the project but it then goes to a third take -- tank, two final polishing cells. this is on a micro level. and if we can switch over it, to the document camera, one of the biggest challenges we had was having and of planting area in the urban location, so this is really taking a lot of cooperation, which really do not have yet. it is taking a lot of cooperation to have more planting areas than is to collect -- than is typical.

this is about 150 square feet for every 1,000 gallons that you treat, so we are treating 5,000 gallons, and that is 750 square feet of planted area, so you can see that the bacteria clings to the gravel and roots of the planted area, and the question i often get, especially if it is outside, can people reach it? that is something that we're working with dph and dbi a lot, because that is their concern, can the public get at this, and should that be an issue, and you can also see how this moves through each of the cells. this is a very horizontal lay-up compared to ours, but we will have these in different planted areas, and this leads me to my

last slides, and the reason i bring this up is to show you the extent of the planted areas, so you can see the eastside and the eand there are planted areas on both sides. the planted area would be inside the lobby, and that ends up with the total square footage we need for this system to work, so i think it will be a fantastic demonstration for public tours as part of the project, so that is what i wanted to bring you up on today, and stay tuned. there will be more. do you have any questions? pardon me? but commissioner: what is the completion date? >> it is spring of 2012.

great that you're going to be modeling that. are there plans for any rooftop gardening at all? f.@w÷/'d with the solar panels on the roof, so we looked at trying to do a green roof, and that was several iterations ago. work, but it did not work to be able to do that. zacommissioner moran: to understand in more detail what this living machine is about, if

there is something, i would be interested in it. >> yes, there is a website that has a ton of information on it, and i can give you what we gave to dbi, which has a lot of technical information in it, and the website with the living machine has a lot. we were hoping would be the first, but it was just installed in portland, eso we would be the only second one to do it in the country. also, in regard to the roof, it has to be in proximity to force it to work for the living machine. they are in -- investigating the living machine for the zoo, which would be a very large platform. i think the biggest challenge is that i wanted to push the boundaries, but when i evaluate

it for irrigation, it would not negatively impact plants, but then you get to the public health issues, and that is the biggest challenge, having any of those remain in the water. commission appear -- commissioner: is john the founder? i just wanted to note -- to know. >> they got out the original company. -- they bought out the previous

owner. i am hoping that we see a positive savings when we complete the buy up for the project. -- the buyout for the project. we have plans for the child care center and the cafe. will it stay on budget? yes. president crowley: colleagues, anything else? commissioner: i am fascinated by the living machine. there might be ways to tie this into another program, because we are hoping for more greenspace around a particular treatment facilities, and maybe there is a real opportunity, and i do not know if we need to tested first or if there is a way to think about bringing in online to

treat this like an gray water. -- is black and gray water. >> good afternoon, for waste water. we're looking at the living machine. we just wanted to make sure that there was a bypass line. there will be some facilities that will be built as part of that. how much of that we can actually do, and we are involved.

commissioner: we could find it broad enough to do other things. commissioner: this does what a sewage pond does, right? >> there is the opportunity that if we make it work here, this is where i really see it happening. president crowley: 80, tom. thank you, ms. campbell. -- thank you, tom. secretary housh: next up is the

closure of the pr -- potrero power play. >> and we're going to continue to call a a closure, because that is our plan. the team was going back to develop a plan. they have made the effort, and the project is now in a new testing period. meanwhile, as the clock runs, we are at the time of year when the california independent system operator considers its needs for reliability to obligate this within its control area to continue to run. the iso staff recommended on september 9 to their board of governors, last thursday, to continue to obligate the potrero

plant to operate. the iso board unanimously approved that. rmr contracts that you hear us talk about. they did actually update it regularly. this directed the staff to modify the resolution to ensure their desire for closure as soon as possible can be reflected in the formal action they took. the city attorney and supervisor maxwell, the district where it is located, both sent a letter to the iso board of governors $ie;u.et7vünn?"[m6itheir persh the closure.

