WATER: CASE Ex. WATER SUPPLY& WASTEWATER: EASTERN MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRICT,1995 START.(90 mi.E.of LOS ANGELES 419,000 CUSTOMERS)

CALIFORNIA WATER RESOURCES BOARD:

http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/y2k/y2k.html

http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/y2k/epaemwd.pdf

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POINT ONE:

5.1.2 Assessment/Testing Assessment was started in the summer of 1995.

The business systems analysts went through their database of applications and checked each one until they had all been labeled as compliant, non-compliant, or currently being upgraded. Compliance was assessed by testing software and reviewing programming code. They also performed some system analysis by testing several software and hardware items together and observing their interactions. Non-compliant PCs were already replaced and operating systems were already upgraded. However, many of the business systems needed to be upgraded to handle Y2K issues. Moreover, many of the systems no longer adequately supported business functions. So the District took the opportunity to revamp many of their business systems. They found many small Clipper software applications that employees had made, which were non-compliant, and which no longer serviced the District well. They also found that some major applications, such as the payroll system, investment management software, and billing system, were non-compliant. The hand-held meter readers, used to record customer meter levels, were also non-compliant, but were already in the process of being replaced.

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POINT TWO:

15 9. REMAINING Y2K TASKS Most of the Districts tasks in preparing for Y2K

have already been completed, and almost all of the tasks that are not on-going will be completed this summer.

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1. SYSTEM OVERVIEW The Eastern Municipal Water District (District) is a medium-sized water and wastewater utility in southern California, about 90 miles east of Los Angeles. The District was formed in 1950 to secure water for the drought prone area. Its service area comprises about 550 square miles, and serves a population of 419,000. The District is governed by a 5-member Board of Directors who are elected by local voters to four-year terms. Most of the Districts water comes by aqueduct from the Metropolitan Water District. The remainder, a little under one third, comes from District wells. Seventy-three storage tanks in the District hold almost 162 million gallons of water. In their 1998 fiscal year, the District delivered an average of 55 million gallons per day (MGD) of water to 78,000 customers, and eight other water agencies. About 7 percent of this water was used for agriculture. The water treatment process consists chiefly of chlorination, although they also perform some iron and manganese sequestering on well water. Many of the controls in the plants are automated, but all have manual overrides. The Districts wastewater system consists of five treatment plants, over 1,100 miles of sewer lines, 35 lift stations, and about 129,000 connections. Their treatment plants have a combined capacity of about 49 MGD. In 1998, the District sold approximately 5.2 billion gallons of tertiary-treated reclaimed water for agricultural purposes. As with the water treatment plants, all controls in the wastewater treatment plants have manual overrides.

About 40 percent of the Districts $116 million in revenues in 1997 was from water sales, another 20 percent was from sewer service charges and reclaimed water sales, and the remainder was made up by non-operating revenues such as taxes, fees, and interest. Total expenses for the period equaled $108 million, $88 million of which was used for operations.

................................. 2. MOTIVATING FACTORS The District began planning for the Y2K problem in 1995 and has invested a great deal of time and resources on the project since. The District has had several factors motivating it on this project. If the District did not prepare for Y2K, the results could be disastrous. Sewage could flow in the streets or back up into peoples homes, and water could cease to flow, could go untreated, or could be contaminated. All of these scenarios pose major health and environmental risks. The District recognizes the trust placed in it by the community, and could not allow risks of this nature to go unabated.

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5.1.3 Remediation Business hardware required little remediation. Most of the Districts PCs were upgraded in 1996/97, at a cost of about $272,000.

However, even after the completion of that intensive effort they found a few computers that were not compliant. For example, one computer ran the headquarters building security system. Once the security system was implemented on a newer computer, it was compliant. Business software needed extensive remediation. To implement software remediations, a process is followed that allows for input from the users as well as the systems analysts. After determining that an application is non-compliant, the systems analysts evaluate their options and make a recommendation to the primary users as to whether the application should be upgraded or replaced with something new. The users have to sign off on the recommendation before the systems analysts can take any action. If there is a database associated with the system, the database managers must also sign off on any changes that the software would have on the database. If one group does not sign off on the systems analysts recommendation, no changes are made until an agreement can be established. The recommendation then goes to the Change Management Board and Database Committee for ultimate approval. One software replacement that met with some resistance was the replacement of their Clipper software with S.P.O.R.T. Clipper software allows users to make their own small applications that work with Clipper to fit their needs.

