[Vendome]

Defending San Francisco's Waterfront from Flood Risks

San Francisco faces coastal flood risks today. These risks will increase in the future due to sea level rise and extreme storms, threatening buildings, small businesses, popular attractions and open spaces, jobs, and critical services such as BART, Muni, and the wastewater system. 

To defend San Francisco from current and future flood risk, there is a need to adapt shoreline elevations to address 3 to 7 feet of sea level rise expected by 2100. Any effort aimed at long-term sea level rise resilience will also need to strengthen the waterfront against the urgent earthquake risk we face today.

Left: photo by Dave Rauenbuehler 

Three Approaches: Defend, Accommodate, Retreat 

Adapting the waterfront will require change on a large scale. It will mean making challenging choices that balance multiple factors and priorities. 

There are three approaches to address flooding and earthquake risks along our waterfront. Defend, Accommodate, Retreat. Each approach has many possibilities and comes with challenges. 

There is no single approach to adaptation that will meet the needs of San Francisco along the entire waterfront. The different risks, topography, and historic development of the waterfront means that we will need to use a combination of approaches. 

Defend against floods by raising the existing shoreline to keep the water out. 

Accommodate flooding by letting the water in, adapting buildings and infrastructure in place. 

Retreat from the current shoreline by moving buildings and infrastructure inland. 

 

 

 

 

High-Level Draft Waterfront Adaptation Strategies

The Port of San Francisco has developed seven high-level Draft Waterfront Adaptation Strategies through a collaborative interagency process and over five years of public engagement. Draft Waterfront Adaptation Strategies will be ready for public feedback this fall, with a goal of reaching a locally-endorsed Waterfront Adaptation Strategy in Summer 2023. This locally-endorsed strategy will identify a preferred approach to adapting the waterfront to flood hazards including sea level rise. 

This is a once in a generation opportunity to not only defend our waterfront from future flood and earthquake risks, but also to rejuvenate the waterfront, improve the City's connection to the Bay, and bring benefits such as more open space, enhanced mobility, increased safety, healthier natural systems, and jobs. 

For more information about seismic and flood risks facing the waterfront, visit the Seismic and Flood Risk 101 page. 

To learn more about about how the Port is adapting the waterfront, visit the Embarcadero Early Projects and Living Seawall Pilot pages.

[hinckley buzzard]

“project will break ground in about a decade.”
This is an egregious example of 1) the need to spend “use it or lose it” money even on worthless make-work and 2) the dishonest ignoring of well documented land subsidence and blaming the relative sea level rise on climate change.

Totally transparent malfeasance by the dopes in charge out there.

[stylin19a]

The project will break ground in about a decade.

isn't that passed the end of the tipping point ?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“San Francisco’s Prop A — which was passed by 82.7% of voters in 2018 — authorized $425 million general obligation bonds that will partially fund the Waterfront Resilience Program.”

Those are the very same idiot voters who passed the High Speed Rail California Proposition 1A Bond Measure in 2008. It authorized the issuance of $9.95 billion in general obligation bonds, including $9.00 billion for the planning and construction of an 800-mile high-speed rail system connecting San Francisco to Los Angeles.

6.7 million voted “Yes.” 6.0 million voted “No.”

People everywhere are snookered by their governments.

San Francisco has become a sh!thole and the voters want to piss away another half billion dollars on NOTHING rather than restoring the glory of the city. Just like the train that will NEVER operate.

[dayglored]

Have they considered the possibility that instead of the oceans rising (due of course to Climate Change™), maybe, just maybe, they live on the edge of a tectonic plate that in their region is sinking?

[TigersEye]

The most recent data from NASA shows a decline in sea level.

Inconvenient: NASA shows global sea level…pausing, instead of rising

[FlingWingFlyer]

The Ocean is NOT rising. The North American continent is sinking from all of those 400 and 500 pound illegal alien fatsos coming across the border into the U.S.

[frank ballenger]

If sea level rises enough to hit the tent cities of drug addicts and derelicts on the sidewalks of San Francisco the city had better issue flotation devices.

https://www.google.com/search?q=pink+flamingo+flotation+sale&shoprs=CAESBEoCGAEYBioXcGluayBmbGFtaW5nbyBmbG90YXRpb24yEwgGEgdPbiBzYWxlGAIiB

[Iron Munro]

When California west of the San Andreas Fault sinks into the Pacific Ocean will taxpayers have to cough up enough money to jack it back up?

[Jolla]

The waterfront in the Financial District back in the day was 10 blocks back. Grant St was the first street at the high tide, maybe if they had not done 10 blocks of bay fill they would not have this problem, don’t mess with Mother Nature.

This will end up a $3-4 billion project, they have learned not to put a price tag on these things so the moneypit can be bottomless.

“home to six ferry piers, used by millions of commuters and tourists each year”

There are not a millions of commuters, there are 10,000 per day.

[Ex-Con777]

“project will break ground in about a decade.”

The money will be pocketed and the officials long gone by then. No one will remember.

EC

[Sequoyah101]

The corpse of engineers is running out of useful things to do. kamalalala should love them though, they use venn diagrams.

[moovova]

There’s gonna be a lot of floating feces.

[Wuli]

The Dutch have long successful proven methods for dealing with this issue. They built dykes.