Two seawater intake structures are located 2,500 feet offshore of campus beach at a depth of 51 feet. Two parallel 16" diameter polyethylene lines siphon seawater from the intake structures to the campus beach pumphouse wet well, (Bldg. 502). The wet well is a 30-foot deep 13-foot diameter concrete cylinder. From the pumphouse two vertical turbine pumps deliver the seawater to the Seawater Filter Facility, (bldg. 205). The Seawater Filter Facility houses the filters, storage tanks, and supply pumps. There are six gravity sand filters that filter particulates down to 20 microns. Up to 150,000 gallons of filtered seawater and 36,000 gallons of raw seawater are stored in the seawater reservoirs.

The supply pumps distribute seawater to five separate locations (the Marine Biotechnology Building, (Bldg. 555); Aquarium Facility, (Bldg. 465), Biological Science Building 2, (Bldg 571); Biological Sciences Instructional Facility, (Bldg. 504) and the MSI Aquatic Teaching Facility, Bldg. 200 The continuous-flow seawater system supplying these laboratories delivers both raw and filtered seawater at an average rate of 100 to 350 gal/min, respectively. At selected locations ambient, heated (up to at least 28 C), and chilled (down to at least 5 C) seawater are available to support experiments with local flora and fauna, as well as species from tropical to polar climates. The seawater quality is monitored with an Aquadyne Aquanode 500XL with a series of attached probes (Dissolved Oxygen, Temperature, Conductivity, and pH.