Wastewater Compliance Project

Before the City can begin the Wastewater Compliance Project, the Central Valley Board must first approval the Report of Waste Discharge.  The City filed a Revised Report of Waste Discharge outlining modifications to the City’s Wastewater Treatment Plant on September 28, 2012.  This was followed by supplemental information on November 16, 2012.  Both documents are available for download below:

• Revised Report of Waste Discharge
• Supplement to the Revised Report of Waste Discharge

In accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the City has prepared an initial study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS & MND), that analyzes the potential environmental effects of the Wastewater Compliance Project and proposes a series of Mitigation Measures to reduce the potentially significant effects of the project to a less than significant level.  The draft IS & MND was released for public review on December 21, 2012; the comment period closed on February 1, 2013. The IS & MND is available for review below:

• Notice of Intent to Adopt a Mitigated Negative Declaration
• Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration

In 2009, the City of Ione certified an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the City of Ione Wastewater Master Plan (WWMP).  The WWMP looked at a comprehensive upgrade to the City’s wastewater operations, including increasing capacity to 3.0 MGD, incorporating treatment of flows from the Amador Regional Sanitation Agency (ARSA), providing reclaimed water to Charles Howard Park and Unimin Mine, and addressing the concerns outlined in the Cease and Desist Order.  The WWMP project was intended to add capacity to the City's plant whereas the current project is being undertaken to resolve the concerns expressed by the Central Valley Regional Water Board. Therefore, for various political, regulatory, and financial reasons, the City has chosen to replace the WWMP project with the proposed Compliance Project. 

This IS & MND is intended to satisfy the requirements of CEQA for the proposed Project.  In doing so, the analysis and mitigation measures provided by the prior EIR are relevant to the extent that similar impacts may occur as a result of this project.  To that end, the prior EIR has been used as a technical resource and some of the prior mitigation measures identified in that EIR have been incorporated to the extent feasible and appropriate.  Note, however, that in places the prior mitigation measures have been modified to account for the substantially different nature of the proposed Compliance Project. Because this Project is substantially different in scope from the City's prior WWMP project the new project warrants further review under CEQA.

The 2009 WWMP and EIR are available as reference documents below:

• Wastewater Master Plan
• Wastewater Master Plan Environmental Impact Report (EIR)
  • Draft EIR