existing pacheco conduit does
[37:04] run
[37:05] on the south side of highway 152 so
[37:08] you're correct about that and we are
[37:09] looking at putting a t with valves
[37:12] at that location um just south of the
[37:14] reservoir um
[37:15] and south of uh highway 152. um
[37:19] i think that answered the question i'm
[37:20] not sure if there was another part to
[37:22] that
[37:23] well i think you got it uh we have
[37:25] another question from katja
[37:26] where can we find new info that wasn't
[37:28] in the original nop
[37:29] uh todd
[37:34] here oh there we go um yes the that's
[37:37] that was one of the purposes of this
[37:38] of these two public information uh
[37:41] scoping meetings
[37:42] uh to present updated information that
[37:45] has
[37:46] you know been added since the original
[37:48] nlp was released back in 2017.
[37:50] also the open house at the end of these
[37:52] two public scoping meetings will also
[37:54] provide information that wasn't provided
[37:57] in the original nop
[38:00] thank you todd i actually have two
[38:01] questions from stephanie in the q
[38:03] a that i believe are more of the general
[38:04] questions that we'll be talking in the
[38:05] open house
[38:06] so we'll save those and once we
[38:08] transition to the open house section
[38:10] we'll go ahead and make sure those get
[38:11] answered
[38:13] let's see you're very welcome stephanie
[38:16] okay let's see if we have any other
[38:18] questions they're coming or any other
[38:19] other people that would like to raise
[38:20] their hand and participate
[38:23] okay i'm not seeing anything right now
[38:26] um
[38:27] uh we'll give you maybe two more minutes
[38:30] uh just to see if there's any other
[38:31] questions before we transition to the
[38:33] open house
[38:34] oh here's one from katja can new
[38:36] information be provided in writing
[38:38] somewhere for reference
[38:39] okay todd you're still on the screen so
[38:41] why don't you take a shot at that one
[38:44] yeah i mean we have a uh our uh
[38:47] web site for the project that uh
[38:51] what we have specific uh information can
[38:54] be posted on there in writing if there's
[38:56] specific questions that would should be
[38:58] answered so
[38:59] we would be happy to present uh the
[39:02] information from this presentation
[39:03] uh as well and that the completion of
[39:06] these two meetings
[39:07] those will be posted on our website
[39:10] thank you todd i believe ryan's
[39:11] presentation is already posted on the
[39:13] website and of course the recording from
[39:15] this
[39:15] and tomorrow's presentations will be
[39:17] added as well
[39:18] um katja has a follow-up question please
[39:20] study the use of the san luis dam rays
[39:23] and los vaqueros dam rays as an
[39:25] alternative
[39:26] sam lewis dam rays can solve the low
[39:28] point problem and both projects can
[39:29] provide
[39:30] reliability and emergency supply the
[39:32] cost will be significantly lower for
[39:34] this alternative
[39:35] i believe that's more of a commentary
[39:37] than it is a question uh
[39:39] unless you'd like to answer that ryan uh
[39:41] well we'll just say that was written
[39:43] and provided uh no i don't think there's
[39:46] an answer really available for that we'd
[39:47] have to look into that
[39:48] further but please provide that as an
[39:50] official comment thank you
[39:52] thank you ryan okay
[39:55] any more questions does anyone want to
[39:57] raise their hand and speak that's always
[39:59] better than me reading questions
[40:01] you guys get tired of me talking
[40:04] okay not seeing any takers on my offer
[40:08] okay then um it looks oh
[40:11] oh i had a hand go up and a hand go down
[40:14] so they
[40:14] they thought better of it we'll go ahead
[40:16] and transition to the open house there's
[40:18] still plenty of time to ask questions
[40:20] um so uh you know just to reiterate uh
[40:24] thank you everyone for the questions
[40:25] about the scoping presentation in the
[40:26] process
[40:27] um i'm going to hand this back to albert
[40:30] but
[40:30] let you know just want to reiterate send
[40:32] us any questions that you have
[40:34] we can always add those to the running
[40:36] total that we have on our website
[40:38] it'll be documented there and you'll get
[40:39] an answer for any reason if we can't
[40:41] answer the question we'll always get
[40:43] back to you
[40:43] so i'm going to turn it over to albert
[40:45] who's going to switch us to the open
[40:46] house he's going to be your host
[40:50] all right good afternoon before we do
[40:52] that i'm just going to change my virtual
[40:54] background here just give me one second
[40:57] normally in a in-person time frame
[41:00] we would be having a in-person meeting
[41:02] you would have this presentation
[41:04] and you would have an opportunity to ask
[41:07] questions of our staff in this very
[41:08] open house style format so we are going
