The Work We Do
Essential Funding for Community Safety
When it rains, the District’s projects protect homes and businesses from damage. Though our flood protection systems generally performed well considering the magnitude of storms we’ve had in recent years, several flood control systems and creeks sustained major damage and repairs will be costly. To ensure we can continue offering the necessary levels of flood protection, Alameda County’s flood control systems require major upgrades.
Read more about why the District is seeking additional funding.
Flood Control Projects
Environmental Restoration Projects
We strive to protect the natural beauty of the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to providing flood control management, the District acts as an environmental steward by proactively engaging in projects that protect and improve our creeks and wetlands.
Maintenance / Operations
The District’s maintenance and operations (M&O) department plays a key role in building a sustainable future. We inspect and maintain more than 500 miles of conduit, channels, and natural creeks in western Alameda County. We clear excess vegetation, sediment, and debris from watercourses. We also maintain 22 pump stations and 3,700 County tide gates.
The District’s M&O department proudly serves as an Emergency Response Unit during natural disasters. We keep more than a 100,000 sandbags and a huge pile of hay bales on hand to assist with our flooding and erosion control efforts, as well as coordinating with local fire departments to ensure there are enough sandbags for public use during the rainy season.
Other efforts include working with Alameda County and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to maintain the necessary tools for first responders to manage emergency situations.
Programs
Urban runoff is the leading cause of water pollution in the creeks and San Francisco Bay today. There are several simple changes we can make in our daily lives to improve and protect our local creeks and San Francisco Bay. Having clean water and conserving natural resources are important to us. That’s why we have several programs in place to protect our local creeks and watersheds and implement sustainable practices that help to conserve water.
Guidance To Our Work
Laws and Regulations are an important part of how we do our work to protect Alameda County’s waterways. Learn more about the laws and regulations that the Flood Control District follows.
Green Infrastructure
Urban development traditionally involves replacing natural landscapes with impermeable pavements and storm drain systems, or “gray” infrastructure. Green Infrastructure (GI), otherwise known as Green Stormwater Infrastructure, uses vegetation, soils, and other elements and practices to capture, infiltrate, treat, and slow urban runoff.
The Alameda County Public Works Agency has converted two agency-owned parking lots at 951 Turner Court in Hayward, CA into GI demonstration project areas. Completed in spring of 2019, the site consists of 14 GI features, each described in detail on interpretive panels and integrated into a self-guided tour that is open to the public. The Agency offers on-site GI workshops for professionals in stormwater management, landscape architecture, construction, and maintenance. This site is a Bay-Friendly Rated Landscape.