City of Davis ASR Pilot Testing Project
Summary
SCH Number
2025070022
Public Agency
City of Davis
Document Title
City of Davis ASR Pilot Testing Project
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
7/1/2025
Document Description
The City of Davis is preparing to conduct short-term aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) testing at two of the City of Davis’s inactive water supply wells. ASR is a water management technique that involves injecting and storing drinking water in an aquifer for later recovery and beneficial use. The City of Davis plans to test two inactive supply wells, Well 11 and Well 27, to gain information on site-specific injection rates and recovery rates, and groundwater level and groundwater quality responses to ASR.
The ASR pilot testing will be conducted by injecting drinking water from the City of Davis’s water distribution system into the aquifer using Well 11 and Well 27 in three cycles of injection, storage, and recovery. The total duration of the testing is estimated to be for six months beginning in October 2025. The duration of the three cycles will be approximately 15, 30, and 75 days, respectively. Data collection activities will consist of monitoring injection and recovery flow rates, groundwater levels and groundwater quality in the two supply wells during ASR pilot testing. This information will be used to support development of a potential future ASR project for the City of Davis under a separate environmental review.
Contact Information
Name
Eric Lee
Agency Name
City of Davis, Community Development and Sustainability Department
Job Title
Senior Planner
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency / Project Applicant / Parties Undertaking Project
Phone
Email
Location
Cities
Davis
Counties
Yolo
Regions
Citywide
Cross Streets
651 14th Street (Well #11) and 3000 Sycamore Lane (Well #27)
Zip
956616
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Statutory Exemption
Type, Section or Code
15262
Reasons for Exemption
The proposed ASR Pilot Testing Project is statutorily exempt from substantive CEQA review as it has been determined to have no potential to cause significant adverse effects on the environment. The proposed project meets the criteria for the Feasibility and Planning Studies Statutory Exemption (identified in CEQA Section 15262), which consists of “A project involving only feasibility or planning studies for possible future actions which the agency, board, or commission has not approved, adopted, or funded does not require the preparation of an E!R or Negative Declaration but does require consideration of environmental factors. This section does not apply to the adoption of a plan that will have a legally binding effect on later activities.’’ The proposed project involves a pilot study for planning purposes, involving a future action that has not yet been approved by the City Council (the implementation of the ASR activities). The pilot study is necessary to determine the feasibility of using wells for ASR, and to demonstrate performance thereof. Thus, based on the above, the proposed City of Davis ASR Pilot Testing Project qualifies for the Feasibility and Planning Studies Statutory Exemption (identified in Section 15262).
Exempt Status
Categorical Exemption
Type, Section or Code
15306
Reasons for Exemption
Additionally, the ASR Pilot Testing Project meets the criteria for a Class 6 Categories! Exemption (15306). Class 6 consists of "Information Collection," outlined under Section 15306 of the State CEQA Guidelines. Class 6 exemptions consist of “basic data collection, research, experimental management, and resource evaluation activities which do not result in a serious or major disturbance to an environmental resource. These may be strictly for information gathering purposes, or as part of a study leading to an action which a public agency has not yet approved, adopted, or funded." The Class 6 Criteria that is met by this project is that the proposed project is pilot study that would consist of data collection that would not result in serious or major disturbance to an environmental resource, and the data collected from the pilot study would be used as part of a study leading to an action which a public agency has not yet approved, adopted, or funded. The ASR Pilot Testing Project has been evaluated against the Categorical Exemption exceptions, and does not fall under any exception based on the lack of historical, archaeological, and scenic resources within the site, and that no hazardous waste sites are located in the vicinity of the project, and no cumulative or significant effects are anticipated to occur as a result of project implementation- The project activities have been determined not to have a potential to cause significant adverse environmental effects. Therefore, this proposed project is not forecast to cause any potential for significant adverse environmental impacts and Qualifies with the requirements for a Statutory Exemption (15262) and a Class 6 Categorical Exemption (15306).
County Clerk
Yolo
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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