[41:10] to transition to our open house
[41:12] format i have changed my background and
[41:15] then also i want to
[41:16] review what this open house portion is
[41:18] going to be like i'm going to share my
[41:20] screen briefly here
[41:22] give me one second so the open house
[41:26] we're going to do some zoom polling this
[41:27] is going to oper offers an opportunity
[41:30] to really ask
[41:31] some questions and get a feel for the
[41:33] community sentiment around among certain
[41:35] topics
[41:36] you'll also have an opportunity to
[41:38] reflect a little more on
[41:39] or expand a little further on your
[41:41] response to these zoom poll questions
[41:43] you can also provide questions as it
[41:45] relates to the topics and of course at
[41:47] the end what we don't cover
[41:48] we can uh have the floor open to other
[41:51] questions as well
[41:52] now in terms of topics for this the open
[41:55] house portion
[41:56] we're going to be asking um questions
[41:58] about the project benefits
[42:00] concerns about the project itself uh
[42:02] recreation activities
[42:04] cost impacts from the project uh support
[42:08] with the project and also other future
[42:10] approaches to our water supply
[42:12] uh before i go on to their first
[42:15] question i was going to make sure i'm
[42:16] everything
[42:17] set here on my and technically
[42:20] what i'm going to do is have this
[42:22] question on the screen but i also will
[42:24] put the question
[42:25] up on your screen through zoom post for
[42:27] those who are joining us via facebook
[42:30] you can provide your questions uh our
[42:32] responses
[42:33] on our survey monkey i'm gonna post that
[42:35] into the chat right now we
[42:36] have a spanish version and an english
[42:39] version for everyone's reference
[42:41] so i'm putting that in right now for
[42:43] those who would like to do that
[42:44] on there and i'll do the same on
[42:46] facebook right now as well
[42:49] for their benefit all right going to the
[42:51] first question you're going to see a
[42:52] zoom pull pop up on your screen
[42:56] in
[42:58] i will read the question for you while
[42:59] you should see it on your screen so the
[43:01] first question about the project
[43:02] benefits
[43:03] the proposed expansion of particular
[43:04] reservoir will provide multiple benefits
[43:07] which benefits do you support please
[43:09] check all that apply
[43:10] and once we have responses in we will
[43:13] provide an open floor for you to expand
[43:15] further about what you support
[43:17] about the project benefits and what
[43:20] questions you may have about it as well
[43:22] i can see the responses are coming in so
[43:24] just to review some of the answer
[43:26] choices
[43:28] is it increased water supply reliability
[43:30] availability of water during a drought
[43:32] or emergency
[43:34] fish habitat improvement in pacheco
[43:36] creek
[43:37] incidental flood reduction for
[43:38] communities along pacheco
[43:40] potential recreation opportunities which
[43:42] will have a question expanding further
[43:43] on that or you do not support any of the
[43:45] benefits
[43:47] once we hit about the we clicking close
[43:50] to about
[43:51] half response here and for those who
[43:53] might have walked away to grab a snack
[43:55] or mikey's restroom please uh
[43:57] come on back and feel free to answer the
[43:59] poll question
[44:01] all right i'm gonna give about another
[44:02] 10 seconds here
[44:07] five four three
[44:10] two and one i'm gonna share these
[44:13] results with everyone and kind of just
[44:15] recap
[44:15] briefly so it looks like a lot of
[44:19] of us in attendance are very supportive
[44:21] of the benefit of our
[44:23] water supply reliability and the
[44:24] availability of water during droughts
[44:26] i also see some strong support as well
[44:28] for fish habitat and incidental
[44:30] flood reduction what i'm going to do now
[44:33] is provide opportunities for you to
[44:35] provide comments
[44:36] into our q a portal or to raise your
[44:38] hand and
[44:39] share with the floor about why you may
[44:40] have answered the way you did
[44:42] keeping eye out here for our q a portal
[44:48] any raised hands as well if not we can
[44:50] move on to the next question
[44:54] five four three and one all right we're
[44:56] just going to move on to the next
[44:57] question
[44:58] here so the next question i will also be
[45:02] sharing
[45:02] on your screen via the resume poll and
[45:05] again if you have may have missed a
[45:06] question
[45:06] or may have missed a response an
[45:08] opportunity to respond there's the
[45:09] survey monkey as well
[45:11] i'm going to launch the poll here you
[45:12] should you'll see on your end
[45:14] this is related to project cost
[45:17] what concerns do you have about the
[45:19] sorry project concerns
[45:21] what concerns do you have about the
[45:22] project is it the cost of the project is
