Every person lives in a watershed! A watershed is an area of land from which all stormwater drain to a shared body of water. In San Francisco, we have eight distinct urban watersheds, three on the Westside where stormwater flows towards the Pacific Ocean, and five on the Bayside where stormwater flows towards the San Francisco Bay.
This project is intended to help foster a connection between you and your watershed, a natural resource worth exploring! Click on the map to explore the past, present and future of our watersheds. Should you experience difficulty using the separate tabs of this map, we've included links below to each of those sections.
Watersheds Past and Present - See how historic waterways, shorelines and infrastructure have transformed the landscape since the 1860s.
Visit Points of Interest - Explore this map to learn about the development of San Francisco’s infrastructure, historic waterways and features of the past, and points of interest you can visit today in each of our watersheds
Watershed Storytellers - San Franciscan’s have a long history of protecting watersheds and bringing to life the stories of their watersheds. Click on the videos to hear from a community of local storytellers.
The Future of Our Watersheds - Click on the map to explore the Sewer System Improvement Program projects underway to manage stormwater and modernization of our sewers and treatment plants to continue to protect public health and the environment now and into the future.