ms. labonte. and if you have any questions for either of us when she's done, we'll be here. >> thank you. ~ >> good afternoon, commissioner -- let me switch. does this one work? yes, okay. i'll be closer to the computer here. so, this is a public hearing for the consideration of revisions to the water system improvement program. and as a whole, these revisions are referred to as the march 2013 revised wsip. your packet today includes several documents that support our request to revise the program, and also included in the commission packet is a letter from bawsca dated april 17th, which includes comments on our proposed wsip provisions. so, why is it that we have to revise the program? it is not unusual for a program of this complexity to go through revisions periodically. as project moves through the various phases of pre-construction and then into construction, new information becomes available and new challenges are also oftentimes encountered in the field. revisions to our schedule and budget

ms. labonte. it is the flagship reservoir. it's the largest one you have in the bay area. it's absolutely vital for earthquake protection and drought protection. more on that in a moment. so, we support all the recommendations and the supervisors' appropriation, all of those things if you need us to come and say that to them, we would be glad to do so. we did have concerns about the budget. you are now six years away and counting from completing the entire program. more things could happen. it was impressive to see the risk curve that julie presented to you, and that's very helpful. i'm going to study that more and we'll probably have some more questions for her, your staff. that is in effect your decision making here today. with respect to our recommendations in the letter, the level of service goals was a question. commissioner moran spoke to that. i think the squab quantification, the timing is important to us. that information is going to be coming back to you, as ms. labonte said. ~ with respect to the budget impacts, we did suggest that alternatives might be consider

ms. labonte. and if you have any questions for either of us when she's done, we'll be here. >> thank you. ~ >> good afternoon, commissioner -- let me switch. does this one work? yes, okay. i'll be closer to the computer here. so, this is a public hearing for the consideration of revisions to the water system improvement program. and as a whole, these revisions are referred to as m

ms. labonte, why are we spending all this money on this project, what does it do for us? >> well, the additional funding here will allow us -- >> i know what the additional funding -- the calaveras dam, why do we need to worry about that? >> there's a reason for each project. in the case of calaveras dam, it is a key component of our overall water supply stratejai. without it, you lose incredible flexibility into the overall operation of the system. and you would become especially vulnerable during drought conditions. >> good answer. question. >> what happened with hetch hetchy -- >> it's a buffer, it definitely provides -- yes. so, there's -- and the dam currently -- >> that's even a better answer. >> the dam has been found to be seismically vulnerable so we cannot operate it at full capacity right now. >> okay. i just think it's important people may be or may not be watching on television, to make sure we help them understand why this expenditure is so necessary. >> and bear with me. i've got only three or four remaining slides. >>> so, you know, the impacts on the rate