But you have to get beyond what youre used to. As long as people recognize theyre moving to the desert and give up this notion that they have to bring eastern vegetation with them and make the necessary adaptations in their own life, desert communities can continue to live. Man the biggest water user in the desert is turf. Turf uses a lot of irrigation and uses spray irrigation, so what weve done here is use artificial turf. Youre never going to be able to achieve the look of back east or the look of, say, california, with subtropical plants, but our landscapes are still lush and use about 30 of what the subtropical landscape with turf would use. Las vegas has adopted a drought tolerant ordinance. Were using less water today than we used five years ago, despite over 300,000 new residents. I think its a Pretty Amazing example as to how a town can really turn on a dime if theres the political will and if the public gets behind it. Narrator even the casinos and resorts have adapted to efficient water use. Mulroy the Las Vegas Strip uses only 3 of all the water that we deliver. And when you think about it, its the largest economic driver in the state, the largest employer, bar none. They knew they had to go the extra mile. And theyve embraced conservation. And its almost beyond belief that theyre right now in the process of building another 15,000 rooms. Southern nevada recycles 100 of its wastewater. So for every gallon we put back in the colorado, we can take an additional gallon out, or we send it to reuse facilities. And we deliver it to golf courses and parks and other outside applications. Man waters about a third of our budget. Thats a lot of money. The lake right over here, 24 hours ago that was in somebodys house. Its been through a treatment plant. And now its in our lake and were watering with it. Narrator these reuse and conservation techniques enable las vegas to exist in the desert. Another important form of conservation is preventing leaks. Man every drop counts. All Water Systems have what they call an efficiency rating. So if you were to measure the water that goes into your system and compare it to the water that goes out, how much is unaccounted for . Most states have a goal of 10 . Ours is at only 5. 5 right now. And we have plans to lower that to 4 . Man we actually have our entire Distribution System mapped out in a computerized or electronic format. And we can locate our pipes, we can locate our valves, we can locate water meters that are out there. Weve got small units installed in the Distribution System. And they actually listen for leaks. We can schedule the repair, minimize its impacts to the surrounding community, and it minimizes cost, because obviously, if youve got a leak thats been leaking for sometime, youre going to see a lot of undermining of the roadways, potential property damage. Fisher all the sensors in the field come into this location. These two operators behind me operate the entire water system, 24 7. So we can see all of our reservoirs, their elevations, whether theyre going up or down, how much water were getting from our two Treatment Plants. We try to move it very quickly through the system and serve it to our customers in the most economic and efficient manner. Narrator las vegas serves as an example for cities across the country, whether they have a limited supply or not. And many utilities can identify with the struggles that come with maintaining underground assets to support a growing population. One of the most common issues that municipalities share is water loss. Melosi because its not a catastrophic issue, we dont think much about it. But there is a 10 , 20 , 30 water loss or leakage in some systems. Allbee already treated water that youve invested money in, youre losing before you actually delivered it. Narrator so many utilities are employing the Business Strategy of Asset Management. Its a paradigm shift in the approach of attaining a Sustainable Water infrastructure. Man its not construction of new pipelines. We are talking about maintaining, sustaining the infrastructure we have. Youve got to know what you have, where it is, what condition its in, and how long you can expect it to last. Melosi we have very little choice because weve invested in a system that cannot be readily changed. We dont leave a lot of flexibility to dig that all up and replace it with something else. Sinha so we have to also teach our students, the workforce, that there is a new science repair, renewal, and rehabilitation. Thats different from building something new. You cannot fix each and every crack in the city. Its like each city, youre talking about 3,000, 5,000 miles of pipe. So you have to prioritize where they can go and fix the system. Narrator each city faces unique situations, so they must determine the Asset Management approach that best addresses these challenges. Inspections can be done with various technologies, often by a robot. Or personally by a technician on a bicycle. Sensors detect breaks, cracks, and weaknesses in the pipe. Man we have roots at this cap lateral at 79. Narrator tree roots can grow into the pipe, splitting it apart. Man more light roots at 69. Narrator sometimes they may even find fully collapsed sections. After gathering the data, utilities can assess the need for rehabilitation. Sinha you have to choose the rehabilitation technique so that the life of the pipe can be extended 30 years, 40 years, 50 years. Allbee any asset has an optimal investment strategy. If youre making investments in that asset too