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 that then deals with the data. the meter transition units, again, they take our lead readings, and the technology has not changed. i want to keep emphasizing that. this is technology from decades of use. these are no some -- not some

newfangled type of thing. the box transmits the data at 4 bits per day, so it is not a constant stream of data. it is just four times per day. it can be shut off remotely. they're pretty well protected so they cannot be tampered with without physically going to remove the box, and, that means we have, again, those that are manually read, they can always check those. the data collection units, that receives the meter reading frequency channel, puc, at 77 places across the city, and they are pretty innocuous looking, but they are scattered around the city.

most of them are run on solar power, with a few on ac current because they are in areas where there is not access to enough sunlight to make it working very well. this one is actually on the roof on some offices. the project deployment schedule, we have been in the phase where we have been deploying about 300 to 400 meters per week. this will extend it to about 8000 units. we will then go into work in phase one.

again, will be testing at the end of that phase. we will be doing even more than 2000 per week, so by april 2012, we will never replace all of the leaders in san francisco, and they will all be wired up so you can read them electronically. this map shows the distribution. the green boxes are the dcu's, scattered around the city. you can see that there was a big vote agglomeration -- a big agglomeration.

and yellow areas are where we are going to go beyond the first 5000 to get the next 3000 in place, so we're going to have a lot of things around the city. some of these things were chosen to make sure that we could get a good shot of readings be in taken from difficult locations -- a good shot of readings being taken. 100% of the meters are tested according to standards, and we are doing other tests to make sure that they are being accurate. we will then do accuracy of field testing, where we will do manual reads to compare to what is coming into the electronic system. we do not want to do with live until we make sure it works, and there will be no billing until we know they are working

properly. we are expecting about 5% of all installations out there -- we will be doing functional requirements testing at the end of each work phase, complete functionality testing, and the last thing we just completed was a radio frequency emissions testing, and this table shows the results of that. what you see is a comparison of microwatts, what is emitted from units, and it shows various devices. as one was using a smart phone earlier, you should be careful of that. but lots of different things, cell phones, smart phones, baby monitors, cord was phones, headsets, microwave ovens, they all have varying degrees of frequency emissions, and the top three are the meter

transmission unit, the dcu, and transmitted to our computer system, and you see those results do not even make the skill with all of those other routine devices, and in the case of the meter transmission units, that was made standing directly over a meter, so it was not 10 feet away, 20 feet away. it was actually on the meeting itself, so we're pretty encouraged by these results. we have very low emissions, and they are intermittent. it is not a continuous stream going out. last and not least, we are hiring local on this. we have between three and 35 installers, and seven of those will actually becoming with the contractor on this, so they have people who have done this elsewhere. we expect to be adding 20

installers during the two-year installation project, and so far, we have two in this phase, and we expect to include some additional hires as we go beyond, moving he quit in and out. it will be a big deal. and we are using local businesses for incidentals. they were required to put forth the effort to hire locally. uniform janitorial services should be added to the list, so we're trying to get as much as we can in terms of local hires into this, and that is really it. i release speaking on behalf of heather, the project manager on this. she is actually in texas as part

of a gathering of people who regularly work on this to share what works and what does not to make sure we are looking out there as far as possible before we get there. commissioner: i would like to just bring up those three other areas that i mentioned to make sure we are covered. i do not know a lot about e.m.s., but i would assume that -- i do not know a lot about emf, but i would assume that rf would be the same.

and there are questions around safety and privacy. i do not know if those are concerns when it comes to this marni or not -- >> in terms of safety, these are typically meters that are in the sidewalk, and when we observe an installation, this is traditional. commissioner: what about -- >> this is actually bolted underneath, so it is separated from the ground, kind of suspended in the air with nothing else touching it. the boxes made out of a non

transmits of material. so physically, it should be pretty good, and, again, on privacy, the data is transmitted with a unique number of identifiers. they are not transmitted with any other information like name or address, so it comes to our customer service bureau as unique data that are included, and then they can actually utilize in there, so there should not be any haute issue. vice president vietor: well, that would be great to come back with that. i think it is important just to have a conversation. thank you. commissioner: so the grey box is attached to the meter? >> the bottom, not the cover. commissioner: so why could they not just pull off? >> they could just pull off.

that would be useful. if we found there was not a signal, we could that can read it manually. the meter itself records. that will not change. it would cost money to get us meters modified, to take that feature off. >> what is automated is the reporting, not necessarily the meter. that is the difference, i think. >> i suspect the transmitter is somewhat water -- you know -- what is the word and looking for? >> watertight. water-resistant. >> that is it. >> colleagues, and the questions? ok, hearing and seeing none, any public comment? >> we have one speaker card. commissioner crowley: 90.

