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Riverbank council approves addendum to recycled‑water IS/MND, reroutes pipeline through Jacob Myers Park
Summary
The Riverbank City Council on March 25, 2025, approved an addendum to the IS/MND for the Riverbank Regional Recycled Water Project that shifts a borrow area and reroutes a pipeline through Jacob Myers Park to serve agricultural irrigation.
The Riverbank City Council on March 25, 2025, approved an addendum to the initial study and mitigated negative declaration (IS/MND) for the Riverbank Regional Recycled Water Project, clearing a change in project limits that includes a new borrow area and a new pipeline route.
Public Works Director Dakota Bridgewater told the council the plant’s expansion is intended to increase treatment capacity (current 1,600,000 gallons per day to a projected 2,290,000 gallons per day) and to enable higher‑quality recycled water for agricultural irrigation and in‑lieu recharge. Bridgewater said each new home is estimated to produce approximately 200 gallons of wastewater per day and that the project will reduce reliance on the facility’s evaporation and percolation ponds and address groundwater nitrate and salt concerns reflected in the basin plan amendment.
The addendum redefines two project elements: it proposes using Pond P9 as a borrow pit instead of Pond T4 (staff said T4 contains sludge that would complicate dewatering) and it reroutes a recycled‑water pipeline (Pipeline B) east from the treatment plant through Jacob Myers Park to reach adjacent agricultural lands. Bridgewater said the Henry Road corridor originally considered for the line is too narrow and constrained by train‑track clearance to allow safe construction.
Bridgewater told council the project’s potential impacts to biological, cultural, geological, transportation and tribal cultural resources had been identified in the original IS/MND and that mitigation measures in the document reduce those impacts to less than significant levels. Staff recommended council approve the addendum, sign and file a notice of determination with San Joaquin County, pay required CEQA filing fees and file with the state clearinghouse.
Council asked about the construction timeline and park impacts; Bridgewater said the work in Jacob Myers Park would likely be timed to avoid peak park season, involve an approximately 24‑inch‑wide trench about 4 feet deep, and take roughly four to six weeks while the pipe is installed and backfilled.
Council approved the addendum and associated actions by a 5‑0 roll call vote.