early, or too late, youre wasting money. It costs about three times as much to fix a system once its failed. So its all about finding that right point where the dollars should flow toward that asset. Narrator but finding the funds to evaluate and rebuild these assets is an ongoing struggle. Johnson there is a gap between whats being spent by municipalities and water supply systems and what needs to be spent. And somehow that has to be made up. So theres a good bit of lobbying through congress to get funding. Oberstar we need to restore the construction grant program. We need to invest substantially more, on the federal government side, as an inducement to states and local governments to make the investments they need to make. Man but the federal role is going to continue to be diminished because of so many competing demands. So the expectation that the federal government will step in and infuse a lot of capital into water infrastructure, i think, is doubtful. And whether they should or not, i think, will continue to be debated. Narrator where money continues to be elusive, some cities and towns are turning their assets over to private companies, hoping the private sector can find the solutions they cannot. Man in the u. S. , roughly 90 of all water and wasteWater Systems are still publicly owned and publicly managed. The remaining 10 are managed by privately held companies. Man the private sector has learned to become very efficient, and frequently a municipality can save themselves a significant amount of money by bringing in a private company. This is not true in all cases. There are some exceptionally wellrun municipalities, but they do have to deal with a City Government system that is very hard to work within. Paolicelli theres several advantages to municipalities. They dont have to make a profit, so theyre generally just trying to be breakeven. And because of the importance of water, a lot of communities would be reluctant to give up control, but it is being looked at, especially on some of these troubled systems. Cook much of the business is in the midsized to smaller communities who have even fewer resources than the large cities, less expertise. If you take options off the table, it will be, well, what weve done for the last 40 years, and right now we have some real challenges. So any good manager is going to want to have a maximum number of options. Allbee youve got to have a serious conversation with your constituency about what it costs to deliver the service that youre required to deliver and to deliver the service that they want. Paolicelli and i think, ultimately, the responsibility is going to be down to the user of this commodity. It costs money to operate these systems. Theres a need to continually invest in these systems. Theres going to be new regulations. Its all going to cost money. Allbee for all practical purposes, people are going to have to pay about twice as much for these services as they currently do. Because a lot of the pipe that went in, a lot of the plants that went in, went in with very sizable portions of federal grant money, mechanisms that are no longer in place. Narrator without grants, utilities often turn to the bond market to pay for Large Capital improvements. And although the loan is often spread of a 20 to 30year period, user rates will increase to pay down the debt. Woman until a community accepts the willingness to pay for what they use, they wont have that money that they need to replace this failing infrastructure and improve their Treatment Plants so they can meet regulations and population growth. Elected officials have to have enormous courage to be able to raise rates, to go out for bond levies, to deal with a situation that most people dont even see. It flushed yesterday, it flushed 10 years ago, whats the problem . Narrator atlanta is a rapidly growing urban area. Its primary source of Drinking Water is the chattahoochee river, which also provides water to many downstream communities. But its infrastructure is dangerously old, without outdated facilities and combined sewer overflows polluting the watershed. The city faces strict Consent Decrees and lawsuits, along with a severe lack of funding. Man when i started working for the city of atlanta in the late 70s, we were approaching that point in time where a lot was going to be needed, in terms of rehabilitation and upkeep. Most of the very large pipes were at least 80 years old. We had needs that were identified in the 50s and in the 60s and in the 70s that were deferred. Woman we are urging that we all try to find a way to overcome the obstacles and limitations that might exist. Woman when i was running for office, i met someone who knew mayor hartsfield, who, in the late 1960s, said, i dont know who the next mayor will be, but i know theyll have to fix the water and sewer infrastructure. Woman the city had chronic sewage overflows into the chattahoochee and its tributaries. Fecal coliform bacteria levels were in the millions of colonies per hundred milliliter, which was a significant Public Health threat. And this had been occurring for decades. But neither the federal epa nor the epd back in the 90s were willing to take action under the clean water act to make the city fix its plumbing. So in 1994, we started upper chattahoochee river keeper. We filed a clean water act lawsuit. In 1997, we won. And so for the past decade, the city has embarked on a program to clean up the river. Now, with 1,800 miles of sewer system, three sewage plants and combined sewer overflows, it took