Apr 29, 2020

East Contra Costa Shoreline Flood Explorer

The Adapting to Rising Tides program of the SF Bay Conservation & Development Commission (ART BCDC), Delta Stewardship Council (DSC) and the San Francisco Estuary Institute / Aquatic Science Center (SFEI) are unveiling the East Contra Costa Shoreline Flood Explorer. SFEI developed the new explorer as a complementary tool to the Bay Shoreline Flood Explorer to allow government organizations and communities in East Contra Costa County to access interactive online maps of local flood risks due to rising sea levels and storm events. These tools help to both highlight what our region could look like without intervention, and to encourage local and regional adaptive plans to minimize flood risks.

The hosted scenarios, expressed through maps, are uniquely suited to raising awareness of flooding hazards and supporting planning because of three key features not found in other online tools:

  • Extensive Stakeholder Review: The intensive stakeholder review process solicited on-the-ground expertise to make the maps highly accurate and to allow continued accuracy improvements;
  • Emphasis on Outcomes, not Time: Uncertainty surrounding when and how quickly Delta water levels will rise makes it impossible to answer the question, “What will the Bay-Delta shoreline look like in 2100?” However, flooding can and will occur due to a variety of factors (e.g., rising sea level, storms, and tides) that can cause both permanent and temporary flooding. Therefore, the website enables users to map flood levels based on both predicted sea level rise and the 100-year storm event from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta; and,
  • Shoreline Overtopping Analysis: The Explorer contains a unique analysis that identifies low points where water may overtop the shoreline. This overtopping can lead to inland flooding. This information enables users to identify those shoreline locations and pursue additional investigations, analyses, and strategies to minimize flood risks. This will encourage limited resources to be directed to the locations posing the largest risks to shoreline communities.

 

Programs and Focus Areas: 
Environmental Informatics Program
Software Engineering
Geographic Information Systems