÷úñrthey were also speaking on behalf of citizens to ensure its closure, so this continues, together with stakeholders, to apply pressure and to make it clear to the iso that we look forward to closure. i think the communications between staff, both at the puc, myself, the city attorney, with the mayor's office, with the stakeholders, it has been good in this process, so i think we're seeing really positive improvements in that regard. we have different opinions about the technical information. xibñiñiñiduring the board of gos meeting, so in the event that it

does not come through the test successfully, we have a common understanding of what our next possible steps are to achieve closure. on that note, unfortu8puqe on september 8, the trans bay cable project did trip off-line during a test period. the testing ish= scheduled to resume. it was scheduled to end on september 10 and then resumed and that will conclude on october 10. they will of the other big results of the testing, and a determination will be made about whether the project is ready to bear, if you will, the reliability burden that the

potrero is involved in. they would look at the termination of the process. they are, at this time, working with mirant to shorten and accelerate determination process that is in the current project. president crowley: barbara, could you mention more about the letter concerning mirant?

>> yes, " in unity, it is important to note that on september 7, mirant's president sent a letter to the iso that they did not want the reliability must-run contract extended through 2011. having stated that previously, they also knowledge in their same correspondence that they would mean whatever obligations are placed on them, and they would operate if they were required to, but they made it very clear formally on the record that they wanted to see it closed.

there was a dialogue that happened on the ninth. commissioner: barbour, the timeline for when it is complete? >> in working with feet iso staff, they're optimistic that evaluation of the test period data will be completed by november and that they will be in a position at that point to make a judgment. we had argued that knowing that they may know as early as november that the facility at that facility would not be needed on january 1, that they not extend the contract now, that they could wait probs the 30 or 45 days it would take to evaluate and to the test period with your valley region of the data, but the board did not

agree with us. on the positive side, they did make it clear that it wanted staff to arrange for accelerated termination. and to report to them regularly on the status, so we're optimistic that if evaluations show that it will not be needed, we will have no potrero operations as of january 1. commissioner: what will happen to it? >> it will be dismantled and other opportunities pursued. redevelopment of the power plant site. one company is obligated to perform mediation at the site, because they are the prior owner of the facility, and so they have responsibility for much of the cleanup.

that cleanup cannot commence in earnest before the facility is released from its must run obligation. pg&e has stated that they are standing ready to begin that work, once the boiso says mirant can shut that down. : commissioner -- commissioner: does the city owned that? >> no, but -- president crowley: we are trying to develop some of it, but we do not own all of the land, right? >> correct. for that area to be redeveloped, there is still a substation nearby that would remain. and as we get closer to the actual shut the new and are able

to report, we will do that. commissioner: i think that tate project in england was really great, where they made that into a museum, and i think it would be great if we could get to that level of radiation. -- we mediation -- remediation. >> r&b cable is expected to be doing things. -- transbay cable.

president crowley: if you drive out there, there is just a lot of drunks. it has significance. -- there is a lot of junk. commissioner: i have some questions. what were the loads expected for the transbay, and who is testing it on our behalf? >> it is being tested with the owners and those who own that line. it is being tested with oversight from the independent system operator, from the iso. president crowley: thank you. >> you are welcome. secretary housh: we took this to mean that it would be good to

tell you about our automated water meter project, so we can show that and differentiate that. >> and i get to talk about the pg&e smart meter part, and he will talk about our water program. as you know, pg&e has been authorized to install a smart meters and to implement that program throughout its service territory. the california public utilities commission authorized $2.20 billion on the program. pg&e was scheduled to begin deploying meters, smart meters, in san francisco on july 1 of this year. they have received since beginning deployment, in november of 2006, they have deployed a 6.6 million smart meters -- deployed 6.6 million smart meters, and 3.9 of those

