List of lakes of the San Francisco Bay Area

Last updated

This list of lakes in the San Francisco Bay Area groups lakes, ponds, and reservoirs by county. Numbers in parentheses are Geographic Names Information System feature ids.

Contents

Alameda County

Calaveras Reservoir Calaveras-Reservoir-2006-03-26.jpg
Calaveras Reservoir
Lake Merritt Lake Merritt Oakland California panorama.jpg
Lake Merritt
Lake Temescal Temescal 24.jpg
Lake Temescal

Contra Costa County

Lafayette Reservoir Lafayette Reservoir.JPG
Lafayette Reservoir
San Pablo Reservoir San Pablo Reservoir 2.jpg
San Pablo Reservoir

Marin County

Abbotts_Lagoon Abbotts Lagoon, October 2012.jpg
Abbotts_Lagoon
Bon Tempe Lake Bon Tempe lake (294925189).jpg
Bon Tempe Lake
Lake Lagunitas Lake Lagunitas.jpg
Lake Lagunitas
Stafford Lake StaffordLake1.jpg
Stafford Lake

Napa County

San Francisco

Lloyd Lake Lloyd Lake (San Francisco) DH000025 (644498663).jpg
Lloyd Lake
Lake Merced Lake Merced 2.JPG
Lake Merced

San Mateo County

San Andreas Lake SanAndreas.jpg
San Andreas Lake

Santa Clara County

Calaveras Reservoir CalaverasReservoir003.jpg
Calaveras Reservoir
Lake Cunningham Lake Cunningham.jpg
Lake Cunningham
Guadalupe Reservoir Guadalupe Reservoir Dam.jpg
Guadalupe Reservoir
Stevens Creek Reservoir StevensCreekReservoir.jpg
Stevens Creek Reservoir

Solano County

Sonoma County

Fountaingrove Lake Fountaingrovelakelead.jpg
Fountaingrove Lake
Roberts Lake RobertsLake3248.jpg
Roberts Lake
Lake Sonoma Sonoma Lake aerial view.jpg
Lake Sonoma
Tolay Lake Tolaylakefromthesouth.jpg
Tolay Lake

See also

Related Research Articles

Sonoma County, California County in California, United States

Sonoma County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa. It is to the north of Marin County and the south of Mendocino County. It is west of Napa County and Lake County.

Tulare Lake Freshwater dry lake in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California, United States

Tulare Lake is a freshwater dry lake with residual wetlands and marshes in the southern San Joaquin Valley, California, United States. After Lake Cahuilla disappeared in the 17th century, Tulare Lake was the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River and the second-largest freshwater lake entirely in the United States, based upon surface area. A remnant of Pleistocene-era Lake Corcoran, Tulare Lake dried up after its tributary rivers were diverted for agricultural irrigation and municipal water uses.

Wine Country Area of Northern California known as a wine-growing region

Wine Country is the region of California, in the northern Bay Area, known worldwide as a premier wine-growing region. The region is famed for its wineries, its cuisine, Michelin star restaurants, boutique hotels, luxury resorts, historic architecture, and culture. Viticulture and wine-making have been practiced in the region since the Spanish missionaries from Mission San Francisco Solano established the first vineyards in 1812.

Arroyo Hondo (Santa Clara County)

Arroyo Hondo is a northwestward-flowing 13.0-mile-long (20.9 km) river in Santa Clara County, California, United States, that lies east of Milpitas. The area is privately owned by the San Francisco Water Department and is closed to public access because of its usage as drinking water. Bounded to the east by Oak Ridge and to the west by Poverty Ridge, Arroyo Hondo empties into the Calaveras Reservoir where it joins Calaveras Creek. It is formed by the confluence of Smith Creek and Isabel Creek which drain the west and east slopes of Mount Hamilton, respectively.

Coyote Creek (Santa Clara County)

Coyote Creek is a river that flows through the Santa Clara Valley in Northern California. Its source is on Mount Sizer, in the mountains east of Morgan Hill. It eventually flows into Anderson Lake in Morgan Hill and then northwards through Coyote Valley to San Jose, where it empties into San Francisco Bay.

Lagunitas Creek Stream in California, United States

Lagunitas Creek is a 24 miles (39 km)-long northward-flowing stream in Marin County, California. It is critically important to the largest spawning runs of endangered coho salmon in the Central California Coast Coho salmon Evolutionary Significant Unit. The stream's headwaters begin on the northern slopes of Mount Tamalpais in the Coast Range and terminate in southeast Tomales Bay, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) northwest of Point Reyes Station, California. Lagunitas Creek feeds several reservoirs on Mt. Tamalpais that supply a major portion of the county's drinking water.

