Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20180208

Silence all cell phones and electronic devices, speaker cards and copies of documents to be included as part of the file should be committed to the clerk. Items acted on today will appear on the february 13, 2018, board of supervisors agenda unless otherwise stated. Can we have a motion to excuse supervisor peskin . Motion to excuse supervisor peskin. Thank you. Without objection, that motion passes there any changes to the agenda . Mr. Clerk, please call item number one. Clerk hearing on the operations and maintenance status of the citys Emergency Water supply system since 2010 and spare parts deemed no longer useful or ongoing to the functioning of the system. This hearing is sponsored by supervisor peskin, continued from several months ago and cosponsored by supervisor yee and myself. Supervisor peskin is unable to be here today but appreciate him for calling for the hearing two years ago. Initially heard in april of 2016, and again in march of last year, this hearing on Emergency Water supply systems highlights an issue near and dear to me, as a supervisor for district one. In the Richmond District, thousands of homes, wooden and built very close together that will be vulnerable to a fire in the case of a major earthquake or other disaster. 42,000 structures not currently covered by High Pressure Emergency Water system. While most of central San Francisco has been equipped with a robust Emergency Water system known as awss, auxiliary water supply system, richmond has not the same access in the case of a catastrophe. I am very appreciative of the comprehensive work done by the city departments and independent reviewers to develop a proposal that we would hear about today. My hope is that this Emergency Water supply system can be put into place on the west side before its needed to protect lives and property. Today we will hear from general manager harlan kelly, San Francisco Fire Department chief, and manager of policy and government affairs. I understand that we have several other staff from sf Fire Department and sfpuc in the audience available in case of questions. As well as the independent expert reviewer for the sfpuc report and Emergency Water supply system options. Thank you for being here today. I would like to invite mr. Kelly to make some opening remarks. Mr. Kelly. Good morning, supervisors, again, my name is harlan kelly, general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities commission. Before i start, the presentation, i was just thinking back and when i started with the structural section at the department of public works, one of my first projects, we were working on the awss system and i became City Engineer in 1996 which d. P. W. Managed the engineering for the awss system. And 2002, brought over to the p. U. C. To run the 4. 8 billion program, water program, 95 complete. At the same time later, 2010, the awss was transferred to the p. U. C. For the engineering and so we have done a lot of great work and im really familiar with the system and have a lot of knowledge of the system. But i just want to point out the partnership that we have had with the with the Fire Department, d. P. W. Or San Francisco public works and the Water Department or the p. U. C. Has been there since the beginning. In fact, the water that goes to the reservoirs for awss system, always been a connection and i just feel that since 2010, the connection has been even better. And so definitely we are excited to tell you the things that we are doing. You know, we offer a lot of advantages at the p. U. C. That you know, i think the system didnt really enjoy. We have over 80 plumbers and so we are very familiar about exercising valves and Leak Detection and i think we brought that expertise to the system. The other thing that i wanted to point out is that in all our Water Systems, the first thing we want to model the system, so we worked with public works to model the system and the Fire Department and really come up with a strategy of how you can make sure that you get enough coverage throughout the entire city so that you can identify projects that give you the most bang for the buck, and by modelling it, it really showed us the deficiency on the west side, and we need to make those investments and so we came up with options to really bring that home and john will go more into that. And so you know, when we went through we originally came up with ten options, and our steering committee, public works, Fire Department, and p. U. C. , we actually noticed we did not have enough coverage. We brought it to your attention and we actually added two more options, and those are the options that we felt would give us the most bang for the buck. And well go over the details of that option. But i want to say that you know, the team of the Fire Department, public works, and the p. U. C. Are working well together, and im really excited to really tell you all the things that we are able to accomplish working together. And so with that, i wanted to hand it over to fire chief, ok, there you are, to say a few words. Thank you, mr. Kelly. Chief, one second, please. I believe that supervisor katy tang would like to say something. Supervisor tang very brief, i would like to add my name as a cosponsor on this hearing about the west side and the reliability for our western neighborhoods. We have been studying this issue for years and years and years and i want to thank