Studies, Reports, and Grant Proposals

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Studies and Reports

UC Berkeley student reports from 1983 & 1989 Senior Seminars taught by Doris Sloan. These pioneering reports led to other studies and are still cited.
City of Berkeley Aquatic Park Master Plan 1990. Multiple consultants, extensive outreach and public comment, recommendations on improving marsh habutat. recreation, access. Recommended studying use of lagoons for stormwater treatment. No meaningful action resulted. Haltiner report on hydrology and water quality, below, was Appendix D. 11 MB file, please allow time.
Hydrology and Water Quality: Berkeley Aquatic Park: Study by Jeffrey Haltiner, Philip Williams Assoc., for City of Berkeley, 1990. This is Appendix D of 1990 Master Plan, recommends studying use of small south lagoons as stormwater treatment. CH3MHill study, 1994, resulted.
Aquatic Park Water Quality Improvement Study: Technical study by CH2MHill, for the City of Berkeley (with $60,000 Alameda County Clean Water grant) 1994. on stormwater treatment as recommended in 1990 Master Plan. Feasible alternatives limited; no acton resulted.
Aquatic Park Sound Barrier Options 2000: City Manager’s report to City Council, 2000. Extensive consideration with outreach and planning, CalTrans did not agree, came to nothing.
Aquatic Park Natural Resource Management Study: Study by Laurel Marcus Assoc. and other consultants for the City of Berkeley, 2003. Precursor to xxtensive multi-year Aquatic Park Improvement study, APIP (below).
Aquatic Park Waterbird Population and Disturbance Response Study: Study by Avocet Research Associates for the City of Berkeley, 2004. Incorporated into APIP (below).
Memo modeling potential circulation/exchange improvements, 2007, Laurel Marcus Assoc., 2008. For APIP (below).
Aquatic Park Improvement Study with Technical Report and Appendices, Laurel Marcus Assoc., 2008. Part of APIP (below.)
Aquatic Park Improvement Program (APIP) Draft Environmental Impact Report: Environmental Impact Report from the Aquatic Park Improvement Plan (APIP), 2012. Some planting of natives, neglected and later mowed down by Parks Department. No other significant action.
Analysis and recommendations for the Potter Watershed, from the Berkeley Watershed ManagementPlan, 2012. The Potter Watershed drains almost 1/3 of Berkeley and strongly affects the Aquatic Park lagoons.

Grant Proposals

Berkeley Aquatic Park Grant Application: Measure AA Round 4 grant proposal by the city of Berkeley, 2021, and denial.
Berkeley Aquatic Park Urban Habitat Project Grant Application: Measure AA Round 5 grant proposal by the city of Berkeley, 2021 (denied).
Berkeley Aquatic Park Stormwater Treatment Grant Proposal, to US EPA, 2023. Approved. As of April 2024, the city plans to install trash-catching centrifugal devices east of the tracks for the small watersheds that drain to the park at Bancroft and Channing, and a 10,000-square-foot rain garden or “bioswale” west of the tracks at the parking area near the Dreamland for Kids playground.
Berkeley Aquatic Park Grant Proposal for Planning Tide Tube Improvements, to US Federal Highway Administration, 2023, denied.
Interstate 80 and Aquatic Park Lagoon Subsurface Culvert Resiliency Project: $3.78 million grant plus $800,000 in city matching funds, submitted Nov. 2024, funded March 2025 through California Transportation Commission Local Transportation and Climate Adaptation Program (LTCAP) (https://catc.ca.gov/-/media/ctc-media/documents/programs/ltcap/2025/berkeley-i-80-and-aquatic-park-resiliency-fact-sheet-a11y.pdf). Originally scheduled to begin 2025, now proposed for fy 27-28 partial expenditure. The intent is to protect I-80 from a disastrous collapse of these pipes, prevent West Berkeley flooding, and increase Bay and lagoon water exchange to ease the lagoons’ persistent environmental problems. Hoped-for work: planning, permissions; dredging if needed; cleaning, sleeving or replacing the pipes of the main and middle/Model Yacht Basin lagoon. Funds availale are not likely to cover all this. The small south lagoon is not included.