Planning Helped Prevent Y2K Problems

Despite fears of major calamity, the New Year rolled over with no reported glitches for the water/wastewater industry. Some water utilities began early Y2K preparations as long as five years ago. After conducting tests and carefully planning for almost every contingency imaginable, many providers watched consumers stockpiling huge amounts of bottled water and other disaster supplies.

Reactions range from relief that money spent effectively prevented disaster, to concern that the problem is not over, to skepticism that the bug was possibly the greatest hoax of the millennium.

Worldwide spending on Y2K preparations reportedly reached $600 billion. The United States may have spent as much as $100 billion to upgrade computers to read the 2000 date. There is no way of knowing the exact price tag, but one consulting company reported earning $60 million on Y2K jobs since 1995. These estimates do not include the emergency items from generators to flashlights and batteries purchased by consumers responding to anxiety.

One reason for all the concern may have been the proliferation of misinformation. Some credit two non-profit organizations, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Center for Y2K and Society with unnecessarily creating a sense of panic about the availability of water supplies and possible sewer problems. The Washington, D.C.-based Center was established by the Tides Center to reduce the possible societal impacts of the Y2K problem. The NRDC was founded in 1970 for the purpose of protecting the public health and the environment.

The groups released a report in December that appeared to quote the American Water Works Association, the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies and the National Association of Water Companies as saying that only 20 to 45 percent of drinking water systems were Y2K compliant as of June 1999. The report claimed the ?prospects for wastewater treatment are even worse,? saying that only 4 percent were ready.

The same AWWA, AMWA, and NAWC July preliminary report cited by these groups instead states that ?of all systems about 92 percent have been shown to be 100 percent Y2K compliant. This state of readiness is admirable, and demonstrates that communities across North America can rest assured that their water system will deliver safe and sufficient water on Jan. 1, 2000.?

David Gilmartin, Communications Manager at the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (Authority), said ?The Y2K preparations were a good exercise and I am glad we did it. These permanent improvements will make us safer. Next time we have any kind of a major challenge, we will be ready.?

Between the Boston Water & Sewer Commission and the MWRA, about $7-10 million was spent on upgrades spurred by the issue. Ron Sitcawich, Director of MIS with Boston Water & Sewer reported that about $3 million went to purchase software and replace the non-Y2K-compliant legacy computer system ? work that eventually would have been done anyway. The MWRA invested in permanent upgrades such as backup generators, redundant systems, turbine generators and fault tolerant relay systems to ensure that the 61 Massachusetts communities it serves will receive water in every contingency.

Sitcawich reported, ?Not a single problem. The billing system did get some modifications. We have already billed in the New Year with no problems. The good news about Boston is more than 80 percent of the area is gravity flow, so there was assurance of water delivery.?

Gilmartin said, ?Our water system has some components installed in the 1840s that still work great. In the meantime, I guess people have forgotten there were no computers back then. The system can be operated by hand.?

Reza Kazemian, Director of Operations, Wastewater Management, Denver, Colo., reported spending in excess of one-quarter million dollars just for collection system operations. Apparently the money was well spent since Kazemian reported, ?No problems whatsoever.? Kazemian said he has spent a great deal of time convincing people that Y2K would not suspend Newton?s Law of Gravity and that Denver?s gravity-driven system would not experience problems.

Trina McGuire, media relations manager for Denver Water, reported that less than $1 million was spent on systems review, upgrades and staffing in preparation. Almost a week after the New Year, McGuire reported no glitches.

?You?d certainly like to think that the reason so little happened was because companies took it seriously and were prepared. That was the case for us. We?ll be taking steps to prepare for February 29th in much the same way, but we don?t anticipate any problems,? said McGuire.

Richard A. Rice, the new commissioner at Chicago Department of Water (CDW) began his job on Dec. 20. ?Though apprehensive because I was so new, I was ultimately relieved and impressed by the competence and assuredness of our department,? he said.

Chicago had 32 standby generators located at both purification plants, outlying pumping stations and other key facilities.

?Both plants were off of the main electric power grid for the actual rollover, just in case. I?m delighted to say that nothing happened,? said Rice, who put CDW?s total cost at $5 million.

Ruth Maus, city of Topeka Public Information Officer, said Topeka water and sewer utilities spent about $250,000 on preparations and there were no problems.

?The media never caught up with the fact that the problems were solved. Many people continued to treat the New Year as an imminent disaster,? Maus said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can be credited with suspending penalties for any discharge violations that might occur during Y2K contingency testing. This encouraged water utilities to conduct tests to discover unexpected complications of the computer date change.

?The Administration had the foresight to encourage federal agencies to work in a cooperative, voluntary spirit across the country,? said Al Pesachowitz, an EPA Y2K official.

?Many facilities participated in the U.S. EPA?s ?Testing the Waters for Y2K? program. The Water Environment Federation was confident that facilities were diligently preparing for Y2K,? said Albert C. Gray, deputy executive director of technical programs for the Water Environment Federation.

In June, The Department of Public Works for the city of Los Angeles conducted a test, and a gate moved to the default closed position. Before operators could manually close the gate, 1.2-million gallons of sewage backed up.

The Department developed a more rigorous testing protocol. ?All systems ran as smoothly as any other weekend,? said Linda Aparicio, the department?s principal public relations representative.

Stefano Torricella, Systems Consultant in Italy, reported zero spending on preparations. Even so, nothing out of the ordinary happened, Torricella reported.

This makes one wonder about the many millions spent elsewhere. President Clinton?s top Y2K advisor, John Koskinen, said that three computer systems were replaced but were left running anyway.

?All three of the systems failed following the Y2K rollover and could not be used,? Koskinen said.

Dooms-day-criers groused about the lack of problems. One Internet list-poster claimed ?It seems like every glitch story that makes the news is immediately removed.? Another reported a power failure in Derby, Kan. Jim Stephenson, publisher at the Derby Daily Reporter, said power was out over an hour on January 5, a problem unrelated to date change.

Then why all the hype? Ron Sitcawich thinks the attention served its purpose by making everyone aware of the problem in plenty of time to deal with it. ?I don?t think you?ll find one company that was unaware of the problem. Because of the testing process, we were prepared.?

National Rural Water Association Deputy CEO Sam Wade said, ?The lack of any Y2K problems clearly documents the professionalism of the rural and small water system industry.?

?Was there a problem? Let?s not second-guess good effort. Instead, let?s pat the utility industry on the back for quality on tap and a job well done,? Wade said.