The Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), has designated a number of shoreline sites around San Francisco Bay for exclusive use of water‐related industry. This is intended both to reduce future needs for Bay fill, and to reserve those waterfront sites needed for long‐term industrial growth. The Commission currently defines water‐related industries as those “requiring”; a shoreline site for water transportation. The Commission is now considering the use of an economic criterion for identifying water dependency. This involves comparisons of the uniquely water‐related benefits and costs to the firm to locate on the shoreline, as opposed to its location at an inland site. By limiting use of deepwater sites to those industries that are significantly water‐dependent under this criterion, long‐term economic efficiency is served, and the need for future Bay fill for industrial growth is reduced. The data and analysis required to implement an economic water‐dependency criterion do not appear to be a barrier to use of such a test in the regulatory process. Whereas water dependency is an important concern to BCDC, other factors, including environmental constraints, must also be weighed when evaluating industrial projects.