this is a watershed problem. a watershed problem. lichte: the watershed encompasses many municipal boundaries and it doesn't know any local politics. narrator: in the pittsburgh system, 83 cities and towns use the same sewage treatment plant -- alcosan. so all 83 municipalities have to work together to address the problem. schombert: we know we have billions of dollars that will have to be spent over the next 15 to 20 years. you can't do that wisely when you have 83 separate government agencies making decisions. the municipal consent orders and the alcosan consent decree require that the municipalities participate in a long-term, regional wet weather control plan. narrator: the information gathered in the initial research phase of the wet weather control plan will inform the large-scale infrastructure overhaul. and, as this research moves forward, pittsburgh is also working with environmental groups that are cleaning up the watershed. woman: make that connection. man: like a mural on the side of a building? woman: $5.00 to get in. ma

system with each of eight major watersheds and how to address the challenges. we will be finding the recommended projects that we talk about the day and working with neighbors, communities, in stakeholders for solutions that are best for their neighborhood. first and foremost, we will be looking at performance to optimize the additional benefits that we see. so, green infrastructure has been discussed a lot today, but it may be new interest -- a new idea for many in the audience. we have a booklet for you and i. and it is a packet and a glossary that describes some of the key tools in technology. in essence, it is a set of engineered technologies that is slow to reuse storm water within the sewer system. heading upstream to keep the water out as much as possible. it includes rooftop disconnection, paving, retention rates, and construction. this slide shows you examples of projects in san francisco that you can go see, if you are interested. the green roof in the upper left-hand corner is located in the ortega library as part of a partnership undertaken within t

it comes out to 1 per watershed. we would monitor these projects to confirm local performance. it will allow us to add to our understanding of green infrastructure and integrate it to our collection system, helping us to understand how to use it with our maintenance programs. vip's were chosen through a screening process. each workshop was held in 2007 and 2009. these included community members and larger stakeholder groups. each underwent preliminary staff evaluation from consultant teams. as the exact project locations have not yet been confirmed, these projects can help you to visualize what you are approving today, ensuring that there is community support an adequate partnership. the chinatown green alley project is a proposal to redesign an alley to maximize storm capture. it can also be closed to traffic to maximize benefits. there is great potential for projects synergy in the department of neighborhood groups with in all neighborhoods. i will not go through each of the projects. this is just a sample. the daylight of the upper portion redirects the flow. the project wou

we will be talking about this a watershed a lot today. it is the largest one in the city, 10.9 miles. the focus of our discussion is the collection system, and challenges we have in the collection system, a lot of them are storm water. and when the volume

the west side can this of the three watershed's shown, sunset, and lake merced. these are part of the ongoing sunset process. we have presented this slide to orient you. what is shown here is the block that tommy just referred to under the highway. a. basically drains to the ocean and it is conveyed to the oceanside plant. we have a video that basically shows how the west side system operates in dry weather and did what whether -- and in wet weather and how it occurs to the beach. we have three examples of how it charges to the ocean beach. in dry weather, you can see the daly city down to the right. you see the sunset area. as it comes closer to the great highway, they are conveyed in a great storage blocks down to the website punt station. the first little circle -- the west side pump station. the first little circle. when rain occurs, will we see is, again, this same process. the combined sewage flows the same way. an increase through the box on the west side and an increase in the tunnel prepared -- in the tunnel. when higher rains occur, the box system canno

we will be talking about this a watershed a lot today. it is the largest one in the city, 10.9 miles. the focus of our discussion is the collection system, and challenges we have in the collection system, a lot of them are storm water. and when the volume of storm water exceeds our capacity and our treatment capacity, that is when we have something have dis. ccsd throughout the presentation is when the system needs hydraulic relief. on the screen now, we have a map with several members along the side. those are the criteria established collaborative labor with the regional water quality control board of the 1970's. we did our capital improvement program to be able to achieve them. from the lower right, and the middle, we have 10 occurrences. that is where the channel basins are. getting to the north and south on the eastbound side, there is very good performance. the side with 10 occurrences is challenged because of the large size of that area. to the west, where we have eight occurrences, when that -- when a cfc occurs we have another ch

