North Coast Rivers Alliance v. Marin Municipal Water District Board of Directors

The Marin Municipal Water District (the District) is the proponent of a project to build a seawater desalination plant in Marin County (the Project). The District certified an environmental impact report (EIR) for the Project. North Coast Rivers Alliance (the Alliance) challenged this action, claiming, among other things, that the EIR failed to analyze adequately the adverse environmental consequences of the Project. The trial court concluded the EIR was invalid under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.). The District has appealed; we reverse the judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Overview of the Project

The District is a public utility which provides water to residents in its service area in Marin County. (Marin Mun. Water Dist. v. KG Land California Corp. (1991) 235 Cal.App.3d 1652, 1657 [ 1 Cal.Rptr.2d 767 ].) In 1989, the District declared a water shortage emergency in its service area. (Ibid.) According to the District’s Water Supply Master Plan, water demand will exceed supply by 2025. Faced with this impending shortfall, the District advocated aggressive conservation methods. However, even with vigilant conservation, the…