West Bay Sanitary District Flow Equalization and Resource Recovery Permitting Services

The West Bay Sanitary District (WBSD) Equalization Basin Ecotone Levee Improvement Project is located on San Francisco Bay in Menlo Park, adjacent to Bedwell Bayfront Park. The project involves both traditional and horizontal levee improvements to exceed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood zone elevation and Bay Area sea-level rise projections by raising the levees an average of 3 to 5 feet. Existing levees are already breached during king and other maximum tide events.

SWCA conducted an environmental constraints analysis which described the sensitive resources that could be affected by the construction of the project alternatives; the potential regulatory requirements triggered by each alternative; the avoidance, minimization, and mitigation measures that each alternative may require; and what additional technical studies would need to be completed. SWCA is designing the ecotone levee and living shoreline restoration components of the project. SWCA prepared the necessary project permit applications, including a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Section 404 Standard Permit, Regional Water Quality Control Board Section 401 Water Quality Certification, and San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission Major Permit, and is working with the USACE to conduct Section 7 Endangered Species Act (ESA) consultation with both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries. Species concerns for the project include saltmarsh harvest mouse, Ridgway’s rail, black rail, steelhead, and rare plants. Obtaining these permits has required extensive coordination with the permitting agencies to ensure that the project balances the need for both flood control improvements and shoreline enhancements to help improve native habitats adjacent to the site.

In addition, SWCA has prepared an Alternatives Analysis under Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 404(b)(1) Guidelines, a Compensatory Mitigation Plan, and a Monitoring and Adaptive Management Plan, and is providing comprehensive restoration design services for the project, including engineering and landscape design for the proposed ecotone levee and salt marsh creation areas adjacent to the facility. To make these shoreline enhancements feasible, SWCA also helped WBSD secure a $3.9 million National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Grant for implementation of the project, which is anticipated to be completed by 2025.

As part of the same site under WBSD jurisdiction, SWCA was invited to prepare a CEQA EIR Addendum for the Recycled Water Facility to utilize nanofiltration. Prior project documentation did not include an analysis of nanofiltration or the proposed layout. SWCA provided environmental consulting and CEQA services to WBSD to facilitate flood protection and expansion of the existing wastewater facility along the San Francisco Bay shoreline. These improvements included the redesign of the existing facility expansion and an analysis of nanofiltration environmental impacts. SWCA deliverables included a CEQA EIR Addendum and updated air quality modeling outputs. The EIR Addendum was added to the project file in August 2024.