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San Joaquin County Community Other CEQA Considerations Development Department The SJMSCP has been prepared by the County and its cities to provide a regional approach to mitigating development impacts on the 100 listed and nonlisted plant, fish,and wildlife species covered by the SJMSCP, including San Joaquin — kit fox, compensating for the conversion of open space to non—open space uses. The plan allows a development impact fee to be paid by project applicants whose projects would cause the loss of biological resources and/or conversion of habitats. While payment of these fees would be used to help conserve San Joaquin kit fox habitat elsewhere in the County,payment of fees cannot avoid the continued conversion of open space lands and the loss of habitat as these lands are developed. This is a cumulatively considerable impact,and no feasible — mitigation is available. Groundwater Impact CE-6: Cumulative Regional Groundwater Overdraft (Less than Cumulatively Considerable) The proposed Project,when considered together with past,present, and reasonable foreseeable future projects,could contribute to regional groundwater overdraft. As identified in Chapter 2,"Project Description",at least five other mining operations are proposed or currently exist that could contribute to the potential reduction of groundwater levels. However,the Project is located in the Tracy subbasin, a groundwater basin that is not currently in overdraft(Amezquita pers. comm.)and that has had relatively stable water levels in most wells over the — past 10 years(DWR 2004). All groundwater used in Project operations,with the exception of that used for consumptive purposes,will be returned to the aquifer through infiltration in storage ponds. Although the mining and reclamation stages of the proposed Project are anticipated to result in an increase in water consumption compared to baseline — conditions, it is not anticipated that the Project would result in a significant cumulative impact on regional groundwater levels. Implementation of mitigation measures for local groundwater-level impacts,described in section 3.1-1, "Groundwater and Groundwater Quality,"of this EIR,will reduce those impacts to less-than-significant levels. Because the groundwater basin is not in overdraft and all groundwater, except for that used for consumptive purposes, would be returned to the aquifer, the Project is not expected to contribute to a significant regional cumulative groundwater overdraft. With the implementation of mitigation measures GW-la,GW-lb, and GW-3 described in section 3.H,this is a less than cumulatively considerable impact. DeSilva Gates Quarry Project — Draft Environmental Impact Report 5-6 J85 05105.05