doing a special series about staying safe. let's look at issues of water and sewer. we

are here at the san francisco urban center on mission street in san francisco and i'm joined today by marrielen from puc and talk about water and sewer issues. what are things we should be concerned about water. >> you want to be prepared for that scenario and the recommendation is to have stored 1 gallon per person per day that you are out of water. we recommend that you have at least 3-5 days for each person and also keep in consideration storage needs for your pets and think about the size of your pets and how much water they consume. >> the storage which is using tap water which you are going to encourage. >> right. of course at the puc we recommend that you store our wonderful delicious tap water. it's free. it comes out of the tap and you can store it in any

plastic container, a clean plastic container for up to 6 months. so find a container, fill it with water and label it and rotate it out. i use it to water my garden. >> of course everyone has plastic bottles which we are not really promoting but it is a common way to store it. >> yes. it's an easy way to pick up bottles to store it. just make sure you check the label. this one says june 2013. so convenient you have an end date on it. >> and there are other places where people have water stored in their houses. >> sure. if you have a water heater or access to the water heater to your house, you can drink that water and you can also drink the water that the in the tank of your toilet. ; not the bowl but in your tank.

in any case if you are not totally sure about the age of your water or if you are not sure about it being totally clean, you can treat your water at home. there is two ways that you can treat your water at home and one is to use basic household bleach. the recommendation is 8 drops of bleach for ever gallon of water. you add 8 drops of bleach into the water and it needs to sit for 30 minutes. the other option is to boil water. you need to boil water for 5-10 minutes. after an earthquake that may not be an option as gas maybe turned off and we may not have power. the other thing is that puc will provide information as quickly as possible about recommendations about whether the water is okay to drink or

need to treat it. we have a number of twice get information from the puc through twitter and facebook and our website sf water.org. >> people should not drink water from pools or spas. but they could use it to flush their toilets if their source are not broken. let's look at those issues. >> sanitation is another issue and something people don't usually or like to think about it but it's the reality. very likely that without water you can't flush and the sewer system can be impeded or affected during an earthquake. you need to think about sanitation. the options are simple. we recommend a set up if you are able to stay in your building or house to make sure that you have heavy duty trash bags available. you can set this up within your existing

toilet bowl and once it's used. you take a little bit of our bleach. we talked about it earlier from the water. you seal the bag completely. you make sure you mark the bag as human waste and set it aside and wait for instruction about how to dispose of it. be very aware of cleanliness and make sure you have wipes so folks are able to wash up when dealing with the sanitation issue. >> thank you so much, >> there are kids and families

ever were. it is really an extraordinary playground. it has got a little something for everyone. it is aesthetically billion. it is completely accessible. you can see how excited people are for this playground. it is very special. >> on opening day in the brand- new helen diller playground at north park, children can be seen swinging, gliding, swinging, exploring, digging, hanging, jumping, and even making drumming sounds. this major renovation was possible with the generous donation of more than $1.5 million from the mercer fund in honor of san francisco bay area philanthropist helen diller. together with the clean and safe neighborhood parks fund and the city's general fund. >> 4. 3. 2. 1. [applause]

>> the playground is broken into three general areas. one for the preschool set, another for older children, and a sand area designed for kids of all ages. unlike the old playground, the new one is accessible to people with disabilities. this brand-new playground has several unique and exciting features. two slides, including one 45- foot super slide with an elevation change of nearly 30 feet. climbing ropes and walls, including one made of granite. 88 suspension bridge. recycling, traditional swing, plus a therapeutics win for children with disabilities, and even a sand garden with chines and drums. >> it is a visionary $3.5 million world class playground in the heart of san francisco. this is just really a big, community win and a celebration for us all. >> to learn more about the helen diller playground in dolores

park, go to sfrecpark.org.

>> welcome. we are here doing our building san francisco tour. we're going to have a very interesting tour of elevators in sanford cisco. we have all gotten into an elevator, the doors have closed, and it has carried us to our destination. have you ever wondered how elevators were -- work? we check out the need outside the elevator using current technology and we learn about the latest destination elevated technology all here in san francisco. we will also visit the machinery where all the behind- the-scenes gears control these incredible machines. we are very fortunate today to have an expert with those who is going to walk us are around elevators in san francisco. can you tell us about the

history of elevators in san francisco? the measure -- >> sure. the history of elevator technology evolves with the city. first elevators were installed for moving materials in the 1860's. in the 1870's, the first passenger elevator was installed, and that allowed building heights to go up to about seven floors. starting in the 18 eighties, 1890's, the first electric elevators were installed. that allowed for buildings to go up even higher, even more than 10 floors, and those were the first elevators that became representative of what we consider modern elevators today. >> so the height of buildings is related to elevator technology. >> both of these technologies encourage architects to build taller buildings. engineering and materials science provided a higher

quality of steel to build with, and having passenger elevators meant it was the necessary anymore to climb a long flight of stairs to get to the top of the building. the elevator made the upper floors of the building more attractive than they were before. >> here we were at the historic st. francis hotel, which was actually a representation of the evolution of elevators. can you tell us more about san francisco history here at the st. francis? >> sure. st. francis demonstrates well the evolution of elevated technology. and substantially damaged the 1906 earthquake and rebuilt in 1907 or 1908, and extend it again in 1913. then a new tower was added in 1932, so there is all sorts of elevator technology you can see at the st. francis that very much represents the building history of san francisco. >> i understand there is a really old elevator still

operating here. >> that is right, the elevator installed in the 1913 expansion. we can go look at that. >> let's go take a look. here we are in a spectacular st. francis lobby. here is the clock. when people say "meet me at the clock in the st. francis." let's look at that elevator. >> ok, let's do it. >> here we are in the elevator installed as part of the expansion, and this is the way it was originally installed about 100 years ago. it has a manual switch just like

elevators did back then, and it runs on dc power. this was from a time before elevators ran on ac power. >> when did they switch? >> decided to switch in the 1920's, so this elevator predicts that by about 19 years. the doors are also manual, so this elevator predates the use of automatic doors on elevators. >> can we take a ride? >> absolutely. going down. >> how many troops do you think this elevator has taken in its lifetime? millions. >> yes, this one probably has. certainly hundreds of thousands. >> very smooth. >> it really does run smoothly. >> there we go. take some serious operation.

