your leadership. as the vice president stated we are privileged and it's a blessing that you bring the experience from the assembly to city hall and you have paid your dues not only in san francisco, but throughout the state. so i personally appreciate that experience that you have brought to san francisco. i want to congratulate the new president and union man and whatever is happening with bart, this, that and the other, we need sound representation from anyone in authority who can change the policies in the

union and you are poised now during the time of the sewer system improvement project and all of the projects to do the right thing, getting our young people both men and woman good jobs so there is some sort of upward mobility that we talk about, but do little about it. commissioner anson moran, you have a lot of experience having been a general manager and having seen it all, and it's always a pleasure to see you ask the right questions and throw the curveball. my strengths are infrastructure.

i did that for a long time and when i came to the bayview, my monitoring of the 3rd street light rail, the power plants, have allowed me to share my experience with thousands of people. i take my job seriously and from time to time, i send my blogs to y'all, so you y'all know how i feel about it. i look forward to working with this commission, so that you do it the right thing and with the general manager, too. thank you very much. >> thank you, mr. decosta. if there is no objection, a moment of personal privilege. i often times talk about the community workforce that we

represent. we talk about jobs and the workers who benefit from what happens here at the public utilities commission >> i want to echo the comments made. i think san francisco was lucky to have president art torres to serve on this commission and when i learned that i would serve on this commission by then mayor newsom, i was floored by the caliber of these public servants and it was a pleasure to serve alongside you, president torres. i am a union man, not a company man, but it's impressive in terms of the caliber who work here from general manager harlan kelly, on down and i have enjoyed getting to know each one of you. i think we have a most talented group of upper managers and talented workforce.

it's an honor for me to work here. i will call the next item, the general manager's report. >> thank you. so the next item -- i'm sorry. yes, okay, i thought you wanted me to say something else. okay, congratulations. i just wanted to say a few words about art, if i may? art, it's just been a pleasure working with you. this was my first year. i had some big shoes to fill. and it was just an honor for you to help bring me along and support me through this first year. we have gone through a lot of things together from the hetch hetchy ballot initiative, where we were concerned about getting the true facts out there. to recent decision about the rim fire and how to look at ways that we can deal with that

major problem that happened on our watershed. so it has just been a great pleasure working with you and i wanted to say thank you for everything. it's been an honor. >> same here. >> also looking forward to continuing to work with you, president and whatever we can do to really help you in your presidency, just we'll be there for you. so as part of my general manager report, i wanted to have julie labonte come up and talk about the wsip update. >> good afternoon commissioners. first i would like to begin by telling you about two important milestones that were reached earlier this month. on the new irvington tunnel we holed through on our second and last segment of the tunnel. so this was definitely a majority achievement. i think over the past few years you have heard about how

challenging the ground conditions were and the safety risks associated with that work. so we were obviously extremely pleased when the crews from the two sides of the tunnel met finally, i think it was two weeks ago specifically. so obviously the risks of that project will be going down quite significantly. also earlier this month on the bay tunnel, we completed the installation of the pipeline lining that goes inside the tunnel. that is a 108" welded steel pipe that has all been installed and welded. so again, so we're filling the space with a foam concrete. i'm not sure if some of you heard or saw some of the good, positive press we got on the story for the bay tunnel last week. harlan and i were fortunate enough to bring a number of reporters down there and i think pretty much all tv

stations covered that. so those were the positive milestones. now i would like to shift gear to calaveras. again, our most challenging project and we do have some news there that would i like to share with you and with that i would like the computer connected, if i may? this is probably a graph that you remember, that we showed you starting in mid-2012, which is when we exposed -- started exposing some of the face on what we refer to as "observation hill." the left side of the valley when looking downstream from the existing dam. at the time that -- the colors are terrible, but anyway, at the time we showed you two major features that were discovered. what is in green, what we call "area a geologic feature." and there was one that was lower and