[45:25] 2.5 billion
[45:26] is it the potential impacts to henry
[45:27] cole state park which
[45:29] the expanded reservoir could affect up
[45:31] to 20 acres of the 87 000 acre
[45:35] park itself that's not this portion of
[45:37] the park is not necessarily accessible
[45:39] to the public
[45:40] is it impacts to highway 152. i know
[45:42] sometimes that can get backed up during
[45:43] the
[45:44] a socal trip as well
[45:47] do you have concerns about the water is
[45:48] it too much water is it not enough
[45:51] are you concerned about environmental
[45:53] impacts or do you have other concerns
[45:55] for environmental impacts or other
[45:57] concerns there is an opportunity to
[46:00] really expand further on that through
[46:01] our q a portal
[46:03] the raising your hand and if you're
[46:05] answering via survey monkey there's a
[46:07] little text box as well
[46:09] unfortunately zoom post does not offer
[46:11] text box for us to
[46:12] have that option here as well
[46:16] all right we're gonna give another 10
[46:17] seconds here for for people
[46:19] how to respond
[46:25] five four three two and one we're going
[46:29] to share these results with everyone
[46:32] all right so there is a major sentiment
[46:35] of concern related to the
[46:37] project cost i also see that environment
[46:40] impacts also has
[46:41] a significant concern as well
[46:45] if you have comments or further
[46:48] things you want to share about why that
[46:50] may be concerned to you
[46:52] please put it in the q a box the chat
[46:55] box
[46:55] or even on uh raising your hand as well
[46:58] i'm gonna give everyone an opportunity
[47:00] here and and stephanie i do have your
[47:02] questions from from
[47:03] earlier we will be asking that later on
[47:06] i have a raised hand here from bob
[47:09] bob please unmute yourself and ask your
[47:11] question or provide your comment
[47:15] during the previous san luis reservoir
[47:20] low point improvement project a
[47:22] commitment was made
[47:23] that none of henry w co state park
[47:27] would be impacted by a reservoir
[47:30] expansion
[47:31] now you're saying that up to 20 acres
[47:34] can be impacted
[47:36] which of those two uh assertions by the
[47:39] water district is correct
[47:42] thank you bob i'm going to provide
[47:44] opportunity for staff in case they have
[47:46] a responsibility ryan you have you're
[47:47] unmuted go ahead ryan
[47:49] yeah i can answer that the san luis
[47:52] reservoir
[47:53] low point improvement project uh
[47:54] documents that went out in the public
[47:56] they did consider the pacheco
[47:58] reservoir expansion as one of their
[48:00] alternatives and that one alternative
[48:02] is is pretty close to what we considered
[48:05] uh or were
[48:06] presented as alternative number one the
[48:08] downstream earthquake project now that
[48:10] alternative does not have a direct
[48:12] impact to enrico state park
[48:14] um however there are two alternatives at
[48:16] the upstream site
[48:18] and 140 000 acre foot reservoirs that do
[48:21] encroach into henry co about three
[48:23] quarters of a mile
[48:24] up the creek and consume um about 20
[48:27] acres of the
[48:27] the area there
[48:31] so we're looking at all the alternatives
[48:33] great thank you
[48:35] bob may have a follow-up question bob go
[48:37] ahead
[48:40] uh if it's okay for you guys to consider
[48:44] flooding 20 acres of co-park
[48:47] why not institute your original uh
[48:51] damn proposal that would have inundated
[48:54] uh
[48:54] you know i think a thousand acres
[48:57] uh you know in the original proposal
[49:01] uh i think zero is a good number
[49:04] how about you
[49:07] yeah zero impact is always a good number
[49:10] um
[49:10] however we're looking at these different
[49:12] alternatives a thousand acres would
[49:14] surely be
[49:14] a dramatic impact on henry cove state
[49:17] park and we were cognizant
[49:18] of the you know protecting the the lands
[49:20] there
[49:22] so we uh we're considering that as an
[49:24] alternative and we're going to
[49:25] assess the impacts all right thank you
[49:28] ryan thank you bob for your question
[49:30] we're going to move on to our next
[49:31] polling question here i'm going to stop
[49:33] the sharing of these results and move on
[49:34] to our next slide
[49:37] this is going to be related to
[49:40] recreation activities so i'm going to
[49:41] launch this poll here so
[49:44] if it's possible to include as part of
[49:46] the project what types of recreation
[49:48] activities would you like to see at the
[49:50] reservoir
[49:51] please check all that apply do you
[49:53] prefer to see more hiking and trails
[49:55] there
[49:56] you want to see some fishing
[49:57] opportunities boating opportunities
[50:00] perhaps camping equestrian use if you're
[50:03] into horse riding
[50:04] of course you also may have the
[50:07] sentiment that you prefer not to have
