Y2K study: Water supplies are vulnerable

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http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/ncsthu09.htm

12/10/99

Y2K study: Water supplies are vulnerable By M.J. Zuckerman, USA TODAY Drinking water and sewage facilities are threatened by the looming Y2K computer glitch, according to a study by two watchdog agencies that blames government and industry with lax oversight.

"There are serious doubts that the 55,000 drinking water utilities and the 16,000 publicly owned wastewater facilities in the United States will be prepared for Y2K," the report by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Center for Y2K & Society says.

The report is drawn from surveys conducted by groups such as the American Water Works Association, which found that no more than 40% of those responding had completed the first stage of Y2K upgrades by June. Further, the report notes, fewer than 15% of wastewater treatment facilities are prepared.

Although the study sparked debate among government and industry representatives, all agreed that every household should stockpile water - a gallon of water per day per person to last a minimum of four days - through the first few months of 2000.

"Clearly, many water systems are going to operate without problems," said Norman Dean, executive director of the Center for Y2K & Society. "However, our report indicates that some are likely to suffer Y2K-related problems."

With only three weeks remaining, water joins a short list of likely Y2K trouble spots, including 911 systems, schools, scattered power facilities and some medical and social service systems.

The report notes that low water pressure could interfere with firefighting, and Y2K interruptions could cut stockpiles of water treatment chemicals.

"We are very concerned about wastewater preparedness," said Don Meyer, spokesman for the Senate Y2K Committee. "However, we disagree that drinking water is in crisis."

Jon DeBoers of the American Water Works Association conceded that survey results were not entirely encouraging but said, "The vast majority of the water systems have tested most of their critical components and are confident that they are Y2K-ready."

He acknowledged that any prolonged power failure would create great difficulties for water and sewage stations.

The report blames the Environmental Protection Agency and President Clinton's Y2K Council for not responding aggressively after the surveys came out.

"My ultimate sense is that most of the large utilities are going to be prepared," said Chuck Fox, EPA deputy administrator for water. "If there's going to be (trouble), it would be with the smaller utilities."

-- Powder (Powder@keg.com), December 10, 1999

Answers

Low pressure == variable pressure == variable amounts of chlorination and worse, fluridation == toxic water.

Keeping a rolling 4 day stockpile isn't going to do you any good if it's full of dangerous concentrations of industrial byproducts.

Also, this is the first time I've seen this "through the first few months of 2000" publically announced. Surely that nice Mr Koskinen would have told us about this?

My hands are shaking, and I can't tell if it's fear or anger.

-- Servant (public_service@yahoo.com), December 10, 1999.


>most large utilities prepared....EPA

Most???? So if New York City dosen't have clean water it's OK with EPA??

Hellooooooo.....

-- cgbg jr (cgbgjr@webtv.net), December 10, 1999.


Not drawing any conclusions about the validity of this report, but just as a caveat, the Natural Resources Defense Council is a bit on the enviro-looney side. I believe they were behind the infamous Alar scare with apples in the late '80s. Don't know the credentials of the other group.

-- Thinman (thinman38@hotmail.com), December 10, 1999.

http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=1999/12/10/70604

Link

Drinking Water, Sewage Not Ready for Y2K

NewsMax.com December 10, 1999

Turning on a water faucet, flushing a toilet - Americans do it almost without thinking. They'd better start thinking, a new Y2K study suggests.

"There are serious doubts that the 55,000 drinking-water utilities and the 16,000 publicly owned wastewater facilities in the United States will be prepared for Y2K," according to a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Center for Y2K & Society.

Based on surveys by the American Water Works Association and similar groups, the report notes that at least 60 percent of the drinking-water facilities responding had failed to finish even the preliminary stage of Y2K upgrades by June.

And it found more than 85 percent of wastewater treatment facilities are unprepared to cope with computer glitches caused by uncorrected computers' inability to tell the year 1900 from 2000 on Jan. 1.

"Clearly, many water systems are going to operate without problems," said Norman Dean, executive director of the Center for Y2K & Society.

"However, our report indicates that some are likely to suffer Y2K-related problems."

A computer-crippled water-treatment facility would do more than endanger supples of drinking water for humans.

It could also cripple firefighting, flow of sewerage and treatment of raw sewage, due to low water pressure and reduced stocks of chemicals used in treatment of water.

"We are very concerned about wastewater preparedness," said Don Meyer, spokesman for the Senate Y2K Committee. "However, we disagree that drinking water is in crisis."

Jon DeBoers of the American Water Works Association said, "The vast majority of the water systems have tested most of their critical components and are confident that they are Y2K-ready."

But he agreed extended electric-power brown- or black-outs could disrupt water and sewer plants.

Chuck Fox, Environmental Protection Agency deputy administrator for water, said trouble would most likely occur in smaller utilities."

The report blames the EPA and President Clinton's Y2K Council for not responding aggressively after the surveys appeared.

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), December 10, 1999.


We don't need no stinkin' water. Our stock market is smokin'.

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), December 10, 1999.


Read the report for yourself: it's at http://www.y2kcenter.org/resources/centerpubs/

It explains how the industry's June report was MISINTERPRETED by the Senate Committee and the President's council, leading to an overly- rosy view of the drinking water industry's readiness.

A follow-up survey by AMWA (Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies) in September was of little use because it consisted of only two questions and failed to ask utilities if they had completed the final, most critical, and often longest phases: TESTING & IMPLEMENTATION. Of course, none of the surveys asked about IV&V.

NRWA's (National Rural Water Assn) survey hasn't even been released yet!

-- d (d@d.com), December 10, 1999.


While this report is certainly a bit disturbing, you might want to dig a little deeper, and think about the agenda of the authoring organizations. At this stage of the game (21 days to go) I'm viewing Y2K like the end of a dirty political race - examine everything you read with intense scrutiny, and think about motivation. Don't believe anything from either side just because it supports your own views. The race is only going to get nastier in the next few weeks.

NRDC is a very "green", environmental lobbying group .

The Center for Y2k and Society has a very convoluted parental lineage. It is sponsored and funded by the Tides Center, which supports, among other endeavors, the Institute for Global Communications.

You can do the research yourself and find out what causes these organizations support (Tides Center and IGC is particularly interesting). And, while none of this is inherently bad, you should treat anything you read from an advocay group with the same level of healthy skepticism that you would "good news" from Kosky's spin mill or industry trade groups like NERC or AWWA.

In other words, do some critical thinking.

Look for the agenda, which is almost always going to be larger than the individual issue itself (Y2K in this case). This applies to ANY group with it's origins in the Washington, DC beltway, whether it's the NRA or Greenpeace. My guess is that there's very few NRA members who would even think for a moment about supporting anything the Tides Center or NRDC was involved in.

-- Nom (nom@de.plume), December 10, 1999.


Anyone who wants to know more about the Tides Center can go to www.tides.org . We are a Tides project because they provide support services (like accounting) to startup "nonprofit" projects. Because the Center for Y2K and Society was created very recently, in December of 1998, and we plan to close our doors soon, circa March 31, 2000, it didn't make sense for us to spend a lot of time incorporating and applying for 501(c)(3) status. The purpose of the Tides Center is to support groups in situations like ours.

You can read about the Center for Y2K and Society, its mission, advisory board, affiliates, etc. at www.y2kcenter.org/abo ut/ .

-- Philip Bogdonoff (pbogdonoff@y2kcenter.org), December 10, 1999.


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