Amador County – The East Bay Municipal Utility District plans an “outreach” and “public scoping” meeting next week in Jackson for its 2040 water management plan, and potential affects on the Mokelumne River.

East Bay MUD hosts a public scoping meeting 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 13 at the Jackson Civic Center, 33 Broadway in Jackson. Two other meetings will be held July 14 in San Andreas, and July 21 at the District office in Oakland, before the comment period ends, July 29.

The District released a notice of its upcoming public scoping meetings “for a revised Program Environmental Impact Report” for its Water Supply Management Program 2040. The notice said East Bay MUD “is supplementing the Program EIR that examined the environmental impacts” of the 2040 Program, “which is a long-term water supply planning effort.”

The notice said “EBMUD is doing this work to comply with a court order issued in response to a challenge to the plan.” The District noticed the meetings to “individuals, agencies and organizations that submitted comments on the Draft Program EIR” for the 2030 Program when it was released for public review in 2009. EBMUD “has prepared a Notice of Preparation describing the work planned.” Notices can be requested by mail, or seen on the District’s website.

The “purpose of the meetings is to assist EBMUD in reviewing the appropriate scope of the additional analysis to refine the existing PEIR.”

East Bay MUD information officer Charles Hardy said the District’s new General Manager Alex Coate plans to attend the meetings.

The East Bay Municipal Utility District Board of Directors voted unanimously in May to comply with an April Sacramento Superior Court order to set aside its 2040 Management Program and related program approvals and conduct further analysis. The Board voted to not appeal the decision and will instead follow the “court’s recommendations for supplementing the environmental analysis in the District’s 30-year water plan.”

People wishing to comment on the Notice of Preparation can attend one of the meetings, or submit written comments due by 5 p.m. July 29.

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Frawley issued a ruling April 11 directing East Bay Municipal “to study several areas in greater detail, including potential impacts on the Middle Bar segment of the Mokelumne River to the Miwok ancestral gathering places and the potential for involvement in neighboring Contra Costa Water District’s Los Vaqueros Reservoir expansion.”

The District has a goal of publishing a new draft document for review in October,” followed by “more public meetings locally and upcountry,” and “a lengthy comment period before the Board would consider certification of a final Program EIR and approval of the program in February 2012.”

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.