Transforming Shorelines
East Bay Dischargers Authority is part of a team led by the San Francisco Estuary Partnership (SFEP) focused on facilitating multi-benefit projects along the San Francisco Bay shoreline that provide resilience to sea level rise, improve water quality, and restore and protect habitat. The project received a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency’s San Francisco Bay Water Quality Improvement Fund. The Transforming Shorelines Grant Agreement with EPA can be found here, and the Transforming Shorelines Work Plan approved by EPA can be found here.
EBDA is leading two projects as part of Transforming Shorelines. The first is the First Mile Horizontal Levee Project. A Horizontal Levee is a multi-benefit feature that is being considered as a potential way to respond to sea rise using “green infrastructure.” The concept was first demonstrated at Oro Loma Sanitary District, and the goal of the First Mile project is to design and seek permits for a full-scale Horizontal Levee in the EBDA service area just south of Oro Loma. The second EBDA-led project was a Feasibility Study to explore nature-based multi-benefit project options at the Hayward Oxidation Ponds next to the Hayward Water Pollution Control Facility. Both of these projects were conceptualized as part of the Hayward Regional Shoreline Adaptation Master Plan.
More information on these and related projects around the Bay can be found at SFEP’s Transforming Urban Water Initiative website.