but even separate systems pollute the watershed. in developed areas, concrete and other impervious services prevent water from naturally soaking into the land. as the rainwater moves over the roads and concrete expanse, it captures trash and invisible chemicals, sending them straight to the nearest waterway -- untreated. when engineers first designed america's water infrastructure -- the drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems -- they were some of the most advanced in the world. but the infrastructure is growing old. and population growth and development, particularly in urban areas, have made it difficult for original system designs to meet modern health standards and reliably satisfy demand. man: our water and wastewater systems really are engineering marvels. because it's buried, it's invisible to us, and we tend to take it for granted. that's a mistake. like any engineered system, it requires maintenance and periodic rehabilitation, and eventual replacement. it's so out of sight and so out of mind, that we don't reali

the next meeting is july 24 and we will be concentrating on the urban watershed framework. hopefully, in the month of august, we can bring all of your thoughts and ideas back together and come up with a program that you can adopt that will give us parameters on how to move forward. that is the plan. the last item is an update of the water system improvement program. >> good afternoon. i have a few slides i wanted to show you. if we could connect, and they elect to two projects. the first one has to do with a new tunnel. while you were approving the revised budget and schedule for the new tunnel last tuesday, are construction crews were actually holdings through the first of two segments for the tunnel. this is the segment -- the smaller segment, nonetheless, this is a big milestone for us. you can see the ring. this happened at 420 feet underground. we are continuing excavation of the second segment. we are expecting to pull through in mid-2013. will be installing the lining in the first segment starting this summer. this is going pretty well. this is another photo of last

for more than a year, the epa gathered information about the watershed. then, in may 2012, their draft assessment was published. it came down hard on the pebble project, detailing the many risks involved, including a major loss of fish habitat, the high probability of a damaging pipeline break, the catastrophic consequences of tailings dam failures, and the never-ending threat of acid mine drainage. the findings are significant in that the epa can unilaterally stop the mine. >> it's outrageous that somebody would stop a project before a project proponent even had a chance to make the plans public. i don't think that's the kind of reputation our country wants to start to get if we want to start to have any kind of investment in large projects. so i think it would set a terrible precedent. >> the future of the pebble mine project took center stage in anchorage tonight. >> about 400 people showed up... >> narrator: in anchorage, many alaskans reacted angrily to the epa's involvement. when the agency called for a series of public hearings to discuss their dra

narrator: the majority of new york city's drinking water comes from watersheds in upstate new york. a watershed is the area of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water. mountains act as a funnel to feed rivers and lakes. and in this case, reservoirs. in the new york city system, water is collected and stored in 19 reservoirs, which can hold more than a year's supply -- over 580 billion gallons of water. almost all of the system is fed by gravity, without the use of energy-consuming pumps. valves open to regulate the flow into the 85-mile-long delaware aqueduct -- the longest tunnel in the world. at hillview reservoir... the water is partitioned into another giant tunnel system. where it travels deep below manhattan. the pressure built up by gravity from the mountains pushes the water upwards toward the surface through vertical shafts. these shafts feed the water mains of each neighborhood, which branch into smaller pipes below the streets... feeding into buildings and houses, into the plumbing, and finally, after its long journey, to our faucets.

cornel douglas foundation committed to encouraging stewardship of the environment, land conservation, watershed protection and eliminating harmful chemicals. additional funding provided by the colcom foundation, the wallace genetic foundation, and by the charles a few haugh foundation. >> first, controlling gun violence, then women candidates 2012. behind the headlines, the olympics and women's weight lifting. >> hello, i'm bonnie erbe. welcome to to the contrary, a discussion of news and social trends from diverse perspectives. up first, the right to bear arms. the aurora colorado theater shooting has re-ignited the debate over gun control. president obama weighed in reaffirming the rights of americans to bear arms, but added assault weapons belong on the battlefield not on our streets. gop presidential hopeful mitt romney, says we don't need more gun laws because changing the law won't make bad things go away. meanwhile, cyberspace debates are erupting on whether women are safer if they have and carry guns. >> so congresswoman, norton, will the aurora colorado shooting be the watershed event