a number of years to figure out what would be the solution. We are facing a crisis in infrastructure. Bethea a huge change came about when mayor Shirley Franklin became the mayor of atlanta. Were having to choose how to spend our money. I named myself the sewer mayor, and i wear that title very proudly, because, without Wastewater Infrastructure and Drinking Water infrastructure, the economy will stop. We did a major outreach. We trained an outreach team, who went to every community meeting, to educate people on how bad the crisis was. Not only did i tell people that wed have to raise rates, i told them wed have to tear up the city to repair this infrastructure. Man you cant simply say, i wont use any water, its too expensive. We have about 25 of our population thats at or below the poverty line, so you have to look at rate structures that are tiered so the people can pay their bills. Franklin we would love to have Something Like 75 federal money. We do get some federal aid and we are thankful, but on the other hand, were paying for this primarily with new rates. We have increased our rates to among the highest in america. But not nearly as much as if we hadnt passed a onecent sales tax dedicated to water and sewer infrastructure. Hunter that sales tax counts for about a third of the revenue of the department right now. Franklin we got 75 of the voters to agree to tax themselves so that their children and their childrens children could have clean water because were investing in it now. Hunter there were no alternatives. The infrastructure was in dire straits. A lot of people didnt want to believe it had to be done, but it had to be done. What came out of those lawsuits by the upper chattahoochee river keeper were two Consent Decrees, focused on overflows. The intent is, city of atlanta, you need to keep the flows in the pipe. Narrator with the help of the funding the city raised, atlanta has been implementing an Asset Management plan that evaluates and addresses their infrastructure issues. Hunter its a continuum. At one end, you have your regular maintenance that you do every day on the system, and at the other end, longterm planning so that every year were repairing, replacing the right things, and we dont have to do it all at once, which is, quite frankly, what were having to do in atlanta now. Griffin we have thousands of assets that we have to keep track of. We have to always know their condition and continuously plan for their refurbishment at the right time. One of the things were required to do under the Consent Decree is inspect our system. Were trying to find where theres leaks. So we blow smoke into the sewer pipe. Man were locating places where water from the surface to the ground is running into the sewer pipe and overloading the system. Hunter we have 1,600 miles of sewer. We are evaluating every linear foot of that system. Is the pipe leaking; are you having a lot of infiltration or inflow . Thornell every time it rains, water will come down, go into the pipe, enter the sewer system. Its very easy to repair this defect and get all that water out of the system. Griffin with our closedcircuit tv inspection, we record cracks, holes, pipes that are partially collapsed. Hunter we literally will have a digital video of every foot of our sewer that in the future, we can go back and do a comparison. Whats changed . Is it degrading . What do we need to do . At what rate is this happening . Griffin to really improve these systems, you need to deploy the latest technology. Woman the pipe bursting process is designed to replace an old pipe without digging an entire trench. The old pipe has cracks and displaced joints and openings in it. We try to stop, not only infiltration, but exfiltration, where sewage would actually leak out of the pipe. The head is larger, so it breaks away the old pipe and allows the new pipe to come in behind it. Griffin we are saving about 67 of the cost of actually digging old pipe up. Clyne its less invasive than an opencut process, where you would open the whole trench up and replace the pipe. Its called trenchless technology, so. Thats as good as it gets. Griffin we dont have to dig up everyones yard, and we refurbish that pipe at a muchreduced cost. Another technique, the curedinplace lining. Its equivalent to putting a large sock through the existing sewer. We form a new pipe inside the old pipe, and therefore we seal up all of the defects that allow rainwater to come in. Hunter we repair about 730 leaks a month in our system. Griffin the improvements that weve made will make the environment better. We had approximately 1,000 overflows occur in 1999. Today, weve reduced overflows by 45 to 50 . And its going to continue to improve as we go forward with the Rehabilitation Program thats required under the Consent Decree. Narrator an important piece of the program is the construction of an 8milelong storage tank that will significantly decrease combined sewer overflows. Man right now, were at the bottom of the rockdale construction shaft. Were 310 feet below grade, deep under atlanta in hard rock. In the downtown area of atlanta, the sewer system and the stormwater system are combined and there are overflows during storm events, and so the purpose of this system is to relieve that flow, take it into the tunnel, transport it to a brandnew treatment plant, clean up the chattahoochee river. Narrator instead of the combined sewage overflowing into the river, it will flow into this tunnel that acts as a storage tank. The water will then slowly empty into the new plant for treatment before its released back into the river. Man the system in total is about 8 1 2 miles, 27 feet in diameter. Most of the time it will be dry. The only time it will fill is when the sewer system is overwhelmed by the storm. It is a massive project. Our budget was 210 million. Weve worked about a million and a half manhours. Hunter it is an incredible amount of work. Our Capital Program right now is 3. 