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Grand Avenue Widening Project Environmental Impact Report Section 60 6.2.6 . CUMULATIVE IMPACTS RELATED TO WATER Buildout of the Land Use Element would increase the population and intensity of development in the City which would result in a greater demand for water. Significant reductions in groundwater resources may occur unless there is adequate recharge of groundwater or the use of imported water is increased. New development under buildout of the Land Use Element will be subject to flood hazards posed by the Santa Ana River, upstream dams and deficient storm drains. Implementation of storm drain improvements and planned River flood control projects would reduce these impacts. Therefore, these impacts are not anticipated. to be significant. The transportation improvements in the Circulation Element will not by themselves create demand for water. However, these projects will be exposed to flood hazards posed by the Santa Ana River, upstream dams and deficient storm drains. These impacts can be reduced with mitigation and are not anticipated to be significant. Therefore, the Land Use and Circulation Elements will not result in significant cumulative adverse impacts related to water resources. As discussed in the IS, the widening of Grand Avenue will not result in significant adverse impacts related to water quality and water related hazards. Therefore, this proposed widening project will not contribute to a significant cumulative adverse impact related to water quality and water hazards. 6.2.7 CUMULATIVE IMPACTS RELATED TO AIR QUALITY Implementation of the transportation improvements in the Circulation Element would improve the flow of traffic in the City. This is expected to beneficially reduce regional emissions from vehicles using the new or improved transportation facilities compared to the future baseline emissions without these circulation improvements. However, new land uses under the Land Use Element would increase traffic in the City which may lead to increased mobile source emissions near sensitive receptors. Specifically, these land uses would result in increases in long term regional emissions which exceed the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) quarterly standards for carbon monoxide (CO), total organic gas and nitrogen oxides. In addition, increased traffic associated with new development could increase congestion and, therefore, CO levels, and could impact sensitive receptors near heavily traveled streets. Overall, buildout of the Land Use and Circulation Elements could contribute to significant cumulative adverse impacts on air quality in the region. There are not anticipated to be significant short term construction related emissions associated with construction of transportation improvements under the Circulation Element. In the short term, construction related pollutant emissions associated with buildout of the Land Use and Circulation Elements may exceed the AQMD quarterly thresholds if multiple projects are constructed simultaneously. Sensitive receptors such as schools, hospitals and residences in close proximity to construction sites could be impacted by these emissions. Therefore, the short term air quality impacts associated with buildout of the Land Use Element are anticipated to be significant. Alternatives 1 and 2 will result in the generation of short term air emissions during construction which can be mitigated to below a level of significance. However, overall, buildout of the Land F.9PROJ-ENVIGrand eirWew Text - Gran&Section 6.0-new.doc Page 6-11