This dataset includes depth-to-groundwater maps produced by Pathways Climate Institute and San Francisco Estuary Institute with funding from the Bay Area Council's California Resilience Challenge and the Regional Water Quality Control Board. For more information, please visit the project page.
Each link below is a zipped file containing a geodatabase (GDB). There is one zip file for each county covered by this analysis. Each zipped GDB contains:
- Raster layers of depth to groundwater for current conditions and under 10 future sea-level rise scenarios: 12", 24", 36", 48", 52", 66", 77", 84", 96", 108". These align with the scenarios used in BCDC's mapping for the ART Bay Shoreline Flood Explorer.
- Polygon layers of emergent groundwater for current conditions and under the same 10 future sea-level rise scenarios
- Polygon layers of groundwater within 6 feet of the ground surface for current conditions and under the same 10 future sea-level rise scenarios (impacts to underground infrastructure from high groundwater tables are possible within 6 feet of the ground surface; see the accompanying documentation for more information).
- Polygon layer showing inland areas in each county not mapped for this analysis.
- Polygon layer showing areas of low confidence due to recent grade changes not reflected in the Digital Elevation Model used as an input to the groundwater mapping.
These datasets are meant for planning purposes and are a best estimate of groundwater levels based on available empirical data. More refined analysis is needed for site scale engineering and design.
DOWNLOAD LINKS
For more background on groundwater rise, the methods used to develop these GIS layers, and other information, please download the accompanying report.
You can also view these data and overlays of emergent groundwater layers with sea-level rise layers from the ART Bay Shoreline Flood Explorer in interactive online web maps:
Current conditions data for Contra Costa County is temporarily available through a separate online web map. Contra Costa County and Solano County data will be integrated into the regional web map when Solano County mapping is complete (expected 2026).
This is a free dataset: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This dataset is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. More information about GNU General Public License is available at https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html. Data are available without restriction upon use with the following caveats. Prudent usage, knowledge of the data quality, and professional courtesy should all be considered in obtaining and using SFEI data. As this dataset is NOT a survey document, neither use it as such nor use it beyond the limits of the source scale. Please read and fully comprehend all available metadata prior to data use. SFEI requests that the use of these data in any map, publication, or report should include citation of the data source(s) used and give proper attribution and credit to the originators of the data. Questions about SFEI data may be directed to the GIS Manager, at 510-746-7334.