9 billion. Over a period of less than 10 years. Franklin so its very expensive. The bottom line is, we, as atlantans, as georgians, dont have a choice to protect the river. We need to leave it better than we found it, and its really been a political advantage for me, not a disadvantage. People laugh about me being the sewer mayor, but they remember what im doing. Griffin we want people to understand, when they see one of our work crews out working on the mains, that that work is necessary in order for them to have good clean Drinking Water or to have a good, functioning wastewater system. Franklin you dont put a roof on the house one time. You dont fix the plumbing one time, any more than i get my hair done one time. If we dont continue to invest for the next 20 years, well find ourselves back at the same point that we were in the late 90s. If we dont protect water, we will be without water. We will be without industry, we will be without jobs, we will be without a healthy economy, and our people will be sick. So we dont really have a choice. Were going to find out why thats important. Its a question of, whos going to pay, how much youre going to be willing to pay in order to ensure that your children live the kind of life that we as americans have promised them. Woman and what were going to do is get a marble to travel through your pipe. Child keep still keep still woman aw, theres a clog in the drain. Oh, there it is. [ laughing ] narrator in the 19th century, foresighted leadership and innovative engineering established Drinking Water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure that supported the growth of the nation. Through much of the 20th century, we continued to invest, to ensure our Public Health, safety, and economy. But now, in the 21st century, we face the need to revisit our commitment to the buried assets and infrastructure that for so long have provided for our way of life. Johnson infrastructure across this country needs to be addressed and it needs to be addressed now. Hunter what we need is responsible stewardship. We just cant turn a blind eye and say that theyre going to continue to work for another 50 or 100 years. Franklin we cant be embarrassed to tell our congresspeople that we want something different. Kelly its going to take state officials, its going to take federal assistance, its going to take all of us to get this United States back where it belongs. Were not there yet, but we can be there. Grumbles water is americas greatest liquid asset. And citizens and governments all need to be reminded of that from time to time. Woman what can individuals do to make a difference . Allbee we need to accept the responsibility that future generations need to be able to rely on those assets to have the same quality of life that we have. Oberstar all the water there ever was or ever will be is here on earth today and its our responsibility now, at this time, in this generation, to protect it. That must be our legacy to the future. This is smack in the middle of the tenderloin neighborhood where there are 50,000 people within walking distance. You see the kids that are using whats provided, but there is so much opportunity for this to be a stronger, more welcoming, healthier, cleaner, safer place for the people in this community to play. There are going to be new green areas, a fullsize basketball court, Outdoor Fitness equipment, community gardens, a brandnew clubhouse. Its going to be a much more welcoming spot for a neighborhood that really needs it. San francisco recreation and Parks Department offers classes for the whole family. Rec and parks has a class for everyone. Discover what is available now and get ready to get out and play. Henri matisse. Frida kahlo. Andy warhol. Discover the next great artist. Get out and play and get inspired with toddler classes. Experience art where making a mess is part of the process. Classes and the size the artistic process rather than the product. Children have the freedom to explore materials at their own pace and in their own way. Talks love art, especially when they died into the Creative Process dive into the Creative Process. At the end of the classes, they have cleaned and washup. Of. Com great way to get out and play. For more information, visit sfrecpark. Org. That out and play and get into the groove. Rec and parks offers dance classes for seniors. Firsttime beginners or lifetime enthusiasts all are welcome. Enjoy all types of music. Latins also, country and western. It is a great way to exercise while having lots of fun. Seniors learn basic moves and practice a variety of routines. Improve your posture, balance, and flexibility. It is easy. Get up on your feet and step to the beat. Senior dance class is from sf rec and park. A great way to get out and play. For more information, and its a tradition every year that our mayor speaks as this Fire Department and shares his vision of San Francisco and looking at some of the priorities so weve dmltd mayor lee to have you been us. Im not going to go through his bio i want to thank him for working so trierls less and is growing those