hurwitz: we have the stock exchange, we have the united nations -- failure can have a dramatic impact on the nation, and even internationally. so there's a really keen awareness that you always have to be fixing the system. things corrode, they rust. they get to where you turn them on and nothing happens. but it is so totally used in every nook and cranny, that making any accommodation to shut it down, to do something to it, is very difficult. narrator: two massive underground tunnels, called simply tunnel 1 and tunnel 2, provide most of the city's water supply. they run hundreds of feet below manhattan, far deeper than the subways. built at the beginning of the 20th century, they are concrete-lined and bored through solid rock. they could last centuries. but the mechanical equipment within them will not. engineers in the 1950s discovered rust on the tunnel's valves. there were concerns that if they closed the valves for tunnel inspections, they may never open again, leaving new york city without water. so they chose to keep them open. as a result, there has not been significant inspe

hurwitz: the city bought up land around the reservoirs to prevent it from development. it provides assistance to local residents to see that there's no pollution of the reservoirs. it's much more cost effective to prevent pollution and to protect a source of water than to remove it at the drinking water treatment plant. lloyd: what epa said to us was, "you can have an exemption from filtration "if you keep this undeveloped, "and if you can manage the wastewater so that it does not pollute your water supply." and we feel that we've reached the point where we can really keep it clean enough to drink unfiltered for the indefinite future. and new york city is in a small club of cities that actually have that filtration avoidance waiver. narrator: while municipalities are responsible for maintaining systems and source supply, the standards that protect water are established at the federal level. there are two important pieces of federal legislation that were both enacted in the early to mid-1970s. the first was the clean water act, which acts to protect rivers and lakes, and

hurwitz: we have the stock exchange, we have the united nations -- failure can have a dramatic impact on the nation, and even internationally.

judicial emergencies, including two nominees for seats in the ninth circuit, pal watford and andrew hurwitz, who are extraordinarily well-qualified. i hope my republican colleagues will give us a break here. these people deserve to get their moment here on the senate floor, deserve a vote. and the areas that they're going to serve deserve a full complement of competent jurists. it's time to restore sanity, comity and good faith to the way we treat judicial nominations on the senate floor, and it should start today. let me discuss j. tharp's background for the record. nominated when the judgeship opened up after judge blanche manning took senior status. a partner in the office of mayor brown where he is coleader of enforcement practice. he was born into a military family, very proud of it. son of a lieutenant colonel in the marine corps. j. tharp attended duke university on an rotc scholarship received an undergraduate degree summa cum laude. started, served on active duty with the marines for six years achieving the rank of captain and earning the navy achievement medal. after military serv

justice hurwitz is a respected jurist on the arizona supreme court.he also had the highest rating possible and unanimously. i should also note, this is not a partisan thing. his nomination has the strong support of both republican home state senators, senator john mccain and senator jon kyl. now, when the republican leader came to thand the majority leado an understanding of 14 judicial nominations awaiting consideration, the arrangement took months to implement. the senate could have done it in ourhours. the senate could have easily done it on a friday afternoon. because it has taken so longer the backlog of judicial vacancies and judicial nominees continue. so we're right back where we started. we have 22 judicial nominees awaiting action. i know the majority leader is working to continue seeking republican agreement to debate and vote on the remaining judicial nominees. this shouldn't require overcoming a filibuster and political partisan standoffs for the senate to do its job, promptly considering judicial nominations, especially as many have bipa