[50:09] any recreation activities at all
[50:10] provided at the potential project site
[50:13] and if you want something that's not
[50:16] listed
[50:16] feel free to click other and definitely
[50:19] share as part of the q
[50:20] a portal or raise hand
[50:27] we do seeing all these responses come in
[50:29] thank you again for participating this
[50:30] makes it much more engaging when we have
[50:33] uh your vote and your your your voice
[50:35] here as well and definitely
[50:37] don't feel um feel free to raise your
[50:39] hand as well as we move on to these
[50:41] discussion portions all right it's
[50:44] another
[50:44] five seconds here
[50:47] three two and one i'm going to end that
[50:51] following and share these results as
[50:54] many of you like myself enjoy hiking
[50:57] it's definitely something that we would
[50:58] like
[50:58] all to see as a potential improvement
[51:01] public benefit
[51:02] for this project if it's possible i see
[51:05] camping as well as an opportunity i know
[51:07] that many of us are very coupled inside
[51:08] and can use some outdoor
[51:11] enjoyment as well with the camping
[51:13] fishing is also a strong
[51:15] strong support or strong preference
[51:18] there as a potential
[51:19] project benefit with recreation
[51:24] as well and then so if you have a any
[51:28] other
[51:28] feedback or comments about why this
[51:30] feels is important to you
[51:32] please raise your hand or put it into a
[51:34] q a i did want to recognize that we are
[51:37] um in um have a large attendee
[51:40] population amongst our zoom and our
[51:42] facebook live you want to recognize the
[51:44] 75
[51:45] of uh and these are on the zoom side and
[51:47] about seven
[51:48] on our facebook lives i know this is a
[51:50] work day and some of you are joining us
[51:52] via a weekday and during daytime
[51:56] all right anybody would like to raise
[51:59] their hand or provide comment
[52:00] into the q a
[52:04] maybe a question about land management i
[52:08] know recreation
[52:09] is something that uh may or may not be
[52:12] related to land management but i will
[52:14] ask that question just so we have uh
[52:16] just in case if it is related so yvette
[52:18] asks is there a land management plan for
[52:20] the surrounding land and
[52:22] that can be inclusive recreation or
[52:23] other things as well i'm assuming
[52:25] uh let's see here if if ryan or or todd
[52:29] or even chris is this something that
[52:30] you're able to answer
[52:33] yeah currently the the surrounding land
[52:36] uh i don't believe there's any
[52:37] land management plan uh most of it is is
[52:40] private property
[52:41] um i'm not sure exactly what
[52:43] specifically you're looking for but
[52:45] as the project develops we will be
[52:47] looking at the the surrounding land and
[52:49] how we can
[52:50] provide mitigation and other management
[52:53] of the land
[52:56] great thank you if we didn't cover it
[52:59] quite exactly please feel free to raise
[53:01] your hand and provide
[53:02] a follow-up question in the q a portal
[53:03] as well all right we're going to move
[53:06] along here
[53:07] in the open house portion again thank
[53:09] you for burying us in these uh
[53:10] virtual times i'm going to stop these
[53:13] results shares here and i'm gonna move
[53:14] on to the next one
[53:16] this is related to project cost so the
[53:19] top
[53:19] impacts from the project i'm gonna put
[53:21] it on the screen but also read it out
[53:22] loud as well
[53:24] so the current so i'm gonna read some
[53:26] context first before you uh
[53:28] respond to the question polls or the
[53:30] advance opposed
[53:32] the current project cost of the
[53:34] particular reservoir expansion project
[53:35] is about 2.5 billion
[53:38] value our did receive 496.6 million in
[53:41] provisional funding from the state under
[53:43] the water storage investment program
[53:45] and is exploring additional funding
[53:47] sources and potential cost savings with
[53:49] partners
[53:50] any gap will be made up through water
[53:52] rates please note that valley water is
[53:54] the county's primary
[53:56] water wholesaler and that unless you're
[53:59] a private well owner
[54:00] future charges or changes to your rates
[54:02] will be determined
[54:03] by your water retailer again future
[54:05] changes to rates will be determined by
[54:07] your future retailer
[54:09] future changes to your rates will be
[54:11] determined by your water retailer sorry
[54:13] about that
[54:14] uh please select the uh statement that
[54:16] you agree with the most
[54:18] so again i'll read out these statements
[54:20] so you have um
[54:22] where your reference uh you would
[54:24] support
[54:26] a one to five dollar increase in your
[54:27] monthly bill to support the expansion of
[54:29] pacheco
[54:30] a six to ten dollar increase an 11 to
[54:34] 15 increase a 16 to 20
[54:37] increase or you would not support any
