turf uses a lot of irrigation and uses spray irrigation, so what we've done here is use artificial turf. you're never going to be able to achieve the look of back east or the look of, say, california, with subtropical plants, but our landscapes are still lush and use about 30% of what the subtropical landscape with turf would use. las vegas has adopted a drought tolerant ordinance. we're using less water today than we used five years ago, despite over 300,000 new residents. i think it's a pretty amazing example as to how a town can really turn on a dime if there's the political will and if the public gets behind it. narrator: even the casinos and resorts have adapted to efficient water use. mulroy: the las vegas strip uses only 3% of all the water that we deliver. and when you think about it, it's the largest economic driver in the state, the largest employer, bar none. they knew they had to go the extra mile. and they've embraced conservation. and it's almost beyond belief that they're right now in the process of building another 15,000 rooms. southern nevada recycles 100% of its waste

five million dollars towards you call it water conservation but it really should be, you know, irrigation when we call it. >> because i remember years ago, in the 90s, if the memory serves me right, we passed a bond issue for golden gate park and the idea was to build a reservoir in the sunset heights and get enough pressure to have the sprinkler system like every other municipality has for the parks and save the labor of the gardening dragging the hoses around and having to go out and every day remembering to water and the money got spent in other places and we never got it. and we did not have the bond oversight committee, and commission in those days. and that was one of the reasons that we have that but it would seem to me, that if not in this bond issue, because i know that you have got it ear marked for other things but there should be something, because it only makes sense fortunate enough to have lawns at my home inthe city here and you know not huge, but large enough that i can see the results of putting a new sprinkler system in on a timer you use half the water and you do it ev

we've got an irrigation plan that's underway and it's being finalized right now. so, i'd say we're pretty close. >> okay. and along those lines you touched on something that i actually wanted to -- with regard to a question i wanted to raise, and that is the plant material. we're talking about planting, putting in some vegetation plants along those areas to serve as a buffer between the cars or the vehicles that continue to be parked there, i would imagine. have we paid particular attention to the types of plants that we will be using with regards to the exhaust fumes of those vehicles and -- because oftentimes when i've gone through the park i do see places of that in some of our plants that we have now. i just wondered if you had any -- took that into consideration, the types of plants relative to the continued parking activity. >> most of the consideration for the plant material really had to do with size of the plant material, the sustainability of those materials so that they're not water loving plants. the visibility for police along the edge so that they ca

so, a part of our plan is to install an automatic irrigation system in the area. this is the plan and you can see by the plan there is a new accessible path leading from lincoln way across and through to the main body of golden gate park. we did reach out to the department of public works to establish a new crosswalk there across kesar drive. presently the existing crosswalk is at the left there. people have to cross into an island and wait at an island and cross to get to the children's playground. so, we did manage to secure an assurance from the department of public works that they would establish a new crosswalk there with crossing lights to make a direct link into the park. and our plan consists of increased planting at the edge at the southern edge to kind of shield the parked cars from view and reestablish the meadow as a form. there are a few new trees that will be planted in the park. there are new entry areas that will have kiosks. trash cans and features of the park that will kind of locate people where they are and direct them into the area. we had loc

you can get two or three crops a year off this kind of land if you have some sort of irrigation. people who have access to or who own this rich, irrigable part of the valley, which is only a very small portion of it, tend to be the wealthy and politically powerful people in the system. and i suspect it was very much like that among the pre-historic maya. keach: webster believes the low-ranking maya depended on the nobles just as these poor farmers depend on the modern landowners. during certain months of the year, a wealthy landowner permits these two men to grow food for their families on the rich bottom land. like the ancient maya, they plant without the aid of a plow. the farmers explain to william sanders they pay a steep price to feed their families. keach: the farmers pay the landowner not with cash or part of their crop, but with something equally precious -- their labor. the poor farmers live in these thatched huts. to fulfill their obligation to the landowner, they descend to the valley each day during the irrigation season to tend tobacco and other cash crops. like the

the irrigation system. we've been asking the government for help, but it never comes. >> reporter: this 26 year old woman farms just one and a half acres. she's one of the farmers unable to produce enough rice to sell to the government. >> translator: i wish i could make money through the rice purchase scheme, but i simply can't produce enough to qualify. times have never been worse. i have no income, not even enough to feed my family. and the soil in my rice field is bad. >> reporter: the family has been growing rice for three generations, but they still struggle. last year she and her husband made barely 180 u.s. dollars all year. >> translator: i have to borrow money to buy rice for my family. sometimes i have to borrow rice. i want help from the government, but it doesn't reach us. >> reporter: rice farmers used to the backbone of thailand's economy. the government's rice purchase scheme is supposed to help them. but instead, many farmers feel excluded and helpless. nhk world. >>> now let's take a brief

the irrigation districts are concerned because the burn streams from our drinking water facilities and they were concerned about how much erosion might occur and flush into pedro. we're engaging them in a discussion as well. >> can something be built to hold back? >> they can. there are some measures that they can put into place, these types of bails and things of that nature to keep it out the water waves, but we're talking about a huge area so they have to be strategic in a short period of time before it starts to rain and snow in the mountains. >> we don't have much time. >> no. >> thank you. >> so the next item is quarterly budget update. >> okay. talking about options and financial performance. this is your pre-audit experience and early peek at our budget terry results before the audit, the statements come out. i have some good news to report in these numbers. and we'll walk-through this very briefly. overall when we talk up a third quarter, we heard of the increase water sales. we closed the year with higher water use and water sales, retail sales were up five percent and wholes

