Castro Cove

The Chevron Richmond Refinery located at the south end of the inlet dumps 5.6 million gallons daily of treated industrial use waters into the Cove, Castro Creek and San Pablo Bay.

The water board used the authority of the Bay Protection and Toxic Clean-up Program to require Chevron to produce a sediment characterization work plan in 1998.

[3] Years of discharge or polluted water left the cove with high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and mercury contamination.

[3] A California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)-mandated mitigated negative declaration was completed and a corrective action plan was designed.

[3] The plan which includes a natural resource damage assessment will cordon off the AOC with steel sheet piling and have the contaminated muds and sediment dredged and pumped into a disused treatment pond.