[54:39] increase in your water bill to help fund
[54:41] the expansion of particular reservoir
[54:43] and again just to remind everyone that
[54:46] uh
[54:47] any rates that are being charged
[54:50] again i'll move this slide back one so
[54:53] you can see it for your
[54:54] reference here is that
[54:57] once you're a private well owner any
[54:59] future changes to your race will be
[55:00] determined by your water retailer
[55:02] and give everyone a few more seconds to
[55:04] answer
[55:05] before we move along here
[55:10] one too far ahead i'm gonna end the
[55:12] polling
[55:14] various results all right so
[55:18] it seems a lot of you will be willing to
[55:23] support a one to five hour increase in
[55:24] your monthly bill to fund the expansion
[55:26] particular reservoir
[55:28] majority of you are plurally of you
[55:30] prefer
[55:31] not to see any increase in your water
[55:33] bill to help fund the expansion
[55:34] particular reservoir
[55:36] some may be willing to support a six to
[55:38] ten dollar increase
[55:40] uh some of you also will be supporting
[55:42] or will be
[55:43] willing to support a 11 to 15 increase
[55:46] and then a smaller
[55:47] portion of you a 16 to 20 increase
[55:50] we do have a wide spread here amongst
[55:52] the the results and
[55:54] i think it's uh to our benefit to hear
[55:56] more about what you may
[55:58] be thinking about how you rank your
[56:00] support and how you
[56:01] voted on the poll so i'm going to
[56:05] open up the floor here if case people
[56:07] want to share further of
[56:08] how they voted and why they voted the
[56:10] way they did
[56:11] please feel free to raise your hand or
[56:14] to
[56:15] enter into the q a
[56:21] and the q a uh raising your hand is a
[56:24] button on your
[56:28] toolbar
[56:30] i don't see anything in the q a and
[56:33] raise hands let's move on to
[56:35] our next question i'm gonna stop the
[56:37] chair here
[56:39] now these next two questions
[56:42] i'm going to be asking as a tandem so
[56:45] bear with me
[56:46] it's going to be related to each other
[56:49] i'm going to read you a
[56:50] statement first before i post the poll
[56:52] questions
[56:54] the increased storage capacity of
[56:55] particular reservoir would nearly equal
[56:57] the capacity of
[56:58] valley waters and other reservoirs
[57:00] combined
[57:01] the project will also reduce the
[57:03] frequency and severity of
[57:04] water storages during droughts protect
[57:07] our drinking water supply
[57:09] and infrastructure and improve habitat
[57:11] for fish
[57:13] so i'm going to put that question up
[57:15] you'll see two questions at once
[57:18] but please select the statement you
[57:20] agree with the most for that first
[57:21] question
[57:22] the second question you'll see is
[57:24] related to the future
[57:26] so you may be in support of the project
[57:30] strongly or just just
[57:31] just regular support you might not
[57:32] support it at all we do want to know
[57:36] what you may feel also about to do in
[57:38] the future
[57:39] so i'm going to move that forward here
[57:41] in this little bit
[57:43] what should value i pursue so as you're
[57:45] thinking about what you
[57:46] uh feel about the project itself and
[57:49] whether you support it or not
[57:50] is these are these other options about
[57:53] how valuable i actually approach our
[57:54] future
[57:55] with the water supply so the second
[57:58] question is should be on your screen
[57:59] make sure you scroll down to see that
[58:01] question
[58:03] do you think that value wise should
[58:05] pursue partnering with agencies on the
[58:07] regional water supply
[58:08] project that strengthen the reality of a
[58:10] water supply
[58:11] or a local multi-benefit water storage
[58:13] project such as the expansion of a
[58:15] particular reservoir
[58:16] or do you also support improving our
[58:18] reliability through sustainable use of
[58:20] recycled and purified
[58:22] water or do you also support
[58:24] conservation reducing our water use in
[58:26] general
[58:27] so i'm going to give some time here to
[58:30] everyone
[58:31] to answer these questions
[58:35] take a look at our facebook audience to
[58:38] make sure we don't have any
[58:39] questions or feedback related to that
[58:43] and again feel free to uh
[58:46] to also put your response in the survey
[58:48] monkey that's in the chat box
[58:50] as well if you want to provide further
[58:51] color or if you
[58:53] happen to marinate on your response and
[58:54] want to provide it later on
[58:56] i'm going to close the poll here in
[58:58] about five seconds
[59:00] four three two and one
[59:05] all right so we do have a a large
[59:10] portion of our audience in support
[59:12] strong support of the
[59:13] proposed expansion of pacheco and also
[59:16] some of you supporting so totally it
[59:18] looks about like 76
[59:20] of you support uh the expansion
[59:23] particular reservoir
