San Francisco faces coastal flood risks today. These risks will increase in the future due to sea level rise and extreme storms, threatening buildings, small businesses, jobs, and critical services such as BART and Muni. To defend San Francisco from current and future flood risk, there is a need to adapt shoreline elevations to address 3 to 7 feet of sea level rise expected by 2100. Any effort aimed at long-term sea level rise resilience will also need to strengthen the waterfront against urgent earthquake risk today.
The waterfront has a history rich with innovative adaptation, and resilience is forged in our city's identity. We have a once in a generation opportunity not only to defend our waterfront from future flood and earthquake risks, but also to improve and rejuvenate the waterfront, improve the City’s connection to the Bay, and bring benefits such as more open space, enhanced mobility, safety and jobs.
The Waterfront Resilience Program works to ensure the waterfront, and its critical regional and citywide assets, are resilient to hazards - and increasingly accessible to everyone it serves.
Recommended Plan Released
The Port of San Francisco and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finalized the San Francisco Waterfront Flood Study and produced a Recommended Plan, achieving a major milestone in a nearly eight-year partnership. The Recommended Plan evolved from the best ideas, technical approaches, and public input from the Draft Plan, released for public review in 2024.
The Recommended Plan supports both the development of a long-term strategy for a safer and more resilient waterfront and the delivery of near-term improvements to defend the city and its waterfront from earthquakes, flooding, and sea level rise. San Francisco now has a clear framework for advancing efforts while allowing communities to continue to shape how resilience improvements look and function.
Read more in the Recommended Plan Highlights Document.
Project Surveys - Shape the Future of the Waterfront
Help shape the future of San Francisco’s waterfront. Take our short surveys to tell us how you experience the waterfront today and what changes would make it more welcoming, accessible, and resilient. Your input will help guide the Downtown Coastal Resilience Project and South Beach Coastal Resilience project.
Click here to take the Downtown Coastal Resilience Project survey.
Click here to take the South Beach Coastal Resilience Project survey.
