Some FC District staff time will be required on an ongoing basis. The FC District will benefit from coordination of its projects with those of other water, wastewater, flood management, stormwater quality, and environmental organizations in the Bay Area. (100% Flood Control District Funds)
In 2002, Senate Bill 1672 created the Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) Act to encourage local agencies to work cooperatively to manage local and imported water supplies to improve the quality, quantity, and reliability.
In November 2002, California voters passed Proposition 50 (Prop 50), “the Water Security, Clean Drinking Water, Coastal and Beach Protection Act of 2002,” which provides $500,000,000 (CWC §79560-79565) to fund competitive grants for projects consistent with an adopted IRWM plan. These bond funds were granted in a statewide application process with a certain amount (40%) guaranteed for areas north of the Tehachapis.
In November 2006, California voters passed Proposition 84 (Prop 84), “the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act,” which provides $1,000,000,000 (PRC §75001-75130) for IRWM Planning and Implementation. These bond funds were allocated to funding regions based on population and area to be granted in a competitive process within the nine (9) funding regions. Contra Costa is in both the Bay Area funding region and the San Joaquin funding region.
In November 2006, California voters passed Proposition 1E (Prop 1E), the Disaster Preparedness and Flood Prevention Bond Act, which provides $300,000,000 (PRC §5096.800-5096.967) for IRWM Stormwater Flood Management. Projects to be funded by Prop 1E were required to be “consistent” with (included in) an IRWM plan. This was a comparative statewide application process.
Below is history and background on the FC District’s involvement in the BAIRWMP and the ECCCIRWMP.
Bay Area Integrated Regional Water Management Plan
In response to the requirement for IRWM plan, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) utilized its existing ABAG-CALFED Water Management Subcommittee (subcommittee to the ABAG-CALFED Task Force) to engage Bay Area water agencies, local government representatives, environmental groups, and the general public in developing an IRWM plan that identifies, coordinates, and prioritizes projects within the Bay Area. This began a long-term process of engaging as many water resource agencies as possible to represent the full spectrum of water resource related interests in the Bay Area.
The outreach took the form of several established Bay Area organizations pulling their members together. Those agencies without membership in organizations began to collaborate like never before. In general, four “functional areas” were identified. These four functional areas are listed below along with the organizations that coordinate their representation in the collaborative efforts related to the Bay Area IRWM planning process.
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Water Supply and Water Quality Functional Area (FA): this FA is coordinated by the existing Bay Area Water Management Agencies Coalition (BAWAC).
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Wastewater and Recycled Water: this FA is coordinated by the existing Bay Area Clean Water Agencies (BACWA).
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Flood Protection and Stormwater Management: this FA is coordinated by the Bay Area Flood Protection Agencies Association (BAFPAA), which was formed in response to the need to coordinate in the IRWM planning process.
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Watershed Management, Habitat Protection, and Restoration: this FA coordinated by the Bay Area Watershed Network (BAWN), which is coordinated by the San Francisco Estuary Partnership (SFEP) and under the umbrella of ABAG.
The Bay Area IRWM Plan Coordinating Committee (CC) meets monthly and is the forum in which the BAIRWMP consensus decisions are made. In this forum, and through subcommittees that worked on specific issues and tasks, the plan was developed, projects were vetted, grant applications were prepared and the plan updated.
A website was developed at http://www.bairwmp.org/ to enhance awareness, openness, and communication of the actions and decisions that the CC was making for the region. Through this website, project proponents can submit projects, review other projects, and view and download meeting materials and other files.
On March 23, 2004, the Board approved and authorized the Chief Engineer to sign a nonbinding and nonexclusive Letter of Mutual Understanding (LOMU) that memorialized the intent of the FC District and other signatories to participate in the development of the BAIRWMP.
On November 13, 2006, the Board ADOPTED the BAIRWMP (2006 Plan) dated November 6, 2006, and AUTHORIZED the Chief Engineer, or designee, to continue participating in the process of updating, modifying, and revising the IRWM plan and directing the Chief Engineer to participate in an effort with other Bay Area flood control agencies to form an association for coordinating input to the IRWM plan.
On April 19, 2010, FC District staff requested authorization through the Transportation, Water, and Infrastructure Committee to increase its participation level in the Bay Area IRWM planning activities.
As with the 2006 Plan, the 2013 BAIRWMP update was developed through consensus of a large group of representatives from diverse organizations. Several agencies and organizations in each of the FAs provided the leadership necessary to secure participation of peer organizations in discussion of the regional plan. A consultant assisted in the plan update in developing consensus on the Bay Area Region’s goals, strategies, and other information required by the State Department of Water Resources (DWR) to update the plan. The consultant also assisted in gathering project information and independently scoring the projects for ranking in the plan. In order to ensure the transparency of the process, the CC held stakeholder workshops that were open to the public.
The updated BAIRWMP presents nearly 300 projects that will be eligible for Proposition 84 grant funding or other funding requiring consistency with an IRWM plan in the Bay Area. Many of these projects will provide water resource benefits to Contra Costa County residents.