the Community Members who first brought this to our attention. And the meantime, departments such as the p. U. C. , the Fire Department, public works, had worked so diligently to come up with not only educating us on how our systems work and what is the new technology out there, and also engaging in the study that you just recently released to the public about what it is that we can do to strengthen reliability on our west side neighborhoods. So, just want to express my appreciation, this has been an issue that i think several of us have been paying attention to for many, many years. And i think that you know, often times you know, we might hear a critique from the community about how it is we are not doing enough to again improve the safety and reliability for our western neighborhoods, and i think that from what i have seen over the years and through several bond measures that we have actually increased the reliability for many of our neighborhoods throughout the entire city. Very impressed with that, but of course always more that we can do. So, really looking forward to your presenttation and hearing the results of the latest study that just came out. Thank you very much, and thank you mr. Kelly. And thank you, chief for your patience. Good morning. Chief joanne hayes white, San Francisco Fire Department. Thank you to the government audits and oversight committee. I know supervisor peskin could not be here today. Piggy backing, i wanted to applaud you, supervisor tang and supervisor, and president breed, and making sure the residents are served adequately and properly and in our business in the Fire Department we always look for additional options, redundancy and we feel a measured methodical and comprehensive study took place and we are very pleased to bring this report and our findings before you today. A lot of work went into it. I echo what general manager kelly said about partnerships in 2010 when the awss was transferred to the p. U. C. We have working with the p. U. C. To upgrade the system and saw some vulnerabilities, in the sunset and the Richmond District, and we want to focus how we could have additional options built in to protect all areas of the city. And in march of last year, the committee asked both departments to come back with a comprehensive report. I would like to acknowledge the efforts of not only the d. P. W. But the Public Utilities commission, we meet regularly, impressed by their expertise and their professionalism, and really looking at all different options. I would also like to acknowledge members of my team because they work very closely with the p. U. C. , im joined today by newly appointed deputy chief Janine Nicholson here, and also our water expert in the Fire Department, captain james ready. So, without further ado, p. U. C. Findings, from mr. Scarpulo. Thanks very much, chief. Good morning, supervisors, john scarpulu with the p. U. C. Pleasure to be here and report out to you. With me, obviously are several experts from the p. U. C. And Fire Department as well as professor charles kauthorn, International Recognized in the field and completed the independent third party report. However, before i get into the report, i want to speak a little more, more details on the partnership that both director kelly and chief hayes white discussed. And 2010 then mayor transferred responsibility of Fire Suppression over to the p. U. C. , and the year the first emergency, earthquake emergency bond was passed, one in 2010 and 1 in 2014. In the partnership, improvements and expansion in the maintenance we do must meet the quality standards required by the San Francisco Fire Department. Sfpuc, design and construction and maintenance of the Water Systems. Hehechi is recognize for excellence. And project management, expertise and guidance. And they have been working with the Fire Department since the inception of awss. And that continuity is really important. And finally, as harlan pointed out, we use hydraulic modelling. And we use them to guide our Decision Making so we can really see how different neighborhoods will perform in different fire scenarios. So, getting back to the importance of continuity, im able to confirm harlans story, this is a 1991 department of public works recruitment video in which harlan l. Kelly, jr. , stylish then, still stylish now, was literally completing calcs on cisterns. He pressed return and the next screen he went to is a fire cistern. So, this is a fire cistern that he was modelling in 1991. And we still show this recruitment video, by the way, at the p. U. C. To get people over. And so our modelling has come a long way from then. And so here it is in 2010. In 2010, when we took over the system, the first thing our team did was complete a citywide reliability assessment. And what we found was that there was some serious concerns that we needed to address with the system. We determined the citywide reliability score for large fires after an earthquake was 47 . So, what does that mean in less technical terms . It means that after an earthquake where there are multiple large fires breaking out, we had the ability to provide about 47 of the water needed to fight the fires. When we break it down into district, those districts that are darker colored blue on this map have higher reliability, those districts with less or low reliability are lighter color blue. So you can see that even in the areas of the city where there were a large amount of awss pipes, such