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I p it 111 1: Board Memorandum- BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIES DATE: March 21, 2014 ITEM NO: 6 SUBJECT: SECOND AMENDMENT TO THE AGREEMENT FOR PROFESSIONAL CONSULTANT SERVICES FOR THE PREPARATION OF THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT FOR THE RIVERSIDE NORTH AQUIFER STORAGE AND RECOVERY PROJECT ISSUE:. The item for Board of Public Utilities consideration is approval of a Second Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement with RBF Consulting for the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) forthe Riverside North Aquifer Storage and Recovery Project (Project), which will extend the term of the Agreement through December 31, 2015. RECOMMENDATION: That the Board of Public Utilities approve the Second Amendment to the Professional Service Agreement with RBF Consulting for the DEIR to extend the contract term through December 31, 2015, BACKGROUND: The Project includes the installation of an inflatable dam, offsite recharge basins and other equipment and infrastructure necessary to capture and infiltrate stormwater for the recharge of the Riverside Groundwater Basins. In October 2008, Riverside Public Utilities (RPU), Western Municipal Water District and San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District (Project Partners) jointly entered into a cost sharing agreement to prepare a DEIR for the Project; RPU hired RBF Consulting to do the work. During the course of the development of the DEIR, significant revisions were made to the document based on the December 2010, Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) ruling expanding the critical habitat for the Santa Ana Sucker (SAS). In addition, results from storm flow modeling indicated that the inflatable dam should be relocated upstream requiring additional changes to the DEIR. On August 28, 2012, the City and its project partners amended the Agreement with RBF Consulting to complete the DEIR and extended the contract term to December 31, 2013. Subsequently, completion of the DEIR was put on hold when the project partners requested that alternative stormwater capture methods be reviewed. Over several months, City staff and the project partners jointly evaluated the alternative stormwater capture scenarios and eventually determined that the alternative solutions were not viable and should not be evaluated further. At this time, the DEIR is in its final draft and will be issued in the next few months. The Second Amendment to the Professional Service Agreement with RBF Consulting will extend the contract term from December 31, 2013 to December 31, 2015, which will provide sufficient time to complete the DEIR and address any comments that may arise. Since the project is located in the Santa Ana River and since the project involves the capture of stormwater, it is anticipated that the DEIR will receive multiple comments. Once these are received, staff and RBF will determine what level of effort is needed to respond to the comments and staff will return to the Board of Public Utilities to seek additional authorization to increase the cost of the Agreement, if necessary.