The full BAIRWMP can be found at http://www.bairwmp.org/. The plan cover, table of contents, and Executive Summary are provided as an attachment.
East Contra Costa County Integrated Water Management Plan
The East County Water Management Association (ECWMA) convened in response to the 2002 requirement for IRWM plans. ECWMA members worked together to produce a “functionally equivalent” IRWM plan and was accepted by the State. The functionally equivalent (FE) IRWM plan consisted of combining several existing plans that ECWMA agencies had already created. These were done in a natural, collaborative process in their respective water resources realms. The Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) was included in the FE IRWM plan.
Before the IRWM planning effort, the Contra Costa Water Agency (CCWA) was a member of ECWMA. An amendment changed the membership from the CCWA to the County and added the East Contra Costa County Habitat Conservancy (Conservancy) to the agreement. The FC District became recognized as a participant in the IRWM planning effort under the County’s membership due to the fact that the FC District is managed by the Contra Costa County Public Works Department.
On April 11, 2005, the FC District requested approval to participate in the East Contra Costa County (ECCC) IRWM planning effort to participate in the cost for professional services to prepare the Prop 50 grant application. This was the first of several requests for authorization to be involved in the ECCC IRWM planning effort.
The development environment of the ECCCIRWMP and the update was similar to that of the BAIRWMP in that consultants were hired to assist in the development and update of the ECCCIRWMP and ECWMA agencies work collaboratively. Unlike the Bay Area, the ECWMA had an MOU that provides organizational structure. The meetings held to discuss the development of the plan were open to the public. The full ECCCIRWMP can be found via http://ecccirwm.org/. The Update 2013 Highlights Executive Summary of the ECCCIRWMP is provided as an attachment.
Funding Received through the IRWM Plan Grants
The following tables depict the funding received to date through the IRWM planning effort.
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IRWM Funding Awards |
Bay Area |
ECCC |
|
Prop 50 Planning Grants |
$838,230 |
|
|
Prop 50 Implementation Grants |
$12,500,000 |
$12,500,000 |
|
Prop 84 Planning Grants |
$842,556 |
$901,661 |
|
Prop 84 Implementation Grants |
$52,298,592 |
|
|
Prop 1E Implementation Grants |
$64,808,000 |
$12,000,000 |
|
Total |
$131,287,378 |
$25,401,661 |
|
|
|
|
Grand Total |
$156,689,039 |
The two Regions (Bay Area and ECCC) overlap. Because of this, three projects in the ECCIRWMP were funded through two different BAIRWMP Prop 84 implantation grants rounds. This was because the Prop 84 funds are allocated to 9 specific regions and the ECCC Region overlaps the San Francisco Funding Region, which is synonymous to the Bay Area IRWM Planning Region. These three projects total $2,205,000 in Prop 84 grant funding.
Current IRWM grant program status
Due to the drought declaration by the Governor, DWR is administering an accelerated “drought round” to use $200,000,000 of Prop 84 funds (~42% of remaining Prop 84 funds) for drought relief projects. Draft grant proposal documents were distributed April 3, 2014, and the anticipated grant proposal due date is tentatively slated sometime in July 2014. The remaining Prop 84 funds will be put out in a grant round in 2015 and will likely not be focused on drought relief, though it is too early to tell what the focus of the last Prop 84 round will be.
Commitment and CEQA
The Guidelines and the procedures developed by the DWR and the State Water Resources Control Board mandate that the IRWM plans be formally adopted, as evidenced by a resolution or other written documentation. The adoption must be done by the governing bodies of the agencies and organizations that participated in the development of the IRWM plans and have responsibility for its implementation. Therefore, the Board of Supervisors, as the Governing Board of the Flood Control and Water Conservation District, must approve the IRWM plan in order for the FC District’s projects in the IRWM plans to be eligible for grant funding.
The IRWM plans are nonbinding documents. Adoption of the IRWM plans does not entail a direct commitment of resources. Implementation of each project identified in the IRWM plans will be the responsibility of the project proponent and any applicable project partners. There is no joint commitment or responsibility by the IRWM plan participants or adopting agencies to implement any or all of the projects. Furthermore, the project proponents and applicable project partners have discretionary authority over project design and implementation and may elect not to implement a project based on changing regional conditions or needs. Upon implementing a project, project proponents will be responsible for ensuring that all regulatory requirements for the project are met.
The IRWM plans consist of planning studies and basic proposed project information collection that will not result in the disturbance of any environmental resource. Therefore, the IRWM plans are statutorily exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines §15262. As such, programmatic environmental analysis under CEQA is not required. Each project ultimately implemented, as a result of this plan, will require independent CEQA analysis.
Referral History
This item was presented to the Transportation, Water and Infrastructure Committee on April 3, 2014, for referral to the Board of Supervisors for approval of the adoption of the IRWM plans
If the Board of Supervisors does not adopt the IRWM plans, projects that the FC District proposes for funding through IRWM grant programs will not be ineligible for funding. Further, the Upper Sand Creek Detention Basin has already been awarded $2,000,000 through Proposition 1E, and its funding may be in jeopardy if the ECCCIRWMP is not adopted.