Hydrology and Water Quality CEQA Mitigation Measures

Summary

The [California Environmental Quality Act] (CEQA) (talk about [NEPA] too) does not directly regulate land uses. Instead, it requires that state and local agencies consider and disclose the potential environmental impacts of a proposed project. CEQA states that projects should not be approved as proposed if there are feasible alternatives or feasible mitigation measures available which would substantially lessen the significant environmental effects of such projects (PRC § 21002).

Part of the [CEQA process] involves determining the type of environmental impacts likely to result and for that initial assessment a [checklist] is used. The 17 item checklist includes Hydrology and Water Quality, which the [CEQA Handbook] defines as need to evaluate and describe the impacts of specific projects on surface and groundwater resources (including aquifer characteristics and water quality), and for the project site to generate runoff that could affect flooding or drainage characteristics (both on-site and downstream), or to be affected by flooding from storm events or dam failure inundation. The availability of water supplies and infrastructure to serve LRDP and project demand should be addressed in the [Public Services and Utilities and Energy] sections.

Standards of Significance

To determine whether a project will cause a [significant effect] on the hydrology or water quality