maybe you cannot see it when i move the mouse. the colors are really bad, but the lower feature we refer to "area d" feature. in 2012, the upper a feature we were able to characterize it better and quickly identify it as an ancient landslide. at the time we told you area b feature would have to be exposed further before we could determine its significance. well, now at this point, we're about down with 50% of the excavation at the calaveras project. the project as a whole based on expenditures 58% done because there is a lot of very significant expenditure early on in the project like this. but anyhow, we are now down --

the hill has been brought down significantly. we're down at the foundation of the spillway right now. this here. this is the line -- this is the finished grade now with the slope being laid back to a flatter grade. and this is where the new spillway is going to be. we have basically brought it down to the spillway, which has allowed us to expose a lot of that lower feature. so now that the feature has been exposed further down, we have a better feel for what we're dealing with and this lower feature now has been confirmed as a landslide as well.

it's an ancient landslide as well. so what that means is in order to have this new spillway on competent ground, we will need to overexcavate underneath to remove that ancient landslide feature. up to about 25'. and only about a third of the spillway area will need to be removed. and that part will need to be replaced with some low-density concrete. this representations additional etch excavations in the order of 135 cubic yards and to put things in perspective, when we lowered the grade of the finished grade of the slope there, we removed 300 million

cubic yards of material, so talking about 135 cubic yards is a much lower quantity, but nonetheless, something that is significant enough. so we're going to need to overexcavate under and need to place about 7,000 cubic yard of concrete underneath to provide stable condition on there. there is also going to be the replacement of a new concrete-encased conduit. that is going to be realigned under the dam foundation and it's going to need to be realigned so it's on competent ground. the feature b is also much wider than first anticipated. so there is an area upstream getting closer to the existing dam that will require additional excavation in the order of 300,000 cubic yard of material will need to be removed. now our team is evaluating all of these impacts right now.

and it's not only direct costs. you need to look at the time impacts. so we need to do a time-impact analysis, because the contractor will be entitled to be compensated for any time impacts. our cmt is conducting that work right now and the contractor in parallel is doing their own analysis. we should be able to get back to you with more precise value about the magnitude of the cost and time impacts by january of 2014. you will recall that in your budget that you approved in march of this year, we had included significant contingency for issues like this. these impacts are quite significant, and it is likely that these contingencis will not be sufficient. we may need to go for -- when i say "go for additional." to

go for additional budget and the way we deal with that is look at capital improvement program and see if things could be moved or delayed so we could incorporation the cost of this additional work. now our next quarterly report will show a trend for this. it will not be based on formal estimates just yet, because we won't have that until the end of the year. there are also additional other features that have been detected in other parts of the project, that are now already being trended. they are included in our budget forecast. they are less significant and we are already doing work to reinforce these features using rock bolts and shock crete, as we continue excavating if they

became more significant, we wanted to account for those in the risk register. so we also added risks for those features. so all that to say as we continue excavation, we gain a better understanding of the ground conditions there. highly complex geology in that area. and as mr. decosta said, it's not an ideal location for a dam, but that is the only location available. obviously, the original dam was built in the ideal best location. downstream of where we're building this new dam, there is a known, very significant landslide. there was no question that we could site our new dam over there. so in order to be able to keep these water rights that we have at calaveras, there was one place where we could really locate that dam, and that is where it is. and you are 500' way from the calaveras dam.

obviously the dam is designed to withstand the ground shaking from that fault, but nonetheless, we need to build in some very complex geological conditions. >> commissioner torres. >> if the dam god forbid would collapse. >> the existing one? >> the existing one or new one, would the city of fremont be flooded? we were talking about that earlier. >> do you know the answer to that? it depends i guess how you define "flooding." to what extent? >> good afternoon commissioners, dan wade, senior project manager for the projects that includes calaveras dam. in answer to your question, there was an inundation study done during the environmental review of the project and yes, the inundation would go into fremont as the water spreads to

the bay. yes, in the event of a catastrophic event, a catastrophic dam event, you would have flooding. as its constructed it's currently safe. >> is flood insurance provided for residents of fremont? i didn't know the answer to that. >> i don't know the answer to that question either, but we can get that information. >> thank you. thank you, mr. president. >> i would like to add that the study that dan referred to basically assumes that the dam disappears completely. if there was a failure, chances are it would not be complete destruction of the dam, but could be overtopping or partial demolition. >> is there any public comment

