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Title: U.S. Water Facilities Undertake Two Weeks of Y2K Testing (EPA and other associations coordinate effort) (590)

Date: 19990803

Text: USIA Staff Writer

Washington -- Drinking water and wastewater facilities across the United States are conducting Y2K test and contingency planning exercises designed to gauge their level of preparedness for computer and operational problems at year's end.

These utilities, like businesses and agencies around the world, are trying to protect themselves from being infected by the "millennium bug," which refers to the possibility that might misread the date of the new millennium when it rolls over from 1999 to 2000. This may result in computer malfunctions, the production of erroneous results, the distribution of bad data or complete system shutdowns.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has randomly selected 10 drinking water and 10 wastewater plants to participate in the testing. During the two weeks of testing from July 26 to August 6, called the Y2K Readiness Weeks, the facilities are attempting to prepare themselves for any disruptions.

Throughout the Y2K Readiness Weeks, the facilities will test pump and valve operations, fire alarms, safety features, and all manual operations in case it becomes necessary to operate them due to computer malfunctions. The degree of testing is to be determined by the individual water facility Y2K coordinator in cooperation with the EPA.

The EPA has coordinated these two weeks as part of its Y2K alertness initiative. The testing is a partnership effort between the EPA and other associations involved in providing water and sewage services, such as the American Water Works Association, the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies and the Water Environment Federation.

The Y2K readiness effort is designed to increase awareness of Y2K testing, contingency planning and public communication by drinking water and wastewater utilities. In conducting these tests, and achieving positive results, environmental and utility officials are hoping to show the public that Y2K problems shouldn't cause undue concern. Once the tests have been completed. the lessons learned will be shared with other utilities and also the public. The participants are encouraged to publicize their Y2K results in local newspapers and the trade press. In addition, all the lessons learned will be posted on the Web sites of the participating associations.

The EPA is also planning to confirm the results and regional awareness with a press advisory on their Web site, which would emphasize the benefits of Y2K testing, contingency planning and what lessons were learned.

John Koskinen, chairman of the President's Y2K Council, has been encouraging testing of all public utilities. In the water industry, the facilities are encouraged to devise contingency plans in case disruption does occur.

The EPA is promoting participation in the Y2K Water Readiness Weeks "for only those utilities that have been diligent in their Y2K preparation activities and have carefully prepared their facilities for testing in accordance with the EPA Y2K Enforcement Policy." This policy was adopted in November 1998 "to encourage prompt testing of computer-related equipment to ensure that environmental compliance is not impaired by the Y2K computer bug."

Within the policy, the EPA states its intent "to waive 100 percent of the civil penalties that might otherwise apply, and to recommend against criminal prosecution for environment violations caused during specific tests that are designed to identify and eliminate Y2K-related malfunctions."

The EPA is expecting that as a result of the tests, the water utilities in the United States will be prepared "to operate normally on January 1, 2000, providing safe drinking water and clean water at that time." NNNN

Product Name: WASHINGTON FILE Document Type: ARTICLE Keywords: Y2K; WATER; WASTEWATER; EPA 5B JF/ Thematic Codes: 5B Languages: ENGLISH Originating Team: 99080301.TGI

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-- Puddintame (achillesg@hotmail.com), August 17, 1999

Answers

I think this was posted last week. It clearly is a PR stunt, there's no doubt about it.

-- Dog Gone (layinglow@rollover.now), August 17, 1999.

URL:

http://pdq2.usia.gov/scripts/cqcgi.exe/@pdqtest1.env? CQ_SESSION_KEY=SNUFOOBGVKAM&CQ_QUERY_HANDLE=124034&CQ_CUR_DOCUMENT=50& CQ_PDQ_DOCUMENT_VIEW=1&CQSUBMIT=View&CQRETURN=&CQPAGE=5

hotlink

This is even more odious than the NERC drills, the value of which were pretty well debunked by some astute observers well before the actual charade.

At least in the NERC drills, everybody participated in a test designed to instill false confidence in a deceived public.

These water tests/drills/charades are not only designed tests, but the participating facilities are, apparently, only the best of the remediators.

Do we want unremediated facilities spewing chlorine and feces into the environment during some test? No. Do we want to have a false declaration of victory because the same unremediated facilities were precluded from participating in the testing, the results of which will be heralded to the public in an effort to prevent them from withdrawing money from banks and mutual funds?

-- Puddintame (achillesg@hotmail.com), August 17, 1999.

Apologies if this is a repeat of an old post. I must admit I no longer read every thread, especially if the title doesn't give some indication of the topic.