were installed in 2010. over 1300 pg&e customers filed complaints. there were complaints of largely in the bakersfield and fresno area. the california public utilities commission received so many complaints, and pg&e acknowledged some existence of problems, that they began independent investigation into the accuracy of the pg&e smart meters. the city, a out of concern over complaints that we have already been hearing about, a petition was said into the california public utilities commission and requested that they direct pg&e to suspend deployment in san francisco or to take a pause while the investigation was pursued, so rather than installing and having to take them out and put them in again

if there were problems with the meters, we asked them to just take a pause and see what the results of the investigation are. a number of cities and others supported our decision to suspend deployment. you see them on the screen there. actually, you do not see them on the screen. thanks, mike, if you put that on the screen. not noticing, thank you, general manager. we have not had a response from the california public utilities commission to ours. they did not comment on suspending deployment. they did receive though on september 2, the california public utilities commission did receive the results of the third-party investigation. that investigation was performed by a consulting group,

it independently evaluating their smart meter program and the deployment at pg&e, and what i captured on this slide for you, the bottom line, i think, from the report is that the technology is good. they determined that the technology is good. the problems that were experienced in the pg&e service. they attribute to gaps in customer service. and the processes that were pursued by pg&e related to complaints, so it's sort of had a bottom line message that technology could, pg&e program deployment and response to customers not so good. and, thankfully, we have an opportunity here to learn from that experience, and our project manager, heathetr, for our

deployment of these high-tech meters has sat down with my staff and has the report and is taking it as a lessons learned opportunity, so we will make sure we do not have the same kind of customer service problems when we deploy, as we deploy, and as we talk more about the details of our program, another will not take over. if you have any questions? commissioner: i do. from the environmental health perspective, i guess there have been some concerns raised around the electromagnetic force, whatever, sensitivities in that area, so i think there are some concerns, and i do not know what percentage of customer complaints are related to that, and i guess there have also been some questions around safety issues. i think there have been some questions concerning the fiber issues, and then the third are related to privacy issues.

i guess this is paramount. >> the electromagnetic field concern, i think that was beyond the scope of what they were asked to look at. they were at ask to look at certain issues. there were those that word certain environmental factors. i can go back and see if there is a break out of that information, and if so, i can provide it, and, yes, i, too, have seen this. for example, the photographs of the installers of the meters have head gear on and the gloves, and the question is,

wow, if it takes that type of equipment to install it, is it really ok outside of my bedroom window? it was not tasked to look at those environmental concerns. they were tasked to look at the technology. i can go back and see if the california public utilities commission has addressed any of those concerns. commissioner: great, in those three areas, i think it would be good to get more information, a ticker korea before a big rollout. and there was a privacy question around. this gives a certain amount of access that may not have existed. >> i cannot answer those questions with respect to the pg&e smart meter program, but i know that they are willing to

address some of those for our water meter, so why do i not come back to you? we can hear from mr. richie now. >> props. mike, if you can bring the screen back? i am here to talk about the water meter program that we are engaged in right now, and this is a water meter. we have been looking at this as exactly the same technology that has always been there. looking at what transmits it to the puc, we will talk about

that, but what we're basically talking about is going from a manual system to an electronic system, where the signal is transmitted through a series of steps to the puc, with the data in cryptic, so it is not from this address or this person, so that information is not transmitted with that. we have about 180,000 water meters in san francisco. two-thirds of those are more than 20 years old. one thing we know is that as these get old overtime, they start to run inefficiently, so we are virtually replacing every meter in san francisco with a brand new meter. we are collecting the data on an hourly basis. this will detect things far more rapidly because we will see

spikes in usage. we will be working towards, as barbara just said, retail meters, as well, using these same meters. you would not have to install others. and we're using the local work force to do this. first, the need to transition units, which is this little grey box. when it comes to your home near you, this will be screwed to the underside of the meter box cover, and the meter just sits where it always does with the pipe itself. and then transmits the data to will be called data collection units, of which there are 77 that are scattered around the city so far. they collect material and then transport it to the networking computer