My wife went to a dutch oven cooking class today and ran into others also preparing for y2k. One woman there mentioned that earlier today, she took a scout group on a tour of the local sewage treatment plant. (Why, I don't know.) While there she asked if they are or will be y2k compliant. A negative response followed. (I'm glad we live on higher ground). I also received info from an organization that sells gold/silver coins in the mail today. In the info was a statement that said "Honolulu's electric utility system recently ran a series of computing tests on the city power grid to see what would happen on Jan. 1, 2000. The power system simply stopped working." Has this actually been documented?

-- Bill (Silviusfamily@Juno.com), November 14, 1998

Answers

The story I read was that the year was advanced on their backup system. It wasn't clear to me if this was a genuine test of the system, or a simulation like Lubbock. It certainly wasn't done live, and nobody lost any power. Results of whatever kind of test this was have been inconsistent. In one place, it was reported that the system stopped. In another, it was reported that had the test been live, some people would have received no power, some too little, and some too much (voltage variations, I believe).

I think the Springfield test was more indicative, because it was so similar to the financial tests last summer. In both cases, the test was announced with great fanfare. In both cases, information was firmly closed off partway into the test. In both cases, the test was afterwards pronounced 'satisfactory' and all details were denied to the media.

It seems clear that things didn't go smoothly in these tests. It's likely that problems were identified, and may well be taken care of quietly. It's possible that results were disseminated to others in the industries, also quietly. It's also possible that the participants took their money out of the market and bought generators. I can't imagine them keeping success a secret.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), November 14, 1998.

Go to Gary North's website, and there's a story dated Nov. 14, where a power grid went down there which resulted in several thousand gallons of raw sewage was dumped into the river. I believe it was in North or South Carolina. So even if you have water and a sewage treatment plant or water treatment plant fails, either way we will be in big trouble. There was a recent story of a water treatment plant malfunctioning and it dumped massive quantities of chlorine into the water. Lucikly none slipped out to the public. I never drink tap water anyway, I just don't trust it for safety and health reasons.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), November 14, 1998.

I guess the good news is they are all focused on the problem now.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), November 15, 1998.

"Go to Gary North's website, and there's a story dated Nov. 14, where a power grid went down there which resulted in several thousand gallons of raw sewage was dumped into the river. I believe it was in North or South Carolina. So even if you have water and a sewage treatment plant or water treatment plant fails, either way we will be in big trouble. "

Not that this improves the outlook, but go and look at the source article. It was some form of backup failure and it really wasn't "raw" sewage. It had been partially treated and was only lacking the last step which was an ultraviolet treatement. I agree it was still a bad accident, but as usual Gary chose to leave some stuff out. Is why I always go and read the source documents and just use him for the links. You will also find in the source material that this paticular facility has a horrible track record of safety to begin with. Again, I do not think it improves the results, but was interesting.

"There was a recent story of a water treatment plant malfunctioning and it dumped massive quantities of chlorine into the water. Lucikly none slipped out to the public."

If you have a link to a story on this I would like to see it. I have never been able to find it.

Rick

-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), November 15, 1998.

Rick said: (regarding chemical spill during water plant Y2K test)

"If you have a link to a story on this I would like to see it. I have never been able to find it."

The only URL I have found for this story is from Gary North's page, at http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/detail_.cfm/1452.

It should be relatively easy to check on if you are really interested in finding out if it actually happened, given that he provides a lot of specific names...

Jon

-- Jon Hylands (Jon@huv.com), November 15, 1998.

Jon,

Thanks. It said what I expected, that it was a test. A lot of people cited that it actually happened and that is what I was supicious of.

Rick

-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), November 15, 1998.

That's why they test to see if they fail. I'm worried about the test that fails and it reaches the public. Just to let you know how unsafe drinking water can be, Placer County here in California is telling all Placer residents to buy bottled water or boil it for 20 minutes before drinking. Upon inspecting their reservoirs, the State Inspectors found dead carcasses of animals, garbage, and human and animal fecal matter in the water. The officials said this is the worst they have ever seen. The State is now requiring them to cover all their reservoirs with concrete. So we don't even need a disaster to show that some drinking water is not safe. I worked several years for an Environmental Engineering Firm, who dealt in water and wastewater treatment plants all over the US. Even with filtering, chemicals, etc., there's always something that can go wrong.

Jon: Thanks for finding that chlorine spill thread. I know I had read it somewhere but couldn't remember where.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), November 15, 1998.

96 (Ninety Six) SPILLS in same county!!!

YOU LEFT OUT THE VERY BEST PART:

..........This was 96th "spill" since 1995!!! (see URL citation below) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000FS1 I agree it was still a bad accident, but as usual Gary chose to leave some stuff out. Is why I always go and read the source documents and just use him for the links. You will also find in the source material that this paticular facility has a horrible track record of safety to begin with. Again, I do not think it improves the results, but was interesting. There was a recent story of a water treatment plant malfunctioning and it dumped massive quantities of chlorine into the water. Lucikly none slipped out to the public." If you have a link to a story on this I would like to see it. I have never been able to find it. Rick Answered by Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com) on November 15, 1998. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, http://www.accessatlanta.com/news/1998/11/11/chattahooche.html

Last fall, the state Environmental Protection Division levied $102,550 in fines against Fulton County for allowing pollutants into the river through its sewage system. The EPD cited 96 spills in unincorporated Fulton County from July 1995 to July 1997. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

-- 96Spills County (typical.gary@distortion.com), November 15, 1998.

I didn't give the specific number, but I did say

"You will also find in the source material that this paticular facility has a horrible track record of safety to begin with. "

Rick

-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), November 15, 1998.