Delivered-To: mailing list y2kcenter@listbot.com
Subject: Y2K Center Alert #019
To: The Y2K Center Alert Network
From: Philip Bogdonoff, Director of Outreach
Subj: Alert #019
Date: 10 December 1999
>>> CONTENTS
PRESS RELEASE
* Less Than Half of Water Systems May Be Prepared for
Y2K: Government Panels Misinterpreted Key Information,
Says Report
BREAKING NEWS
* Medicare and Medicaid Beneficiaries -- Carry Your Cards!
* Medicaid Update.
NEW ON OUR WEB SITE
* Ten Questions for Water Utilities Regarding Y2K
>>> PRESS RELEASE
HTML versions of press releases from the Center
can be found at: www.y2kcenter.org/news/pr.html .
Here's the text of our latest press release:
=================================================
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 10, 1999
Contact: Sherry Raynor
Fenton Communications
202/822-5200, ext 245
LESS THAN HALF OF WATER
SYSTEMS MAY BE
PREPARED FOR Y2K
Government Panels Misinterpreted Key
Information, Says Report
Surveys of drinking-water and wastewater facilities
by industry groups indicate that, at best, less than
half these utilities are ready for the year 2000
rollover, says a report released today by the
Natural Resources Defense Council and the
Center for Y2K and Society.
The most recent detailed industry survey by the
American Water Works Association (AWWA), the
Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies
(AMWA) and the National Association of Water
Companies (NAWC), shows that only 20 percent to
45 percent of drinking water systems were Y2K
compliant as of June 1999. Even these low
numbers are optimistic: Of the approximately
55,000 U.S. drinking water utilities, less than 1
percent have responded to an Y2K industry survey.
AMWA's two-question follow-up survey of 118
utilities in September was of little use because it
failed to ask if respondents had completed the
final, critical phases of testing and implementation.
And the National Rural Water Association has not
released any data to the public from its recent
survey.
The prospects for wastewater treatment are even
worse. The most recent survey of wastewater
facilities, taken in July, indicated that only
4 percent were ready.
Recent government reassurances about the Y2K
readiness of drinking water utilities have been
based on a misreading of the industry data. The
President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion and
the Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000
Technology Problem have both said that, based on
industry surveys, 92 percent of those responding
are "fully compliant." But e-mail correspondence
from an AWWA representative indicates that this
figure refers to the readiness of internal computer
systems at the responding facilities, and not to the
state of readiness of the utilities, themselves.
As for wastewater, the President's Council's final
report inexplicably omitted the Association of
Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies' survey showing
that only 4 percent of these facilities were ready.
In contrast, the Senate Committee's September
report found AMSA's survey results "a cause for
great concern," and significant enough to conclude
that "we feel justified in saying we are alarmed by
these statistics."
A July 1999 General Accounting Office (GAO)
telephone survey underscores the lack of
preparation by water utilities. GAO polled 21 U.S.
cities, and found that only five of the seventeen
city-owned or -operated drinking or wastewater
facilities were Y2K-ready.
"While we cannot predict which or how many
systems, this data strongly indicates some drinking
and wastewater facilities could have Y2K-related
problems," says Norman Dean, Executive Director
of the Center for Y2K and Society. "We urge
people not to panic, but to prepare, by storing a
gallon of water per person per day for
approximately 10 days."
Y2K-related problems at drinking-water utilities
might cause loss of water supply or reduction in
water pressure, lack of adequate treatment and
possible release of toxic or hazardous substances.
Wastewater facilities might discharge untreated
sewage due to Y2K failures.
In a prepared statement, Erik Olson of NRDC
warns that the Y2K problem may not be "over" on
January 1, 2000. "Data corruption, supply chain
failures and gradual system degradation could
cause service interruptions for months and even
into the next year," he says.
In addition to recommending that consumers store
water, the study urged that the following steps be
taken:
* The Environmental Protection Agency should
require states to update their legally
mandated water emergency plans to include
Y2K. The agency should also provide
troubleshooting and resource teams to
utilities needing assistance with their Y2K
plans.
* The Senate Y2K committee should work with
water trade associations and relevant
government agencies to ensure that
information regarding the Y2K status of
individual water utilities is released to the
public.
* Governors, mayors, and local officials should
immediately update their emergency
drinking-water contingency plans to ensure
they are prepared for Y2K.
* Government officials, journalists, and citizens
should ask their utilities the 10 Questions for
Water Utilities Regarding Y2K that are
appended to the report and included in this
release.
The Center for Y2K & Society -- a project of the
Tides Center -- is a Washington-based
nonprofit organization whose mission is to
reduce the possible societal impacts of the
Y2K problem.
The Natural Resources Defense Council is a
national, non-profit organization of scientists,
lawyers and environmental specialists
dedicated to protecting public health and the
environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has
more than 400,000 members nationwide,
served by offices in New York, Washington,
Los Angeles and San Francisco. More
information on NRDC is available at its Web
site, www.nrdc.org.
The full text of the report Y2K Risks in the Water
Industry can be found at
www.y2kcenter.org/resources/centerpubs/ .
###
[Note: The USA Today story about the report, "Y2K
study: Water supplies are vulnerable", which ran on
p. 1 on Friday, December 10th, can be found at
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/ctg864.htm .]
=================================================
>>> BREAKING NEWS
* December 8, 1999. December 9, 1999. Medicare
and Medicaid Beneficiaries -- Carry Your Cards!
See www.y2kcenter.org/news/1209.html .
* December 8, 1999. Medicaid Update.
See www.y2kcenter.org/news/1208.html .
>>> NEW ON OUR WEB SITE
* Ten Questions for Water Utilities Regarding
Y2K supplements the Y2K Risks in the Water
Industry report. (see www.y2kcenter.org/
resources/centerpubs/10h20qs.html )
>>> TELL US WHO WE SHOULD REACH
Please write to us and suggest the names of
organizations and leaders you think should be
aware of our messages. We'll do our best to
contact them. (Write to info@y2kcenter.org.)
You can help us get the word out about our site and
its resources to as many people as possible by
forwarding this Alert with your friends and
colleagues. We expect to be one of a few nonprofit
Y2K sites on the Web in the January through March
period.
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-- Jean Wasp (jean@sonic.net), December 11, 1999