-- thank you. >> i was almost asleep, but he will bring up when he said good faith effort. we have been talking for the last year-and-a-half. good faith effort does not mean jobs for my people in the community. it is not local hiring. i have heard that word for 40 years. that was when we had redevelopment time for our community, like you had in 1972 the expression of the sewage plant. that word was used. i want you all to delete that word open a " good-faith effort" but i want to go back to -- " good faith effort" but i want to go back to proposition 26. i have a great concern because

of the fact that when you stated if a yes vote goes through, that would jeopardize a lot of people like myself, retirees, receiving less than $62,000 a year, to vessel were on their homes, and you said that the board of supervisors are supposed to be may be voting on it today, a no vote. i do not know because i'm here. i do not know if you have someone who has heard whether or not they have voted on it, but if so, my request to you is that you send notices to those of us that pay our bills, informing us that 26 will jeopardize, if passed, our solar in san francisco, since we are supposed to be a green city. i'm just asking -- will you

please consider that, and let people know and understand? people who do not attend these meetings do not know about services you provide other than challenging us for the sewage, and i would like to say that, too, while i'm on it. i have been back in my home a year, will be, on the 28 of september, and i would like to say i have been receiving my pg&e bill, and my electricity has been less than $4 a month, and this is because of the solar. people listening in the audience because they see me all the time, and i let them know that i am your ambassador, and i am requesting that everyone get solar because the benefits -- it benefits not only the applicants, but as well as our breathing, our health, and i know we had a concern about those smart meters. there were people at those

hearings, and i am afraid, and a lot of people are as well but are getting sick on those smart meters. please get the information on the effect on health here in san francisco. commissioner crowley: 90. >> if i could clarify, no supervisor -- i know supervisor mirkarimi had legislation today. i did not know if that is for today or the 26. >> before the general managers' report, there were some comments, and i wanted to say something about them. we have a precautionary principle, and that is expressed into the system fish from the aquarium died, in view of that

and other things, i think we need to have another hearing. a lot of people that have adverse impact can benefit from that hearing. on the san bruno natural pipeline blast, the gentleman gave some information, but we need to have protocols introduced at the office of emergency services because they did have a meeting there, but the role of sfpuc and the role of other emergency services that rely on water, we know sometimes we cannot use water in certain cases. we have to use other types of chemicals. in this case, water. we had an incident not too long ago on thomas avenue where we

did not have sufficient water. the pressure was very low. my thing is this -- if we know that there are these large gas pipelines in areas where there is a heavy density of homes, we need to establish some sort of pipe line to address that. in southeast corridor, because of the power plants, we do have these large plots. most people do not know about it. i know about it. we cannot reveal it to to many people because, as i said, after 9/11, things have changed. on the closure of potrero power plant, we have been going back words because of the california

independent systems operation, which i said a long time ago, the other one should make that determination. we need to look at it from the point of view that sustainable practices are implemented, but also, the the constituents know about it, and that is always good because any other rebuilding in the city, the constituents need to know about it so they can participate in those deliberations. and i am off to the board of supervisors. thank you very much. commissioner crowley: next speaker place. >> i had three comments. one on the san bruno incident. david was nice enough to get information to me and then to all the member agencies that your system was intact, and that is very important communication.