and, as in pittsburgh, as in new york, part of the answer lies in protecting the watershed. nelsen: we need to reduce the amount of impervious surfaces in our watershed, which are surfaces that don't let the water soak in and then create more pervious surface, whether it's by having driveways that allow water to soak in or different landscaping to try to eliminate the amount of runoff that comes off our land so that the system, even with the development it has, acts more like a natural system and filters that water. water quality and sewage infrastructure isn't the sexiest of political agendas, but by raising the awareness about water quality issues, we can create political pressure to get our issues solved. about 15 years ago, surfrider activists were protesting a beach for being polluted. the city council asked the police to escort them away. there was complete denial of the problem. 15 years later, water quality is on the agenda of every city council person in that local city, and that's completely a result of activists forcing the issue, surfrider and other local groups,

the watershed free-market report also included

the hermosa creek watershed protection act governs the entire 108,000-acre watershed and includes provisions to allow for multiple uses like timber harvesting for forest health, access and trails for off-trail vehicles and more mountainbikers. the bill -- it just keeps getting better, mr. president -- the bill also adds nearly 40,000 acres to the national wilderness preservation system, lands that provide unique and important opportunities for solitude and reflection, lands that will remain undeveloped forever, so they'll always have clear streams to fish and lush forests for a outoutfitter to take clients into the wilderness on horseback. the bill has the unanimous bipartisan backing of the two county commissions involved, the san juan county commission and the la plata county commission. i would like to submit both of those for the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. bennet: it has the support of the hermosa county wilderness group. i am pleased to carry this bill on behalf of the people of colorado and especially proud because this was a community-driven process at its v

. >> so congresswoman, norton, will the aurora colorado shooting be the watershed event thatea t more federal gun-control legislation. >> president obama went further than anyone predicted but even murder on a mass scale will not get candidates to talking about gun remedies in an election year. >> i don't think that this will change anything on the federal level. if you remember, colorado has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. >> i don't think so either. i just -- there is no bipartisan consensous this issue and efforts made are defeated by lobbying organizations or partisan politics. >> what happened in colorado is not going to change anything on the federal level. i think what it is going to do is you're going to have people on the left trying to stoke fear and vilify gun owners. >> does it vilify gun owners, particularly if you look at the polls, gun owners, believe that ak-47 assault weapons, are not appropriate, and that there are her battlefield guns that are running loose in the cities and nobody has a constituency for it. >> but congresswoman, norton, i mean, you l

today, a collection system all the way, talking about watershed frameworks. the slides, please. thank you. today's workshop will focus on collection system. it will be the same type of format. we will have points where we can slow down and discuss, but feel free to have a discussion throughout each. we have a bevy of experts here to help dr. perry much of anything. the final workshop is august 28. at that time, we will be incorporating the input from workshop one and a workshop two and bringing a full ssip program to you. the duration, the costs. we will have another discussion about the raid. we will likely be talking at that time about our public information program and how we are going to roll this out to the public and get the word out to the general population. at that time, the final workshop, the commission will be able to make adjustments. we will still be able to have something fluid, but we're hoping that we can get an endorsement of the program so that we can be able to move forward and have district planning for implementation. >> sorry to interrupt. i do not think m

this one is at the top of the headwaters of the watershed itself at the peak of mount hamilton. chairperson chu: what we go to the budget analyst report. >> madam chair and members of the committee, on page 5 of the report, we report that the puc 's $866,000 purchase price, there one share for the purchase of the ranch, and additional costs are -- of the -- nolan range, and additional costs are $333,000. the puc would pay a one time $125,000 as an endowment fund to the nature conservancy to protect the construction easement. and that would be in perpetuity. recommend you approve this resolution chairperson chu: are there members of the public who wish to comment on item 7? >> phil paulson, my father, he worked at central shops. it ♪ i should have listened to my old man ♪ ♪ i should have stayed on the on ♪ ranch man ♪ ranch man ♪ and all the science i don't understand ♪ ♪ is just my job every day of the week ♪ ♪ branch man ♪ ranch man ♪ ♪ i'm having daydreams about ranching ♪ ♪ in the middle of the afternoon ♪ ♪ and every night, you make my ranch dreams come true ♪ ♪ i'm having r

