San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Citizens' Advisory Committee
Water Subcommittee

AGENDA

March 28, 2007
1155 Market Street, San Francisco
4th Floor Conference Room
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Members

Jennifer Clary - Chair	Richard Hansen
David Dawdy	Art Jensen
Heather Dempsey	Robert Varni

Staff: Amy Sinclair

Roll Call
Present: Clary, Dawdy, Dempsey, Jensen, Hansen, Varni.

Other guests included Stan Kaufman, Paula Kehoe, Suzanne Gautier, David Pilpel, Millicent Bogert, David Behar, Danielle Dowers and Melissa Capria.

1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 5:05pm by Jennifer Clary.
   
2. Minutes of February 11, 2007 meeting were approved with the following notes:

   Richard Hansen stated the disaster plan needs additional review. He feels Greg Suhr should provide the pocket disaster plan from 1998. He feels a more current disaster plan is necessary, showing a more updated plan. Jennifer Clary responded that the committee will bring it up again later this summer, once the new plan is complete.
   

3. Announcements
   David Behar distributed a draft matrix for 2007 CAC Water Subcommittee meetings. David stated a few date and topic changes need to be made. David, Jennifer and Suzanne will make updates and distribute new schedule soon. He asked that committee members send suggestions to him or Jennifer.
   
4. Public Comment
   None.
   
5. Discussion and possible action on resolution relative to support of Recycled Water Project at Sharp Park.

   Paula Kehoe gave a brief background on the proposal by North Coast County Water District (NCCWD) and the SFPUC to build a recycled water tank at Sharp Park. Since the last CAC Water Subcommittee meeting, NCCWD rescinded the plan. As a result, the proposed tank location at Sharp Park is not under consideration at this time.

   The City of Pacifica is in talks with NCCWD about building the tank near the Calera Creek Treatment Plant property. A meeting between the City of Pacifica and NCCWD will take place on April 3rd. Paula also stated a public meeting will likely take place at the end of April.

   Richard Hansen stated he feels uninformed about this project and would like more information. Robert Varni stated he would like more information about the financial considerations for this project and what the SFPUC is responsible for. Heather Dempsey stated she feels the operations and maintenance costs will be high however it is important to look at the value in diversifying water sources and not taking water out of the Tuolumne River to irrigate Sharp Park Golf Course. David Behar suggested to look at recycled water from a climate change perspective too.

   During public comment, Stan Kaufman, a member and chair of many environmental organizations in San Francisco, shared three key comments. First, without Sharp Park Golf Course, which is in need of millions of dollars in delayed maintenance and renovations, there is no need for the tank. He stated many groups are encouraging San Francisco Rec & Park to put the Sharp Park Golf Course property to better use, other than as a golf course. Therefore, the golf course may not even exist in the future.

   Second, Stan stated the Sharp Park location contains federally listed endangered species – the red legged frog, the San Francisco garter snake and other species. The tank, pump station and pipeline would disturb the canyon’s natural setting and further endanger these species.

   Finally, Stan stated he feels watering golf courses in drought conditions doesn’t make sense. He is strongly in favor of using recycled water, but not for golf courses. The SFPUC needs to make sure the project and the recycled water do not cause harm to the species and the area.

   Richard Hansen stated he has been involved with making decisions on golf courses in the past and suggested the City get away from traditional fairways and instead go to buffalo grass, a drought resistant grass.

   Robert Varni felt he and the committee need more details on the costs before drafting a resolution or making a decision. Jennifer Clary suggested the committee, especially with recent turnover, might benefit from a review of recycled water at future meeting.

   Richard Hansen asked to go on record that he supports the concept of recycled water but doesn’t react to what he considers knee-jerk projects that don’t have numbers available.

   Resolution
   Whereas, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) Citizens’ Advisory Committee supports the proposed development of recycled water supplies in the SFPUC service area as a way to reduce water diversions from the Tuolumne River, increase water supply reliability, and diversify the agency’s water supply portfolio;

   Whereas, the SFPUC, the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, and the North Coast County Water District (NCCWD) are partners in the proposed development of a recycled water supply for Sharp Park in Pacifica and other nearby uses;

   Therefore be it resolved, the SFPUC Citizens’ Advisory Committee supports the further investigation into the feasibility and impacts of this project including costs, benefits and potential alternative uses for the water supply.

   Jennifer Clary moved to approve the resolution as amended. Art Jensen seconded.

   The committee voted: Clary (yes), Dawdy (yes), Dempsey (yes), Jensen (yes), Hansen (no), Varni (no). The motion carried by a margin of 4 votes in favor and 2 opposed.

   Suzanne Gautier distributed a recycled water handout. She would like feedback from the committee by close of business on April 6th. Please contact her at 554-3204.
   

6. Presentations
   Presentation: Climate Change

   David Behar introduced Danielle Dower of the SFPUC Power Enterprise and Melissa Capria from San Francisco Environment.

   David summarized the success of the first Climate Change Summit, convened by SFPUC with help from San Francisco Environment, held on January 31st & February 1st in San Francisco. An American Water Works Association (AWWA) staffer recently told David this was the first climate change summit organized by a water utility in the United States. Overall feedback was excellent and many key utility managers, environmental policy agencies, research groups, media, scientists and consulting firms attended.

   He provided three main highlights from the summit. First he feels there has been a sea change on climate change. It was one of the first conferences where the facts of climate change were not an issue; instead it was a detailed discussion of what we will do about it.

   Second, summit attendees agreed there is no ‘silver bullet’ for addressing climate change. In fact, panelists agreed we need a combination of things such as increased system reliability, water diversity, increased surface storage, integrated planning, etc. Land use, water use, development issues are all intertwined.

   A steering committee of water utility leaders is being created to take discussions and key issues from the summit and synthesize them into a set of action items to follow. For instance – the committee may write a letter to the White House stating why climate change is important. Anther item might be building relationships with institutions doing research and help with grants, etc. The committee will eventually go on to a larger group nationwide. May partner with AWWA, etc.

   Danielle Dower works in the SFPUC’s Energy Efficiency Services Group. She referenced a Climate Action Plan published by the SFPUC in 2004 with goal of a target set by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to reach 20% below 1990 levels of greenhouse gases by 2012. She summarized the efforts of the SFPUC and the City in the past few years to reduce these numbers and promote energy efficiency. Results have been successful – a reduction of 10,000 tons of CO2 a year. Planned projects will reduce another 20,000 tons of CO2 a year.

   Melissa Capria of San Francisco Environment briefly discussed how Environment is taking the energy efficiency message to out to a broader public audience through various public outreach campaigns.

   Public Comment
   David Pilpel stated he attended the Climate Change Summit and found it to be well organized and very useful.
   
   Presentation: Performance Indicators
   This presentation has been rescheduled to a future meeting.
   

7. Adjournment
   The meeting was adjourned at 6:55pm.