ARCHIVED REPORTS_DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT

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1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 PURPOSE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT The City of Manteca(City)has prepared this draft environmental impact report(DEIR)to disclose the potential environmental effects of the proposed Manteca Wastewater Quality Control Facility(WQCF) and Collection System Master Plans Update Project(project). This DEIR was prepared in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act(CEQA)of 1970 (as amended through Public Resources Code Section 21000 et seq.) and the State CEQA Guidelines (California Code of Regulations Section 15000 et seq.). An EIR is a full disclosure,public information document in which the significant environmental impacts of a project are evaluated, feasible measures to mitigate significant impacts are identified, and alternatives to the project that can reduce or avoid significant environmental effects are considered. An EIR is an informational document used in the planning and decision-making process by the lead agency and responsible and trustee agencies. The lead agency is the public agency with primary responsibility over the project. In accordance with State CEQA Guidelines Section 15051(b)(1), "the lead agency will normally be the agency with general governmental powers, such as a city or county,rather than an agency with a single or limited purpose."In the case of the proposed project,the lead agency is the City of Manteca,which will be responsible for overall approval. The purpose of an EIR is not to recommend either approval or denial of a project. CEQA requires decision- makers to balance the benefits of a project against its unavoidable environmental effects in deciding whether to carry out a project. The lead agency will consider the DEIR, comments received on the DEIR, and responses to those comments before making a decision. If environmental impacts are identified as significant and unavoidable, the lead agency may still approve the project if it determines that the social, economic, or other benefits outweigh the unavoidable impacts. The lead agency would then be required to prepare"Findings"and a"Statement of Overriding Considerations"that discuss the specific reasons for approving the project,based on information in the EIR and other information in the record. 1.2 SCOPE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT Pursuant to Section 15143 of the State CEQA Guidelines, a lead agency may limit the EIR's discussion of environmental effects to specific issues where significant effects on the environment may occur. The City used a variety of information to determine which issue areas would result in potentially significant or significant effects on the environment. This information included field surveys of the project site,review of project characteristics, comments from public and agency consultation, and comments received on the notice of preparation(NOP).An NOP was circulated to public agencies and the public on May 25,2006, for a 30-day review period. A public scoping meeting was held on June 14, 2006, at 5 p.m. in the Manteca City Council Chambers. Comments received on the NOP are included in Appendix A. Since publication of the NOP,the City decided to alter the alignments of several proposed wastewater collection system pipeline segments (see Exhibit 3-3, "Proposed Project Components"). These changes do not substantially alter the elements of the project as described in the NOP because the new collection system pipeline alignment is similar to the original collection system alignment as described in the NOP,and the new collection system would connect to the existing collection system primarily within previously developed portions of the city. Based on the NOP,public comments on the NOP, and preliminary analysis,the project would have less-than- significant impacts on recreation and population and housing as discussed below. These issues will not be evaluated further in this DEIR. Manteca WQCF and Collection System Master Plans EIR EDAW City of Manteca 1-1 Introduction