more warnings out of the west in the watershed of the potomac river.ve been stationary put we have lightning as it moves. there will be chances for isolated and scanned -- scattered thunderstorms. this is all part of the pattern developing to the north and west. things should salon -- things should settle down later on tonight. more thunderstorms potentially more widespread and heavier than we see right now. 98 degrees at reagan national. the sixth day in a row we have been above 90. 88 is the average on july 3. temperatures will cool with the rain. 94 at reagan national airport. throughout the mid-atlantic, lots of '90s with the exception of boston. a few miles inland, it's a lot warmer. upper 90s and all of the heat will build least at once again with increasing humidity levels. satellite shows the little areas of storms trying to develop during the day quickly moving out of detroit. those will swing through this evening but tomorrow, partly cloudy skies and we do it all over again. isolated storms in some areas by noon. thunderstorms possible highs

so we see less watershed impact occurring, before it recovers but what is even more important is that when a fire hits the treated area as it drops out of the treetops, gets down on to the ground and then fire fighters can be much more effective with their suppression and the difference in what we saw during the wildfires when we did the treatment the firefighters were able to stop the fire before it came into the subdivisions' into the communities and thousands of homes were saved because of the treatment done prior to the fire. >> looking at another example of the treated area and non-treated area but what does that really mean what are you talking about? >> it's fanning out the forest, getting in there and cutting out some of the trees, removing the smaller diameter material but it's to reduce so we have fewer trees per acre so that the five-year gets started and gets up into the top of the trees it can't spread from tree to tree. there's space between the crown. this is what would naturally occur throughout the west and that is the difference that we are seeing today is many of th

the town was rightly concerned that a fire in this area would greatly impact its watershed. grant funds used to treat 64 acres are at all i would have brought, the tax levy in a statewide grant program, we have been able to get it projects done, but again we saw thousands of acres to address in areas like street creek and homes. that's why were interested in what more assistance congress can provide in the bills before this committee today have provisions that would help in this regard. generally speaking the projects i mentioned to be enhanced by these provisions. let me highlight these concepts. first, we need more funding, plain and simple. the task of removing hazard trees is daunting and states can only make a dent in this effort. i understand the bills you consider in this committee are not primarily about funding, the urge each to make this a priority. second, designate areas in our national forests impacted by insect and disease would allow the service to focus on this area. we've all come designated areas has emergency or critical need and apply the provisions to th

the town was rightly concerned that a five-year in this area would greatly impact its watershed. these grant funds were used to treat 64 acres so long as hfra and the tax levy and the state would grant program we've been able to get into projects done but again we still have thousands of acres to address in areas like to creek and near homes. that's why we are interested in what more county risk can provide. the bills before the committee today have provisions would help in this regard. generally speaking the projects i mentioned would be enhanced by these provisions. let me highlight these concepts. first, we need more funding removing hazard and fired trees is daunting in state and local communities can only make it in this effort. i understand the bills you are considering in this committee are not primarily about funding by urge you to make this a priority. second, designating the areas of the national forests of impacted by the disease would allow the forest service to focus attention on resources in this area we would welcome areas as emergency critical need and apply the s

the watershed is in better shape and it will produce a grass, brush, and everything come back.he forest recovers. when a fire hits these treated areas, it drops out of the treetops and it gets down on the ground down then firefighters can be much more effective with their suppression. the difference we saw there is that when we did the treatments, the firefighters were able to stop the fire before it came in to the subdivisions and thousands of homes were saved because of the treatment that was done prior to the fire. host: here is another example of a treated and untreated area. what does the treatment mean? guest: it is thinning out the forest. getting in there and removing some of the smaller diameter material. it is to reduce the density said that we have at your trees per acre so that when a fire get started and it gets up into the top of the trees, it cannot spread from tree to tree. there is space between the crown. that is what naturally would occur throughout the west. and it's the difference we're seeing today. many of these stands have a lot more trees per acre than