[59:24] we do have some some reservations about
[59:26] that and i do see that here listed as
[59:28] well
[59:29] in terms of how value-wise should
[59:32] move for the future
[59:35] many of us are supporting uh all four of
[59:38] these
[59:39] um these routes in the future and strong
[59:42] supporting course
[59:43] our reliability of our water supply yeah
[59:46] but i'm not seeing that on my screen
[59:48] oh sorry about that here you go
[59:51] i have too many windows open and too
[59:52] many screens open sometimes i forget one
[59:54] button
[59:55] so just to recap again uh
[59:58] most of us are supporting or most of the
[1:00:00] audience are supporting
[1:00:01] the particular reservoir expansion so in
[1:00:03] total about 40 76
[1:00:05] 46 on the strong side and 30 under
[1:00:08] general support
[1:00:09] with some reservations i see as well
[1:00:13] the second poor the question um
[1:00:16] is also in support of
[1:00:19] or well in support of stronger
[1:00:21] reliability and shifting realized
[1:00:23] reliability of water supply i did see a
[1:00:25] hand go up
[1:00:27] just now but they went away if you have
[1:00:31] further thoughts you want to share about
[1:00:32] your response to these questions
[1:00:35] um oh for those who can't see the actual
[1:00:38] second portion you actually have to
[1:00:40] scroll down on your own screen
[1:00:42] with your mouse or you if you're using a
[1:00:43] tablet you have to hold and drag it up
[1:00:45] to see the second result
[1:00:51] i'm going to read out the percentages
[1:00:52] for everyone's benefit here
[1:00:54] so that for the first question the
[1:00:58] support of particular reservoir we have
[1:01:00] 46 percent
[1:01:02] in supporting the proposed expansion 30
[1:01:05] percent
[1:01:06] supporting in general the postal
[1:01:08] expansion eleven percent
[1:01:10] not supporting the expansion at all uh
[1:01:13] five percent
[1:01:14] strongly opposed to the expansion and
[1:01:16] about eight percent of you
[1:01:18] don't know quite just yet uh enough
[1:01:20] information to make a decision
[1:01:22] um so just as a reference
[1:01:26] eight percent is about three people just
[1:01:28] as a uh
[1:01:30] as a um a reference point
[1:01:33] moving to the second question here uh
[1:01:35] that
[1:01:36] what should value our pursuit to the
[1:01:37] future 81
[1:01:39] of those voting supporting uh
[1:01:43] strengthening our reliability over water
[1:01:44] supply
[1:01:45] by partnering with agencies on regional
[1:01:47] water projects
[1:01:49] um 68 of you support
[1:01:52] local multi-benefit water storage
[1:01:54] projects such as pacheco
[1:01:56] 70 of you support improving our water
[1:02:00] supply reliability through sustainable
[1:02:01] use of recycled and purified water
[1:02:04] and then about 65 of you support this
[1:02:06] conservation and reducing your water use
[1:02:10] again if you can't see this on your
[1:02:11] screen please go ahead and scroll up and
[1:02:13] down with the window or the scroll
[1:02:15] toolbar and if you're on a tablet
[1:02:17] use your finger to hold and drag up on
[1:02:19] the poll share results
[1:02:21] i do want to open the floor here for
[1:02:23] those who are in attendance and want to
[1:02:25] share a little further
[1:02:26] i know we shared a lot with you today
[1:02:30] please raise your hand or a q a uh use
[1:02:34] let's enter through the q a portal as
[1:02:36] well
[1:02:38] in the meantime stephanie i'm going to
[1:02:41] um
[1:02:42] ask your questions out loud and and have
[1:02:44] that response to that
[1:02:46] so stephanie earlier you asked uh
[1:02:50] just so before i add to the explain so
[1:02:52] someone uh mentioned in the chat
[1:02:53] about increasing the size of the window
[1:02:55] results that's going to be on your
[1:02:57] screen
[1:02:58] if you see the line square and x in the
[1:03:01] top of that window
[1:03:02] press the square that's going to
[1:03:04] maximize the
[1:03:05] um the polling question for you
[1:03:08] and the responses so you should be able
[1:03:10] to see more of that otherwise you can
[1:03:11] scroll using
[1:03:12] the wheel on your mouse
[1:03:17] getting some feedback echo here i'm just
[1:03:19] going to just temporarily just
[1:03:21] mute here we go
[1:03:24] all right i'm thinking it most folks
[1:03:26] should be able to see
[1:03:27] their responses now i'm going to ask
[1:03:29] that question from stephanie
[1:03:31] stephanie asked are you going to have
[1:03:33] designated locations for workers to park
[1:03:35] place the building materials where is
[1:03:37] everything going to go
[1:03:38] what the construction is going on
[1:03:40] because related to lay down yard
[1:03:42] uh ryan would that be something you
[1:03:43] could uh respond to
[1:03:45] yeah absolutely yeah good question um
[1:03:48] we do have uh in our layouts we have
[1:03:51] designated staging areas
[1:03:53] borrow source materials storage areas
[1:03:55] disposal sites and everything