as in the south market area and the financial district, we still have low reliability scores. We needed to address those low scores. And what we immediately did, we started implementing Capital Projects and saw we needed to firm up the reliability of the Water Supplies that feed into the awss system. Before you expand a system, you have to shore up your existing ones. So, we immediately went into updating the reliability of the Water Supplies so we completed critical water supply upgrades at the three primary source supplies for the awss. Twin peaks, Ashbury Heights tank, and the jones tank. And Summit Reservoir to the awss Twin Peaks Reservoir to increase the speed of refill during fire events. We also replaced the engines for the sea water pump station number one, there are two, and replaced engines, and Remote Control capabilities for the pump station. Installed 30 now cisterns, 15 of those installed in the sunset and Richmond Districts. And completed six pipeline and tunnel projects. On top of the Capital Projects, we have completed hundreds of routine and nonroutine maintenance tasks on cistern, hydrants, pipelines, valves and pump stations. Plumbers on call, guidance, the city now has the resources to complete vital maintenance tasks to keep the system functioning. Once we were assigned maintenance responsibilities in 2010, as harlan pointed out, the same inspection and Leak Detection protocols for the hehechi system. Every day, every year since the 1920s. A simple data point with one of the outcomes of the robust Maintenance Program. Due to the Maintenance Activity since 2010, we have significantly reduced the amounts of water that leaks from the awss system. Reduced the leakage by over 400,000 gallons per day. Not only increase the performance of the system, better able to meet the requirements of Fire Department, but also saves almost 150 million gallons of water per year, Drinking Water per year that is saved. We have made solid progress over the past eight years, our work is certainly not done. We will continue to complete critical maintenance tasks and routine and nonroutine. Additionally, the following are some key Capital Projects currently designed or under construction. We are connecting the 70 million gallons south basin of the University Mound reservoir to the awss. Completed in 2018. Once completed, eight times more in city water available for the awss. By that connection. Additionally, 16 pipeline and tunnel projects under construction. We are continuing to motorize valves, and talked about how we upgraded sea water pump station one, and now upgrades for number two. Additionally in the design phase for a pump station at lake mersad. About a billion capacity. Completions of the projects will continue to increase the reliability of the awss. When we took over the system in 2010, the citywide reliability score was about 47 . After the full completion of the projects that will be funded by the 2010 and 2014 bonds, the citywide reliability will increase to 87 . A jump from 47 to 87 . Thats an almost doubling of the system reliability in about a decades time. Again, the shared goal of our 3 8th sis is to t the three agencies, we will look at the best methodology to doing so. The view to the west side. Again, this committee in march of 2017 requested that we complete a report analyzing options for the west side. We contracted with a. E. Com. Seven options were expansion of awss, and five options are a portable awss. Collaborative between the Fire Department and p. U. C. And the final recommendations from the chief and general manager. G. A. O. Committee also requested independent review by a third party expert, and professor performed the review. So, before i go into the option, i want to make sure we all understand what i mean when i say potable awss. It will be designed to meet the same robust performance standards they have for the existing awss. Utilize the same or better earthquake resistant pipes, seismically reliable valves, hydrants and components used. P. U. C. And Fire Department are going to be completing rigorous reliability analysis of these components in the coming weeks. If we determine that there are better components available for our use, we will inspect those for installation. We want the best technologies available. The main difference between the awss and the potable awss, it will be designed to meet Drinking Water standards. This means during nonfire situations, there will be minimal connections between the citys low pressure Domestic Water system and the potable awss. I say minimal connections because the purpose of the potable awss is not feed along every home in its path. Purpose is to connect the potable awss to the low pressure water system at just enough strategic location to ensure the water in the potable awss has enough movement so it remains drinkable. We expect there to be approximately five connections via seismically reliable motorized valves. The same valves that are used on the east side existing awss. East side, approximately 30 of the valves, we will be adding five approximately. During a fire situation, the five valves closed, isolating the potable awss. The pressure will be increased to the levels required by the Fire Department to fight large fires via redundant High Pressure pumps from an isolated 90 million gallon reservoir. As the low pressure water system will continue to function during a fire, providing homes and businesses with water. Finally,