mr. ritchie. next speaker is chris gilbert. mr. gilbert, welcome. >> is it possible to pass a page to everybody here? so my name's chris gilbert. i represent the bay chapter of the sierra club. i'm on their water committee. i had something written down, but i think it's more important to address the presentation today. what i'm passing out is a document put out by the public policy institute of california on alternative water supplies, and it is -- the back is where it might be more interesting to start. you can see that southern california has ten times the amount of recycled water in its investments, so this tells me that northern california is behind the ball on that alternative water source. on the front, it has the idea that alternate tiive water source -- mixed water sources improve drought resilience. so -- and then -- so that's my document there. and then, i want to talk about transfers. i want to second barry's point about successful transfers being done in southern california. the m.w.d. is now leasing land in some water d

mr. ryan: thank you, very much. that was nice. [applause] is that your phone? andrea, thank you so much. i appreciate that. it is great to be back here. i was hoping to see craig gilbert here. make sure you give them a hard time for me. first off, i want to start off by saying one of the most valuable things we have in a democracy is a spirited exchange of ideas. and by celebrating the first amendment, this organization plays a vital, vital role in civil dialogue here and around the world. i want to welcome each and everyone one of you for your part in playing that role. i mean that sincerely. as you mentioned it, i am more a policy guy. ideas are what brought me into this line of work. i love taking an idea, putting it on paper, going through the debate, tweaking and improving it and adjusting it. and then seeing it come to fruition. it improve people's lives. that is what drew me to the public location in the first place. that is or is been my motivation for being in public life. as we now enter the height of a very raucous political season, i think it is a good time to step back from all the noise we are hearing these days and reflect on where we are. what ideas ha