[1:03:57] shown there and we have started
[1:04:00] compiling some of those drawings that
[1:04:02] will be in the drafty ir that show
[1:04:03] exactly where those areas are
[1:04:05] uh i do not believe any of them are even
[1:04:07] visible from pacheco pass highway just
[1:04:09] to give you an idea of where they are
[1:04:10] they mostly surround the existing
[1:04:12] reservoir and the construction site
[1:04:16] great thank you and then the second
[1:04:20] question stephanie
[1:04:21] asked is can i have more
[1:04:24] explanation about where the spillway is
[1:04:26] going to go
[1:04:27] is it going to be more than currently is
[1:04:30] it going to go further down the side of
[1:04:32] the freeway
[1:04:35] i'm not familiar with the spillway being
[1:04:37] close to the freeway the existing dam
[1:04:40] uh this has a spillway and it's adjacent
[1:04:43] to the dam
[1:04:44] and the existing pacheco reservoir and
[1:04:47] and similarly
[1:04:48] all the alternatives have spillways
[1:04:50] either
[1:04:51] adjacent to the dam or within the body
[1:04:53] of the dam in the case of the the hard
[1:04:55] fill type dam
[1:04:56] so again those probably wouldn't even be
[1:05:00] visible from the
[1:05:00] from the freeway so i'm not sure exactly
[1:05:03] what that references to
[1:05:06] great thank you ryan and you just want
[1:05:09] to open the floor now
[1:05:10] since uh if if anyone wants to share a
[1:05:12] little further on any of the six polling
[1:05:14] questions and the response
[1:05:15] feel free to or if you have other
[1:05:17] questions you would like to ask about
[1:05:18] the project
[1:05:19] now is the time to answer that into q a
[1:05:21] portal raise your hand
[1:05:24] for those for your reference
[1:05:27] the zoom platform will provide us a
[1:05:29] little report on how folks responded and
[1:05:32] the staff will take that to heart to see
[1:05:34] how people are responding to these
[1:05:36] questions in general
[1:05:37] you can also provide those responses
[1:05:40] later on through
[1:05:41] surveymonkey there's a spanish version
[1:05:44] and the english version we provide that
[1:05:46] into the chat box
[1:05:47] i do see it hand raised now i'm going to
[1:05:49] stop the sharing results of the poll
[1:05:51] questions
[1:05:52] i'm going to enable swanny i'm tired of
[1:05:54] feeding myself talk please i'll meet
[1:05:56] yourself and speak away
[1:05:58] hi guys um first of all i want to thank
[1:06:02] you
[1:06:03] all and the water district for giving us
[1:06:06] this opportunity
[1:06:08] to weigh in on this large project
[1:06:12] second of all i'm going to make comment
[1:06:14] about the cost
[1:06:16] at 2 billion or 3 billion
[1:06:19] is is well worth the money for what we
[1:06:22] are going to reap in the future
[1:06:24] having a more reliable water supply etc
[1:06:28] and then if you compare it to a huge
[1:06:32] failure that california high-speed rail
[1:06:36] is
[1:06:36] and the amount of billions approaching
[1:06:40] now their their budget is 100 million
[1:06:43] this project is really necessary
[1:06:47] that project is not and if
[1:06:50] if we can wrap our heads around spending
[1:06:53] billions in the central valley for
[1:06:56] high-speed rail it won't be high-speed
[1:06:58] rail
[1:06:59] this dam looks and its expenses
[1:07:02] look pretty good to me so in keeping
[1:07:06] the costs in context you know this would
[1:07:09] be
[1:07:10] such a boon to south county especially
[1:07:13] and to our total water supply
[1:07:15] so for me the cost is not excessive at
[1:07:18] all for what we're going to get in
[1:07:20] return
[1:07:21] and if you compare it to other state
[1:07:23] projects of course this
[1:07:25] isn't a state project that will affect a
[1:07:28] large part of it
[1:07:29] that the costs are definitely in line
[1:07:31] but thank you for the opportunity
[1:07:34] to uh give us additional information
[1:07:37] allow us to comment
[1:07:38] bye thank you funny
[1:07:42] all right i do have a follow-up question
[1:07:44] from stephanie here
[1:07:46] so stephanie mentioned that the current
[1:07:48] spillway
[1:07:49] goes across the freeway it's on the
[1:07:51] property on the south side
[1:07:53] close to where the pipe that it will be
[1:07:54] connected to with the key line
[1:07:57] so i don't know if that helps clarify
[1:07:59] things ryan
[1:08:00] um but if we can we can have asked
[1:08:03] stephanie to
[1:08:03] provide her email to provide uh some
[1:08:06] follow-up
[1:08:07] uh from staff as well ryan let me take a
[1:08:10] stab at that one
[1:08:11] okay i think what the stephanie is
[1:08:13] actually referring to is the creek or
[1:08:14] the channel um so particular creek does
[1:08:16] flow down
[1:08:17] across the freeway um all the way you
[1:08:19] know very
[1:08:20] all the way down to lovers lane the
[1:08:22] spillway itself is very localized to the
[1:08:24] existing dam it was actually damaged
[1:08:26] back in 2017.
