we had waves breaking over the embarcaderos sea wall. it is going to get more is prone to failure, too. it can be age. it can be corrosion, and it can also fail in performance due to size. our treatment plants are really were courses. they are working, working, working. we have mechanical processes that have to run 24/7, and then have to be reliable. we have equipment that has excessive wear and corrosion and facilities reaching the end of their useful life. we talk a lot about the digesters. the digesters are a 1940's design, but we also have issues with our treatment plants. you can see the collapsing ceiling. most of you have seen the situation and conditions, and it is dire. we are living on effectively borrowed time. over the last 18 months, we went through hearings and workshops and public workshops and hours and hours of discussion and came up with goals and levels of service for the waste water system. i'm going to run through these five, and then we will start drilling into what the project are in a sewer system improvement prog

he was here when the embarcadero had a half-dozen railroad tracks and the sea wall lot still had cars on them. in the earthquake came and brought down the freeway, and john help the port get back on its feet. i love this part. john lived through the three transportation projects that transformed the embarcadero to its current palm tree-lined boulevard. he has worked on the big water main at pier 80, which we relocated for rail tracks out there. this is my absolute favorite part. john has worked underneath every pier that the port maintains, repairing broken water mains and sewer piping. sir john's retirement is very well deserved, but i'm loath to let him go, so congratulations, and more importantly, we accept all our gratitude for having served us so well because everything is still working beautifully. please come back often. congratulations. [applause] >> we also have a beautiful plaque that says john, in appreciation of your 25 years of hard work and dedication at the port of san francisco, march 1986 to march 2011. >> congratulations, john. >> you get your picture taken. [laughte