on the general manager's report? seeing none, public comment is now closed. doctor. >> was that under the director's report? >> yes. >> i got nervous when he said fremont when the flooding would take place. where is fremont? >> fremont, right? >> yes. where is it at? >> the city of fremont is located about 7 miles east of the dam. >> you know the reason why i'm asking -- >> excuse me. >> you know, a lot of people are not aware of all of the landfills that were done on the bayside, you know, going to the east? and it has been shown if there is a flooding that is going to

happen, even my community, southeast sector is going to be underwater. so when you all go across the 101 freeway, i tell people there is an earthquake, don't go that way. you go the old way we had to go many years ago, before that freeway was built, because that freeway was built on landfill. and we had to take bay shore around mountain to get to the effluent many years ago and get off at brisbane and make a right to get to the airport. we need to have every city agency in this city get a map. old map. that is why i am asking where is fremont? six miles from me. i am kind of shaky with that one. >> thank you, doctor, for your

comments. public comment is now closed. madame secretary, will you read the next item, please? >> item 8 is the bawsca update. >> good afternoon. >> good afternoon. can i have the projector, please? thank you very much, commissioners, nicole sandkulla bawsca ceo and i want to congratulate, president courtney on your election. it's great news and also commissioner caen moving into the vice president position and commissioner torres, we really appreciate the work we have done with you the last year. we have made some great strides in protecting our agencies and the customers that they share and it's critically important to them and very much appreciated by my member agencies. >> you are welcome. >> thank you. so i'm here today before you have a written report. i presented an oral report to our board in november.

on our assessment of the wsip implementation to-date, it's been ten years. it felt like it was an appropriate time to provide a more formal document to this commission and to my board about what we have seen going forward with the wsip. and i think following julie's comments today, i think very sobering time to think about what is going on with wsip. there are a couple of things that i did want to highlight. there are several things that we see have gone very well. when the puc started this program, there was a lot of concerns about the ability of this body, the staff, this agency being able to really do a prime of this magnitude. and you really stepped up to implement processes and programs in place and that 100% commitment at the staff level and i think at the commission level as well for successful implementation. that has been very well-thought

through. the construction management process has gone well also and the shutdown process, which early on was something from my perspective, from my member agencies and the most immediate impact that they could see, that has also been well-managed. there has been no service outage with all the wsip projects going on. that is a commendable, commendable achievement for your staff. and you also achieved significant bid savings, which really have helped you get to this point of having a program that so far has been able to stay relatively within the bounds of your initially approved budget. but there have been challenges and i think really julie's points highlight the biggest ones are these unforeseen challenges as you go into construction. early on, there was a feeling, i think, that once we get through planning, that this will be very easy to handle its construction. you get guys out. there you have a contractor. they are going to do the work

and everything will move quite smoothly and, in fact that has not been the case that you have seen entirely and that has been a challenge. i think the staff and your consultants and your contractors have stepped up, but that continues to be a challenge that you are going to have to deal with all the way through the end of the program; which i think is the critical piece for us. what that really to me brings focus on, that this body needs to stay focused on successful completion of wsip. it's not what you thought it was going to be, which was once in planning everything would be easy and you could move on to what i know are some big challenges that you have locally within san francisco. but this remains a priority for this commission. and you need to remain focused and give the staff the support that they need to bring those resources to bear. to make their way through these difficult challenges. schedule management and cost control, that is kind of what it all falls down to. your team is aware of this, but

that is what they are going to start talking about. what more can they do to bring cost control and schedule control, because those all amount to dollars in the programs, when you have the contractors mobilized and every time you expend it, it becomes very expensive. two level service goals that we continue to be concerned about. the peninsula pipeline seismic upgrade project is a project that came late to the wsip and it has two sources of funding. it's got three phases and two sources of funding. one of the things that we're concerned about is because of this bifurcation of the project, the entire project isn't reported on in the wsip and you have to ensure that water is able to be delivered that you can meet that level of service goal. so that is an