[1:08:28] it's private property so you can't
[1:08:29] really access it but uh there's probably
[1:08:31] a virtual tour on our website that you
[1:08:33] can see the damage spillway
[1:08:35] that's the concrete section all of the
[1:08:38] new spillways are actually going to be
[1:08:39] upstream of the existing reservoir so
[1:08:42] they would be no closer than they are
[1:08:43] now
[1:08:44] and in fact would be farther away but i
[1:08:46] think what you're looking at is the
[1:08:47] creek bed or the creek channel that's
[1:08:48] coming across the highway and that would
[1:08:50] continue to do that
[1:08:52] in the same configuration there might
[1:08:53] just be additional water flow
[1:08:55] down that creek possibly during um you
[1:08:57] know most likely during summer
[1:08:58] because that's when it's really dry back
[1:09:00] but um i think you're looking at the
[1:09:02] creek
[1:09:04] all right thank you chris and thank you
[1:09:06] stephanie stephanie officer her thanks
[1:09:08] for the clarification as well
[1:09:10] all right uh i did see a hand go up but
[1:09:13] it disappeared
[1:09:15] if if if you happen to think of
[1:09:18] something again the survey monkey and we
[1:09:20] do have another meeting tomorrow which
[1:09:21] uh i'm pretty sure our closing speakers
[1:09:23] will remind us about
[1:09:25] as well other than that i'm going to
[1:09:27] give everyone
[1:09:28] a five second count up to raise your
[1:09:30] hand or ask a q a
[1:09:32] before i turn things back over to chris
[1:09:35] four
[1:09:36] three two and one all right thank you
[1:09:39] everyone
[1:09:40] for this open house portion chris the
[1:09:42] floor is back to you
[1:09:44] thank you albert i ran that expertly um
[1:09:47] as we're all done with our questions i'd
[1:09:48] like to thank you all for joining us
[1:09:50] and to the valley water staff for the
[1:09:52] presentation and the answers to the
[1:09:53] questions
[1:09:54] we're hosting a second meeting tomorrow
[1:09:56] from 5 30 to 7 30.
[1:09:57] we'll also post all the lists of
[1:09:59] questions and answers to our website as
[1:10:00] we mentioned earlier at valleywater.org
[1:10:03] forward slash pacheco expansion uh with
[1:10:06] that i wish everyone a safe
[1:10:07] and good rest of your afternoon we do
[1:10:11] have a late question coming in you want
[1:10:13] to go with
[1:10:13] that last question sure
[1:10:17] sure why not it goes from mike i know
[1:10:19] this is probably a federal project but
[1:10:20] i'd like to get your thoughts on the
[1:10:22] following
[1:10:22] there are pipelines all over the us
[1:10:24] moving oil gas etc
[1:10:26] why can't there be pipelines that would
[1:10:27] bring us water from the areas that
[1:10:29] regularly flood to the areas that have
[1:10:30] regular droughts
[1:10:31] forest fires etc sounds like a win-win
[1:10:33] project to me
[1:10:35] that's something that they've actually
[1:10:37] looked at quite extensively
[1:10:39] usually what prevents those projects
[1:10:40] from occurring is that they are
[1:10:43] long runs of pipelines so basically we
[1:10:45] have more water in the north less water
[1:10:46] in the south
[1:10:47] so in order to get the water from where
[1:10:49] it's plentiful down to where it's um
[1:10:51] not it's a extremely long run of
[1:10:53] pipeline
[1:10:54] it's also there are several utilities in
[1:10:58] the way
[1:10:58] freeways uh several jurisdictions that's
[1:11:01] not saying that's not a
[1:11:02] possibility that could happen it just
[1:11:04] takes a tremendous amount of
[1:11:06] coordination so obviously we at valley
[1:11:08] water are focused in the activities that
[1:11:10] we know we can control within the county
[1:11:11] which is why we're
[1:11:12] promoting the pacheco reservoir
[1:11:13] expansion that provides us additional
[1:11:16] emergency supply in county uh because
[1:11:18] that's a certainty we can control
[1:11:20] and that's why we're kind of going on
[1:11:21] this project but that's not a
[1:11:23] that's not at all out of left field i
[1:11:25] believe that is an idea that's been
[1:11:26] considered many times over
[1:11:28] and uh in the future that may be the
[1:11:30] work the way the world works you know we
[1:11:31] may be taking
[1:11:32] uh there may be water pipelines that
[1:11:33] stretch all the way from you know the
[1:11:34] canadian border down to
[1:11:36] the mexican border um just having teas
[1:11:38] and what whatnot to serve the areas that
[1:11:40] are necessary
[1:11:40] but that takes more of a global
[1:11:42] perspective and right now um
[1:11:44] we're just controlling what we can
[1:11:47] and that does look like the last
[1:11:49] question um so we'll go ahead and
[1:11:51] reiterate that
[1:11:52] there will be another opportunity
[1:11:53] tomorrow 5 30 please join us
[1:11:56] if you have the time and would like to
[1:11:58] see anything else ask anything else
[1:12:00] and we can definitely see you then
[1:12:02] otherwise thank you very much and have a
[1:12:03] good afternoon