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San Francisco voters agreed in 2002 to pay for a 4 and a half billion dollar upgrade to the system of pipes and reservoirs that supplies most of the Bay Area’s water every day. Some of the first projects are about to break ground on the Peninsula, where the region’s growing water needs are competing with aging infrastructure. In addressing both issues, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is promoting some unusual solutions in unexpected places. KALW’s Julia Scott takes a tour of two sites that are a big part of the Bay Area’s water future.

Book readings have a slightly stuffy reputation: quiet, restrained, civilized. They aren't generally rowdy events. And rarely, if ever, are they death-defying. But one San Francisco group is working to change that stereotype in venues all around the world. KALW’s Molly Samuel has the story.

Literary Death Match will be at the Elbo Room in San Francisco Friday, August 14, 2009.

Artist and composer Tyson Ayers builds new instruments out of cast-off pieces of old ones. But his instruments aren’t your usual guitars and drums. They’re installation-sized, instruments that many people can play at once. His newest invention is called the Sound Cave. KALW’s Molly Samuel checked it out at Million Fishes Gallery in San Francisco’s Mission District, where Ayers lives and works.

According to mayor Gavin Newsom’s annual homeless count, roughly 6,500 people are living without reliable shelter this year in San Francisco. Homeless advocates say the figure is actually double that. Even though the city offers a wide variety of services and resources, finding a way out of homelessness can be difficult—First, there are waiting rooms, lists, and lines to deal with that can make a person feel more like a number than a human being.