I was scanning some interesting data at a UN site. One of the Y2K reports they offer is called ...an example of a contingency plan for a water district. This option takes you to a report called "Calleguas Municipal Water District Contingency Plant for the Year 2000 Problem".

Here's what I find confusing: Under tasks: It reads, "There are several tasks that will be required in preparation for potential Y2K problems as the dates of concern occur. (By the way, the dates are listed as:9/9/1999;1/01/2000;2/29/2000;10/10/2000/ and 12/31/2000) Then they list ten tasks, such as...Shutdown of all hydroelectric generation sites, and De-activation of SCADA controls that require site to site communications and setpoints.

Here's the URL: http://www.calleguas.com/Y2Kcont.htm Can someone knowledgeable take a look at this and comment please.

-- Anonymous, August 26, 1999

Answers

Meg, some of the reasons for the shutdown tasks listed in this contingency plan are given in sections further down the document. For instance:

"Pump stations will need to be de-activated a minimum of 1 hour prior to the transition to each date of concern. Significant distribution system surging occurs when District pump stations lose power during operation. Controlled shutdowns of TOD, Lake Sherwood and Fairview pump stations are recommended. These stations can be restarted once the transition to the date of concern has happened and the impact from Y2K problems can be determined."

Also,under the Automated Control section: "The District employs several control strategies that require the transmission of setpoints or values from one location to another via the SCADA system and its associated communication network. All control logic that requires site-to-site communication will need to be disabled." And, "Sites with standby power that have all setpoints and controls residing within local PLCs may remain in operation because they do not rely upon remote communications for continuous control."

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable about these details can add to this, Meg, but from my view it appears this contingency plan is one in which they will transfer to a manual or emergency power backup mode of operation prior to rollover, because they decided that a controlled temporary shutdown of some systems is safer and more practical.

Likewise, in a presentation to NERC by Burlington Railroad, part of their "Zero Hour Planning" includes "Bring Systems Down Prior To Midnight" and "Stop Trains Prior To Midnight" while they "Continue Monitoring Systems for Complications". (If you have Powerpoint you can access this report at ftp://ftp.nerc.com/pub/sys/all_updl/docs/y2k Look for the Presentation-6b-Kelly53.ppt ) There's a lot more about Burlington's number/type of systems and status in this Aug. 1999 presentation, also, for anyone who is interested. I was quite surprised by the level of detail given. Unfortunately, I don't think the charts and diagrams will translate to this forum well, and it's only related to the electric industry in that Burlington is a third party supplier. This is a very recent (as of Aug.1) status report which should be formulated for easier access to people who don't have Powerpoint and perhaps put on the Yourdon forum, if not here. Anybody out there want to tackle the job?

-- Anonymous, August 27, 1999

Meg:

This looks like a very reasonable contingency plan. I agree with Bonnie's interpretation of their tasks. Their gravity facilities probably provide a means to maintain a minimum system pressure without their pump stations online. You definately want to minimize pressure spikes on these systems. A few psi spike can find all of the weak joins in your piping system and it's amazing how much water an 8" to 12" pipe can flow in just a few minutes. I am surprised that they have to shut down their SCADA system. Communications can fail at anytime. Our pump station PLCs drop back to a local mode when they can't talk to their neighboring stations.

Jim

-- Anonymous, August 27, 1999