I have no objection to a sysop deletion if this info is already threaded.

-- Puddintame (achillesg@hotmail.com), August 17, 1999.

Thanks Puddin'. It's new news to me; not very cheerfull tho :(

-- Brent James Bushardt (brentj@webt.com), August 17, 1999.

Many state level and local level legislators are on the take from chemical companies, which manifests in at least two different ways.

1) Loopholing dumping of toxic products and byproducts
2) Mandating use of toxic products and byproducts that get into the water supply (e.g.)

a) MTBE, a gasoline additive to "fight smog" and is carcinogenic
b) Fluoride, deliberately added to water "for the children" (sob, sniffle, honk, bleat), to protect their precious little toothies against decay. Well, the adults are forced to drink it too, unless they get bottled water, or a super expensive treatment setup (ordinary filters don't remove it).
Besides, haven't these crooks and the bleeding hearts who support them ever heard of fluoridated toothpaste?
It is interesting that all the fluoridated toothpaste labels contain a warning not to swallow it [because of the fluoride]. If you're not supposed to swallow if from toothpaste, does it compute that it's OK to swallow it from water?
Now, the best part is, fluoride is a toxic chemical waste product which the chemical companies might have to incur expenses to handle it; but INSTEAD, THEY GET PAID BY MUNICIPALITIES TO FURNISH IT TO BE PUT INTO YOUR DRINKING WATER.

Are any of you still so naive to think that government has YOUR best interests at heart? If they do actually do something helpful, it is just inadvertent in their effort to maintain power, control, apathy, ingorance, and stupidity over (of) their subjects.

-- A (A@AisA.com), August 17, 1999.

News to me also.

Something weird. The past couple of days, the water where I am (OKC) has tasted strange. Not the normal taste, and it leaves sort of a metalic after taste.

I had gotten off of my sodas, and started drinking plenty of water earlier this year, but yesterday I just couldn't stomach the taste of the water. Just timing I guess. I was planning on filling up my water jugs this weekend too. :(

Oh well, I guess it is off to the grocery to buy some water there because I am not going to drink this stuff until it is back to "normal".

-- (cannot-say@this.time), August 17, 1999.

Fluoride presents its problems, for sure. A similar situation, more long-standing, exists with the mercury amalgams so widely used in dentistry. Several European countries have banned the use of mercury in fillings. In the U.S., no health problems related to this procedure are officially recognized. But see:

The Dental Amalgam Issue

Mercury amalgam safety: Rethinking dangerous decisions

Facts About Mercury & Dental Amalgam

Scientific Abstracts on Mercury Amalgam Bio-Toxicity

Scientific Facts on the Biological Effects of Mercury Amalgam Implants

Mercury Amalgam: Contamination of Human Neurophysiology

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), August 17, 1999.

Original thread w/ discussion...sorry, hotlink impaired!

www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001BmQ

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), August 17, 1999.

I messed up the hotlinks I gave above -- here are the URL's (same sequence):

http://www.amalgam.org/#anchor630895

http://www.selene.com/healthlink/amalgam.html

http://www.algonet.se/~leif/FUSCIFCT.html

http://www.cco.net/~trufax/reports/merceff.html

http://www.trufax.org/mercury/merc2.html

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), August 17, 1999.

On the subject of tapwater (while we still have it): if a faucet has not been used in a while (2-6+ hours), remember to turn it on at a high flow rate for at least a minute before using water from it for drinking/cooking. This is due to the need to fluch out lead that has accumulated in the pipes from leached-out lead in the solder in the pipes.

www.y2ksafeminnesot.com

-- MinnesotaSmith (y2ksafeminnesota@hotmail.com), August 17, 1999.

Here is the GAO report on the water, waste - water situation.

 GAO water report. Must read.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), August 17, 1999.

OK Fecophobes, It's time to read the Humanure book again.

If I urinated into a pitcher of drinking water and then proceded to quench my thirst from the pitcher, I would undoubtedly be considered crazy. If I invented an expensive technology to put my urine and feces into my drinking water, and then invented another expensive (and undependable) technology to make the same water fit to drink, I might be thought even crazier....

Wendell Berry

No relation of mine, - too bad, wouldn't he be fun at the thanksgiving table..

Berry

-- Berry Picker (BerryPicking@yahoo.com), August 17, 1999.

Italics off.

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), August 17, 1999.

Thanks linkmeister. Sure wish this forum had a preview option.

Berry.

-- Berry Picker (BerryPicking@yahoo.com), August 17, 1999.