Alameda Creek Watershed Sediment Forum

Alameda Creek is the largest watershed in the Bay area draining approximately 650 square miles of the East Bay interior hills and valleys, including the Livermore-Amador and Sunol valleys.

The creek then cuts through the East Bay Hills via Niles Canyon before flowing across its large alluvial fan and floodplain complex, ultimately discharging into the southern portion of the San Francisco Bay. Average annual rainfall in the watershed varies from 24 inches on Mt Hamilton at an elevation of 4,400 ft above sea level to 15 inches near the Bay margin in Fremont. In addition to the growing urban areas of Livermore, Dublin, Pleasanton and Sunol where collective population has risen from 70,000 in 1970 to 170,000 in the 2000 census, the watershed is managed for grazing, equestrian facilities, nurseries, and, more recently, vineyards.

There are three major reservoirs (San Antonio, Del Valle, and Calaveras that collectively store 225,000 acre-feet) in addition to a groundwater recharge and pumping complex downstream that relies on the Niles Cone aquifer. All together, about 3,000,000 residents of the Bay Area rely on Alameda Creek for clean drinking water. The wide range of topography and climate provide for the beneficial uses of agriculture, groundwater recharge, fisheries (cold water, warm water, spawning, and migration), rare and endangered species, recreation, and wildlife habitat.