Citizen’s Advisory Committee
Water Subcommittee

MINUTES

January 8, 2007
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
1155 Market Street
4th Floor Conference Room

Members

Jennifer Clary- Chair
David Dawdy
Heather Dempsey
Art Jensen
Richard Hansen
Steve Lawrence

Staff: Christina Kerby

ORDER OF BUSINESS

Roll Call 
Present: Clary, Dawdy, Dempsey, Jensen, Hansen, Lawrence
Absent: none

CAC Member Robert Varni also in attendance as a guest

Other guests included Larry Klein, State of California Seismic Safety Commissioner, and Fred Turner, State of California Seismic Safety Commission staff.

1. Call to order 

Meeting was called to order at 5:05pm by Jennifer Clary.

2. Minutes of October 2, 2006 meeting were approved.

3. Announcements

Chair Clary announced that Robert Jung resigned when his appointing Supervisor changed, and Richard Hansen has replaced him on the Committee.  Supervisor Jew has not appointed a CAC member yet.

Members Lawrence and Hansen recommended that the CAC read “The Great Thirst,” an article by Glen Martin that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on January 7, 2007.  The article examines potential impacts of global warming in California.   There was some discussion that the article does not reference the SFPUC System.

Member Hansen suggested the group read the Paper by Edwin Maurer and Philip Duffy published in Geophysical Research Letters, Jan. 27 2006, and referenced in the above article.  He requested that SFPUC staff provide him that article (done 1/9/07).  

Chair Clary mentioned the upcoming SFPUC Climate Change Summit and asked that the CAC members be invited.

4. Public Comment

None.

5. Presentation/ Discussion and Possible Action

Brian Sadden, Manager of the SFPUC Engineering Design Bureau, gave a presentation to the Committee on the State Seismic Safety Commission Report on the SFPUC Notice of Changes to the Capital Improvement Program. 

Sadden pointed out that Levels of Service (LOS) goals are established by reliability modeling of the entire system.  The WSIP is an ongoing process that is refined as we go.  Current reliability modeling is based on a refinement of the 2002 Capital Improvement Program (CIP).

Each system facility is assigned a seismic fragility.  SFPUC has run a series of scenarios with model earthquakes on the San Andreas, Hayward and Calaveras faults.  We perform over 1000 runs each time we model.  After these models, we concluded that 70% of turnouts will meet minimum winter demand of 215 million gallons per day (mgd) in 2030. 

A 7.8 earthquake was determined to be the probable earthquake and was used for modeling.  Magnitude is based on the depth of the quake.

Member Jensen asked which turnouts are most reliable and whether some turnouts are guaranteed not to fail?

Sadden replied that intuitively, new turnouts such as those constructed on BDPL 5 will be most reliable.  Those are BDPL 3&4 are least reliable based on their proximity to the Hayward Fault and the construction materials used.  We can’t say whether our regional water delivery system is more seismically reliable than the local delivery system at this point.  The project goal is to make facilities, including Harry Tracy, capable of withstanding seismic damage.

We’ve looked at accelerating arterial projects, which would move us more quickly toward LOS goals; however, all small projects must be completed for the larger ones to function reliably.

Member Hansen requested that the SFPUC Notice of Changes to the Capital Improvement Program be made available to Committee members.

Larry Klein pointed out that risk to the public increases 1-2% with each year of delay.  Brian Sadden said that his “priority projects” are: Alameda Siphons, Irvington Tunnel, Bay Division Pipeline (BDPL) 5, Crystal Springs/San Andreas Transmission Upgrade, and Harry Tracy.

The focus of the report is to address the seismic requirements of AB 1823.  Rehabilitation projects are included in seismic criteria.  We are cooperating with other utilities, including LA Water and Power, on regional seismic research. 

The Committee agreed to bring the following recommendations to the full CAC:

1) That the CAC urge the General Manager, Commission, and Board of Supervisors to expedite the activities of other departments on whom the PUC depends for services and support for the WSIP because any unnecessary delay poses an increased risk to public health and the safety of 2.4 million customers of the SFPUC water system.

2) That the CAC urge the General Manger and Commission to implement recommendations in the CA Seismic Safety Commission and DoHS reports that apply to them and advise the State of their progress towards implementation in their annual report.

6. WSIP Review

The Committee selected priority WSIP projects to follow.  These projects include: Alameda Siphons, Irvington Tunnel, Bay Division Pipeline (BDPL) 5, Crystal Springs/San Andreas Transmission Upgrade, Harry Tracy, and Crystal Springs Pipeline 2.  Additional projects include: the PEIR, Water Supply Options, Watershed Environmental Improvements, San Joaquin Pipeline improvements and ongoing maintenance/R&R work.

7. Future Meetings

The next meeting will be held on February 12, 2007.  Chair Clary requested a presentation on the budget that looks at maintenance and R&R projects, with a focus on projects moving from the WSIP to R&R.

8. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 7:16pm.