South Bay Salt Pond Interim Stewardship Plan
Client: Cargill Salt Division
Location: San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Alameda Counties
Primary Responsibilities:
- Tidal Hydraulics Analysis to allow tidal flow and to control salinity
Cargill Salt proposed a land transfer of part of the salt evaporation pond system to the National Wildlife Service. As part of the transfer, the evaporation ponds were operated to maintain the existing open water conditions in the ponds on an interim basis until the Service had established long-term plans for the preferred land uses and pond operations. Schaaf & Wheeler was responsible for tidal hydraulics analyses of the individual pond systems. The objective of the hydraulic analyses was to identify operational measures that allowed tidal flows through the pond systems to maintain the existing open water and to control salinity levels in the ponds. The hydraulic analyses evaluated the inlet and outlet facilities, transfers between ponds, and design water levels within the pond systems.
