Dredging and Sediment Management

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San Francisco Deep Ocean Disposal Site

SF-DODS was established in 1994 to provide an environmentally superior alternative to disposal in San Francisco Bay.

It is the deepest and farthest off shore of any ocean dredged material disposal site in the United States.
To reach it, disposal barges must be towed through portions of the protected waters of the National Marine Sanctuaries at Monterey Bay and Gulf of the Farallones.
Because sea conditions in the open Pacific Ocean off central California can be extreme, and in order to avoid impacts to the National Marine Santuaries, disposal rules for SF-DODS include monitoring of and strict limitations on: transit route; allowable weather and wave conditions; maximum barge loading; and barge performance (no spilling/leaking).

Location	Approximately 50 miles offshore of San Francisco, CA
Center coordinates	37° 39.0' N by 123° 29.0' W (NAD 83)
Water Depth	8,200 - 9,840 feet (2,500 - 3,000 meters)
Size	6.5 square nautical miles (22 square kilometers)
Shape	Oval, with north-south length approximately 4 nautical miles (7.5 kilometers) and east-west width approximately 2.5 nautical miles (4.5 kilometers)
Disposal Zone	600 meter radius circle at center of overall disposal site
Volume Limit	4.8 million cubic yards of dredged material per year

Allan Ota (ota.allan@epa.gov)
Oceanographer / Regional Ocean Dumping Coordinator
(415) 972-3476