we appreciate it. otherwise, they'd not know when the system is ok, and that is a horrible place to be, so that the information was very useful. bthe second part, that was on my end, and i will take care of that, but i was not aware of the fact that the rp had been sent and there were no responses. we would be happy to support that. we have people come to every one of our meetings, some of them very constructive and polite, and some of them not so polite. but we would be very interested in seeing that issue will forward. the letter to the epa, which the commissioner mentioned, specifically asked them if they would do research. it is good that they think the puc is doing a good job, but i would like to respond to the request for research and see

what that response is, but we would support that. i would like to be able to support that, and if that is something we could arrange with your general manager. lastly, on the wsip report, just as your report on the power plant in san francisco, there was the issue of who was responsible for cleaning up that contamination, and if that is a cost of the program, we would be interested in knowing whether someone is going after who should pay for that cleanup. thank you. >> good afternoon, commissioners. just two points -- one, i was able to go to the caliso meeting with the activists and environmentalists working with the goals as the general manager closed the power plant, and we

came with a letter signed by the sierra club, the green party, and a lot of folks united to get this thing shot, and we heard one piece of good news, that when that cable is running, the power plant is not. that is good news, but what i heard on that day is that the cable has to run for a month and a half straight for us to get the green light for us to say we are now in the final stage with this issue of a notice with intent to cancel, but the main thing is they were very straight up claim communicating with us letting community folks know what is going on. even the governors were saying that they want the thing gone as bad as we do.

with one thing, i think we want to see this shutdown on super riser maxwell's watch. she has been working tirelessly. she is out of office at the end of the year, and we expressed how critical it is that this thing shuts down on her watch. -- we want to see this shut down on supervisor maxwell's watch. last year, the use to want to kick us out of the room, and they never succeeded, but they still wanted to do that nonetheless. the other point i wanted to make was to echo ms. jackson's statements about the good faith effort approach to local hiring, a lot of us are working to strengthen and eliminate the good faith effort approach to local hiring, hopefully, to get the kind of system where we can get everybody who is out of work right now, especially the folks

that are struggling as much as folks on the ground in communities to really get more of -- what we're looking for is union jobs. to get folks in the community in good, solid work, and to get our brothers and were -- brothers and sisters from the rank-and- file to work. we think the way to do that is to eliminate good faith effort. we even published a report called "the failure of good faith" because we feel very strongly about this because we feel that it failed. so i'm going to give you a copy of this. and that any further public comment? -- >> any further public comment? seeing none, we can move on.

>> mr. president, the next item is the consent calendar. all matters listed here under the consent calendar can be redeemed by the public utilities commission and will be acted upon by a single vote. it authorizes the san francisco public utilities commission to executed public services agreement for the amount not to exceed $3,000,750,000 for the duration of the time. b, approved modifications six to water enterprise water system

improvement program project to mounting cascade increasingly contract for a total contract duration of war ended 26 consecutive calendar days. the increase in contract amount and time extension is to adjust piping and structural steel design. c, approved project manual and construction task catalog award general construction san francisco/peninsula/east bay to hetch hetchy for a not to exceed amount of $5 million to the lowest qualified responsible and responsive bidders, selfless construction and property management, to accomplish general building construction work to accomplish restoration and bureaus. d, approve the plans and specifications and a warm water enterprise program funded in

main-installation on 20 of street in the amount of $1,283,000 to the lows, qualified, responsible, and responsive bidders. e,, accept work performed by

shop type line for water enterprise, water system from a program funded project. g, coke plans and specifications and award water enterprise funded contract water supply and treatment administration tenant improvement item of $763,159 to the lowest, qualified, responsible, responsive bidders. h, accept work performed by shop pipeline for waste water in a prize for replacement program, contractww 422 -- contract ww 422, for a just and to actual quantity used, increasing the contract and authorize final payment. i, approved modification to waste water enterprise contract

ww-477 job order contract spots or repair to perform spot so were repair work in san francisco, increasing the contract, and with a time extension for a total contract duration of three years. modifications of the contract will allow for continued spot sore repair work and investigations in about 17 major locations brought the city. commissioner crowley: ok, michael, take a deep breath. [laughter] colleagues, on the consent calendar, does anyone want to pull any of those items? comments? ok, it has been moved and seconded. any questions from the audience? >> we have no speaker cards. commissioner crowley: hearing and seeing ,