there we go. >> this is really beautiful. >> this is served by that old elevator we were just in. >> built at the same time, also in 1913. >> what a gorgeous room. i think we should have a party here. >> that is a great idea. >> let's look at the machine room for that old elevator. >> ok, let's go. >> here we are in the machine room with all these wonderful, old, a burly, industrial-era equipment. tell us what we've got here. >> this is really the beginning of a modern elevator. what we would describe as an overhead traction-geared elevator. that type of elevator still exists. even though this was made in 1913, elevators like this have continued to be manufactured up until the present day. >> so overhead means these cables attached to the top of the car. >> correct, exactly right. >> our hoist machine is located overhead, and this is a traction

machine, so it is an evolution beyond the winding from elevator. this is the drive ship. this is the gear box, and this is original from 1913. it is a heavy-duty design that we really do not see any more today. that is probably part of the reason why this elevator has already lasted close to 100 years. this is the break for the voice machine -- teh brake. >> we have the original controller here. fortunately, the power is turned off. >> this room was built in 1913, but the national elevator cut actually was not introduced until 1921. >> tell us about this antique controller. what makes it different from a modern controller? >> the elevator is running on the original d.c. power. really simple in operation. does not include a lot of the

features we would have in an elevator today, automatic door operation, dispatching, push button operation. none of those features are present, but this is the original from 1913. on this side, we have all the relays that actually control the elevator. the safety service -- city circuit, position, speed, and control of the power to the motor. >> here is a really interesting piece of historic machinery. tell us about this. >> this is one of the main safety devices of the elevator system, and the device still exists today even on modern elevators. it detects if the elevator is going into unsafe over speed conditions. it is attached to the road itself, and the car over speeds, bees fly balls would come out, and the governor jobs would come out and grab on to the governor wrote, which would hold the break or the safety on the elevator to cause it to stop.

>> if you have problems, i see right here, we call garfield 7171 for service. member that is right. operators standing by. >> from here, we are going to look at those wonderful elevators that go of the outside of the high rise building that everyone wants to take a ride in. >> let's go do that. >> here we are in the most exciting elevator in the city of san francisco. this is the outside elevator that goes into the 32nd floor. tell us about this. >> we are in one of the tower elevators now. these were originally installed in 1972. 1,000 feet a minute, outside observation elevators, so a great view of the city. some of the most popular elevators in san francisco, as you mentioned, and these cars run a lot. they run about 2000 starts per day. about 700,000 starts per year

for an elevator like this, and these are pretty hard working. >> must be hard to maintain these elevators. mechanical devices in the rain. >> this is much more difficult to maintain. normal elevator installation is all sealed from the elements, but in this case, it is all exposed to the outside, so there are issues with whether proofing and sealing the equipment from the elements. >> the controls and motors are up here on the top floor. >> very simple -- similar to the elevators we looked at. this is similar to that technology. >> i saw a crowd of people downstairs waiting to take a ride on the elevated to get this fabulous view. that is a terrific view. >> yes, it is great. >> can you tell us about the

history of the modern elevators? >> what we consider the modern elevator is the elevator with a safety device that was built in new york in 1853 in response to a freight elevator accident in new york city. until that time, elevators were quite common in buildings but typically used just for handling freight. elisha otis -- elijah otis successfully demonstrated the safety device he had created. even of the elevator and he cut the device, and he did not fall. everyone was impressed by that. in 1857, the oldest brother's company installed their first passenger elevator on broadway in new york. believe it or not, many of those first elevators were actually started and stopped by a hand broke. >> what drove those old elevators?

what was their motive power? >> in some cases, they might have even been hp. >> and then changed to electric? >> electric cited to come in the 1890's, and that was around the time when the elevator stopped from material handling and started to be used more frequently for passengers. in 1878, there was a demonstration of the other thing that allowed architects to build taller buildings was the advent of a higher quality steel manufacturing. in 19003, the first production year track models were introduced, that it was when things took off. >> that mostly happened in new york city? >> lower manhattan was the first place that took off, then chicago.

those early passenger elevators always had an attendant that would take a passenger's request and then operate the car. the big change was the emergence of a electric elevators. starting in 1880, the electric elevator allowed building dollars to go much higher. we evolved from steam hydraulic elevators to the electric elevators that are not that much different from what we are going to see now at the top of the tower. this is the steam room on the top of the state st. francis. -- on top of the state francis. the equipment you see painted green, that is all the original equipment from 1972. we are just now in the middle of modernizing this equipment. >> why modernize? doesn't the equipment works fine? >> it does, it is of analog and

intensive, and there are some additional controls. let me introduce the foreman to you. this is vince. he can do a better job explaining the project details. >> what is happening here, what are you doing? >> we are doing a major modernization. we are tearing out the old system, logic controls, and generator controls, and we will be going over to solid state. this is not your standard selector. it does not have a tape that runs it. because these are outside elevators -- these are unique to the city. >> and this is going away with the upgrade. >>