Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
BAY AREA FACILITIES AT RISK*
99-186 miles of major roads and highways
(Highways 880 & 101, bayshore freeway, bridge approaches)
70-105 miles of railroad track
(Southern Pacific, Amtrak, CalTrain)
22 wastewater treatment plants
(Palo Alto, San Jose)
270,000 residents of 82,000 acres
(largely in the South Bay)
72-93 percent of airports
(Oakland, SFO)
57-87 percent public access sites to shoreline
(Crissy Field, Eastshore Park, Shoreline at Mountain View, etc.)
*From inundation or extreme events associated with 16-inch to 55-inch sea level rise.
(
Source
: S.F. Bay Conservation and Development Commission)
charge through outfalls and drains into the bay, and are vulnerable to
backing up when sea level rises and storm surges reach higher than ever
before. Likewise, the bay's ring of old landfills and industrial sites, capped
by clean soil, could release contaminants and garbage if flooded. Indeed,
more than 330 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-regulated hazard-
ous waste facilities are at risk along the California coast, many in Alameda,
Santa Clara, and San Mateo counties.
All told, the California Climate Change Center estimates $100 billion
worth of buildings and property statewide will be at risk from sea level
rise-influenced 100-year flood events associated with the 55-inch sce-
nario. Two-thirds of the buildings and property on this list lies in the San
Francisco Bay Area.
Eventually the impacts will spread into the Sacramento-San Joaquin
River Delta, much of which lies deeply subsided behind aging levees. Both
rising seas and accompanying extreme surge and tidal events are likely to
overtop levees and flood crops and homes.
No one really knows how much wave and wind energy the region's cur-
rent levee system—whether in the delta or around the bay—can with-
stand. Most weren't built with several feet of sea level rise in mind. One
thing that worries climate change planners like Goldbeck is where to ob-
tain material to build levees. In years past, the dirt was borrowed from
areas of the bay not so susceptible to inundation. In an estuary that is fast
becoming sediment-starved, what little is left is needed to keep wetlands
from eroding and disappearing.