Alameda Creek

Alameda Creek is a large perennial stream in the San Francisco Bay Area. The creek runs for 45 miles (72 km) from a lake northeast of Packard Ridge to the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay by way of Niles Canyon and a flood control channel. Along its course, Alameda Creek provides wildlife habitat, water supply, a conduit for flood waters, opportunities for recreation, and a host of aesthetic and environmental values. The creek and three major reservoirs in the watershed are used as water supply by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Alameda County Water District and Zone 7 Water Agency. Within the watershed can be found the highest peaks and tallest waterfall in the East Bay, over a dozen regional parks, and notable natural landmarks such as the cascades at Little Yosemite and the wildflower-strewn grasslands and oak savannahs of Sunol Preserve. After an absence of half a century, ocean-run steelhead trout will soon be able to return to Alameda Creek to mingle with remnant rainbow trout populations. Completion of a series of dam removal and fish passage projects, along with improved stream flows for cold-water fish and planned habitat restoration, will improve and restore habitat conditions for migratory fish. Steelhead trout and Chinook salmon will soon be able to access up to 20 miles (32 km) of spawning and rearing habitat in Alameda Creek and its tributaries.

Sonoma Creek Stream in California

Sonoma Creek is a 33.4-mile-long (53.8 km) stream in northern California. It is one of two principal drainages of southern Sonoma County, California, with headwaters rising in the rugged hills of Sugarloaf Ridge State Park and discharging to San Pablo Bay, the northern arm of San Francisco Bay. The watershed drained by Sonoma Creek is roughly equivalent to the wine region of Sonoma Valley, an area of about 170 square miles (440 km2). The State of California has designated the Sonoma Creek watershed as a “Critical Coastal Water Resource”. To the east of this generally rectangular watershed is the Napa River watershed, and to the west are the Petaluma River and Tolay Creek watersheds.

Crystal Springs Reservoir

Crystal Springs Reservoir is a pair of artificial lakes located in the northern Santa Cruz Mountains of San Mateo County, California situated in the rift valley created by the San Andreas Fault just to the west of the cities of San Mateo and Hillsborough, and I-280. The lakes are part of the San Mateo Creek watershed.

San Andreas Lake

San Andreas Lake is a reservoir adjacent to the San Francisco Peninsula cities of Millbrae and San Bruno in San Mateo County, California. It is situated directly on the San Andreas Fault, which is named after the valley it is in.

San Leandro Creek is a 21.7-mile-long (34.9 km) year-round natural stream in the hills above Oakland in Alameda County and Contra Costa County of the East Bay in northern California.

San Mateo Creek (San Francisco Bay Area)

San Mateo Creek is a perennial stream whose watershed includes Crystal Springs Reservoir, for which it is the only natural outlet after passing Crystal Springs Dam.

Hydrography of the San Francisco Bay Area

The Hydrography of the San Francisco Bay Area is a complex network of watersheds, marshes, rivers, creeks, reservoirs, and bays predominantly draining into the San Francisco Bay and Pacific Ocean.

Laguna Creek (San Mateo County)

Laguna Creek is a perennial stream that flows northwesterly for 2.6-mile (4.2 km) along the San Andreas Fault from Woodside in San Mateo County, California and, after crossing the Phleger Estate and Filoli, enters Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir, where it is a historic tributary to San Mateo Creek. San Mateo Creek then carries its waters over Crystal Springs Dam northeast to San Francisco Bay.

San Felipe Creek is a 14 miles (23 km) stream that originates in the western Diablo Range in Santa Clara County, California. It flows south by southeast through two historic ranchos, Rancho Los Huecos and Rancho Cañada de San Felipe y Las Animas before it joins Las Animas Creek just above Anderson Reservoir. One of the nine major tributaries of Coyote Creek, the creek’s waters pass through the Santa Clara Valley and San Jose on the way to San Francisco Bay.

Laguna Creek watershed

The Laguna Creek watershed consists of 25.1 square miles (100 km2) of land within northern California's Alameda County. The watershed drains the foothills of the Diablo Range south of Niles Canyon. To the southeast, the area of Mission Peak Regional Preserve around Mission Peak is included. Agua Caliente, Canada del Aliso, Mission, Morrison, Sabercat, Vargas, and Washington creeks drain the area of the watershed. They drain into Laguna Creek and eventually Mud Slough.

<i>Mallard II</i> Salt pond levee dredger built in 1936

Mallard II is a wooden-hulled clamshell dredger used to maintain levees on the San Francisco Bay Salt Ponds. Mallard II was constructed in 1936, and is "probably the oldest operating dredge in California"; she is owned and operated by Cargill Salt.

References