in the power enterprise we generated less electricity and sold less to the airport and the irrigation district. that was offset with additional savings from lower power purchases which more than offset that lower revenue. so each of the three enterprises ended the year in good condition and you can see on this slide that reserves at the end of the year exceed $300,000,000. the water department excited $80 million. compared to your reserved policy which you adopted and had in some place for a responsible fiscal measure, we're satisfying every one of those criteria for every one of the enterprises so congratulations to you and i'm happy to answer any questions. >> commissioner, is there any questions? >> do you have the exact number for the debt service ratio? >> yes. >> i see that it exceeds but what is the -- >> for the water department it's approximately 3.9 times. for the waste water department it's 3.4 times. we have about 61 times on our power side because we have that very small amount of clean renewable energy conservation bonds outstanding. we haven't issued our first bonds yet

gallons come here on a daily basis, producing recycled water, and that can be reused for landscape irrigation and indoor toilet flushing. the pumps can only handle so much water, which is generally when it's not rain, the dry-weather runoff, so if you get a storm of a decent size, the pumps will shut down automatically and the water will just continue to flow out into the ocean and it carries a lot of bacteria and people can get sick when they're swimming in the water near a flowing storm drain. everyone knows you don't go in the water for 72 hours after it rains. you just don't. this is the dirtiest beach in southern california. doheny beach. i've surfed this twice -- i've gotten sick both times. narrator: san juan creek, a concrete flood control channel, flows directly to doheny beach. moriarty: the concrete you can almost think of as a big water slide for pollutants to go to sea level. man: if it rains more than 2/10 of an inch, the county puts out a health advisory for all beaches in the county. that totaled 75 days in 2006. so it's sort of a frightening thing that it's so polluted that e

part of the answer is found in an elaborate system of irrigation, canals that helped the city producea large agricultural surplus. although most remained farmers, irrigation freed some 30,000 to 40,000 people to pursue other jobs like making clay figurines. but it was not clay sculpture that transformed teotihuacan into an economic superpower. it was another material -- obsidian, a natural volcanic glass whose edge was as sharp as a razor. obsidian was the knife of the ancient world. 30 miles north of teotihuacan, archaeologists have discovered the major source of obsidian in a place called pachuca. this is alejandro pastna of the mexican institute of anthropology and history, and his colleague rafael cruz. they have come here to map the locations of ancient mines. let's go. [ glass crunching ] obsidian fragments litter the surface, the refuse of thousands of years of mining activity. the glass that formed here by nature was especially prized by the ancients because of a unique quality. interpreter: this obsidian was only formed in this deposit. most obsidian is black or gray, but the

million gallons of water are being dumped into the streets and we're looking to use and provide irrigation water for the bonding in a gardens >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> good afternoon i'm the charles i'm with the engineers. i said to thank you guys for putting this amendment forward. i want to work in a city that maximi maximizes water. >> any additional comment on item 2. seeing none, public comment is closed. president chu pr >> i want to thank the puc and spur and other partners for their work on this and colleagues ask for this to be moved out with full recommendation. >> great can we take that without objection? madam clerk call item 3 >> item 3 is the microscopic code to allow employees for care giving time to allow far their families. >> first of all, i want to thank you and the rest of our colleagues for their consideration of the presidential around our family friendly with that. we hear from the staff i thought for this particular committee we'll take a couple of minutes to lay out the proposal and i'd like to act my aid to activate the power point. i want to thank ou

cash to buy the land and helped me with a $60,000 to pay for the trees, build a trellis, fence, irrigation. >> he hopes to sell his apples next year. he works part time as a landscaper to support his family. >> the cost of living is high out here. wages are low. no one would move out here for work. you have to create your own living, if you want to make a real living out here. >> according to the kaufman index of entrepreneurial activity, montana had 5.3 entre presentures, making it number one for entrepreneurial activity. last year it was 17. charleston west virnalinnia is tapping taxpayers to pay pensions for police pensioners. >> and detrait - 139 square miles of abandoned buildings. we introduce you to a man who photographs those buildings. [[voiceover]] every day, events sweep across our country. and with them, a storm of views. how can you fully understand the impact unless you've heard angles you hadn't considered? antonio mora brings you smart conversation that challenges the status quo with unexpected opinions and a fresh outlook. including yours. sachin asked the indian media not

cash to buy the land and helped me with a $60,000 to pay for the trees, build a trellis, fence, irrigation. >> he hopes to sell his apples next year. he works part time as a landscaper to support his family. >> the cost of living is high out here. wages are low. no one would move out here for work. you have to create your own living, if you want to make a real living out here. >> according to the kaufman index of entrepreneurial activity, montana had 5.3 entre presentures, making it number one for entrepreneurial activity. last year it was 17. charleston west virnalinnia is tapping taxpayers to pay pensions for police and pensioners. >> and detrait - 139 square miles of abandoned buildings. we introduce you to a man who photographs those buildings. >> we are on the east side of detroit. it's over run with crypts. >> we this that personal story and more: conversation we introduce you to conversation conversationmiles o conversation conversation >> dedroit's bankruptcy filing has folks in other cities with underfunded pensions worried. they don't have enough money to pay to current and futur

is diminishing on a land that is already drying up here -->>soo see, here we had to remove the irrigation pipe. whole field. the now there is no more underground water. grass. you grow -- how can you go grass? before it used to grow that high? >> nearby, desertification is spreading. that is not going to stop the truck -- trucks from carrying coal, constantly coming and going. industry continues to expand. a few kilometers away, some farmers have been relocated after being moved off of their land to make way for coal extraction. >> now my only means of receiving an income is by reselling -- i hope someday the government will give me real compensation for the land that i lost. >> seeking compensation for their land is probably the only hope for these farmers. if the chinese government does not act