important piece that needs to be rolleded into our reporting. the water supply servicing, you talked about a lot in this room. i was here last time when you talked about. incorporating that as a discussion in your quarterly reports and the progress being made. it's critical to meeting water supply service goals which is incorporated within your wsip. so that needs to, at this point be a greater level of discussion and continue to remain a priority for the commission. so the report does present four recommendations, none of them i think will be a surprise to your staff. there are things that we have continued to push with them, but i think it was important to make you aware of them at a higher level and to think about them and really going back to the sobering information that you learned about calaveras, in

order to make your way through the next 6,9 years of this program, you need to keep analyzing and re-analyzing how do we make cost control a priority? how do we make scheduling a priority? and not just assuming that you have done all of these great things because you have, but to find ourselves in a better position and bring this program in on time and on budget? because that is the critical piece and something that is so important to all of us. your staff has done a wonderful job. i don't know that anybody else could have done it. and i am pleased that they have been able to do it and relationship that we have, but they need to continue to stay focused on this, because it's going to be very, very important. as you have noticed internally within the city, the conversations are now -- suddenly people are wondering about their water rates? people are worried about it. there are a lot of conversations going on and i think it's important that we continue to say that we're doing everything that we can to maintain the cost and the

budget and the schedule and if we can't, that is why. that concludes my comments and what i intended to say. >> thank you very much. commissioner vietor? >> thank you. and i would love at some point i think your recommendations sound right on to me and i don't know if it's today or the next meeting to hear from the puc staff what are those recommendations that will be followed up on and some response because it does make good sense to me. thank you very much. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> commissioner moran. i would like to second that. we have made a practice in the last couple of reports that bawsca has presented of giving staff the opportunity to review the recommendations and then have basically adopted them as the commission saw. and if we can head towards that kind of review and outcome, i would appreciate that as well. one thing i would also like to

do and you mentioned the water supply level of service goals. we discussed that at some length at our last meeting. and there were several parts to that. one was the restoration of 265 mgd yield and the interruptibles and then finally the -- i guess dealing with the issue of maximum curtailment levels and seeing if there was a way around it. the last three were things that we directed staff to assess and come back to us as part of the budget process. the first one, the restoration of 265 is part of the wsip and there are six projects that i recall that contribute to that. and i would like to see at the

earliest convenience from staff, a report on the status and outlook of those six projects. some of that is in the routine wsip report that we get and some of it isn't, in one case because the project is complete. in other cases because they haven't really started yet, but i would one document that takes a look at that, so we can have a good assessment as to how we're doing on that objective? and again, i think hopefully it will be just a matter of pulling information out of existing sources. >> we can do that. >> thank you. >> great. thank you. >> thank you very much. is there any public comment on the update that we just heard? seeing none, public comment is know closed. madame secretary please read the next item. >> item 9, the consent calendar. items 9a through f constitute

a consent calendar and are considered routine by the public utilities commission and acted upon by a single vote of the discussion. there will be no separate discussion of the items unless the member of the commission or public requests and if so, will be removed from the consent calendar and considered a separate item. >> commissioners, what is your pleasure? >> i would like to move the consent calendar. >> second. >> it's been moved and seconded. any discussion? seeing none, i will call for a vote. all those in favor, signify by saying aye? >> aye. >> and no? the ayes have it. motion carries. madame secretary. >> mr. president, we need public comment on consent calendar. >> i would like to call for public comment on the consent calendar, please. is there any public comment? thank you, doctor. >> espinola jackson, on no. e,

i think when i was here the last time, i think you may have misunderstood me. i would like to give you some history on hetch hetchy. my husband is named james rich. he was the first black man to be hired by hetch hetchy here in san francisco. he was the one that trained other blacks when they came in and trained other workers when they came here and worked in san francisco. the reason he could not join the electrician union because they did not allow blacks in the union at that time. and that was one of the reasons i was in support of local hiring, and explained the situation to the supervisor about what happened to my husband. because i had to live that. in fact, when he was going to become the general manager up there, at hetch -hetchy, we went up there to look around because you get free rent and everything. i went up there and saw nothing, but trees, snakes and bears and they wanted to demote him