Clipper was becoming obsolete, but replacing it meant that the many personalized applications that employees had made would be lost. It was ultimately decided, though, that it would be too burdensome to try and upgrade all of the applications to a compliant status. The S.P.O.R.T. software was the single most expensive

Y2K related expenditure, costing over $1.5 million. As with other expenditures, though, this was a long-term investment that affected more than just Y2K readiness. The other main software remediations, many of which are still being performed, are for their human resources, billing, and financial applications. Their human resources/payroll software, as well as the Districts Oracle ERP, were upgraded to a current releases. This was one of the largest expenditures that was performed solely for Y2K compliance reasons. In most cases software was replaced or upgraded to become more efficient, and Y2K compliance was a side-benefit, but the financial software was an exception. The Financial Departments central software and investment management software both had to be replaced solely because they were non-compliant. Some of the financial software upgrades had to be coordinated with the banks, who are also involved in Y2K projects of their own. The District must, therefore, continually keep abreast of their banks information system changes, and respond accordingly.

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The District already had many generators, but the potential for blackouts across their entire service area with Y2K made them reassess their generator plan. They already had permanent generators at all of their facilities, with automatic switches that start the generators immediately when the power goes out. The District also had many permanent and mobile generators for their 72 water pumping stations and their 35 wastewater pumping stations. All of these generators undergo full-load tests every month. After evaluating their generator needs in preparation for at least three days of self-sufficiency, they found that they needed two more mobile generators and four more fixed generators.

They also found that to cut down on set-up time for mobile generators, they needed a quick-connect switch, which allows for fast generator hook-ups, at each pumping station that does not have a fixed generator. Since generators are estimated to be in high demand prior to the end of the year, the generator assessment was started last fall. All purchase requests were made by the beginning of this year since it often takes four to five months to get a generator from the time of purchase. The District has lower electrical demands than other utilities of similar size because it uses natural gas extensively for pumping. In most places the natural gas is backed up by generators. The District looked at the possibility of their natural gas supply being disrupted by Y2K and found it to be very unlikely.

They could still run critical operations in the event of both their electrical and natural gas supplies being cut, and they have a plan for this contingency, but they have concentrated their planning for a three-day electrical outage only. All of these generators require large amounts of fuel, as do the trucks transporting mobile generators and workers. To accommodate these needs, the District has made a fuel assessment to fit their contingency plan for a three-day outage. On December 29, they plan to top off all fuel tanks in the District. Most of the Districts fuel needs are for diesel, although they also have some unleaded gasoline needs. They have a total diesel storage capacity of about 24,000 gallons and a gasoline storage capacity of about 10,000 gallons. They have also contracted with their fuel supplier to have a stand-by tanker truck at their headquarters with 8000 gallons of diesel fuel on December 31, for as long as is necessary. They first talked with their fuel supplier about reserving this truck in January 1999, knowing that fuel might be in high demand at the end of the year because of Y2K. At this time the fuel supplier had not received any Y2K related fuel requests from any other customers. The District asked for the suppliers guarantee that it could supply fuel to top off all tanks on December 29, and that the fuel truck would be standing by on December 31. The supplier said that the District would be its highest priority, but also stated that if there were any Federal directives for it to do otherwise due to fuel emergencies, those would take precedent. If the District needs more fuel than the 8000 gallons in the tanker truck, there are many refineries in the area that the truck can go to for refueling, and the District feels confident that at least some of them will be operating after the rollover.

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15 9. REMAINING Y2K TASKS Most of the Districts tasks in preparing for Y2K have already been completed, and almost all of the tasks that are not on-going will be completed this summer. As of early June, there were still some remaining tasks in their assessment or remediation phases, which are described below. In the water and wastewater systems there were still a few remaining hardware and software elements that needed to be assessed. In one of the wastewater plants, the SCADA needed to be upgraded to a Windows NT compatible version. At the pumping stations, most of the quick-connectors still had to be installed. In the laboratory there was some testing of equipment left to be performed. The Environmental Compliance Department also had some industrial discharger site inspections remaining. For communications, as was stated earlier, the non-compliant trunked radio systems manager needed to be replaced. There were also some unfinished tasks in the business systems. This included some computer hardware and peripherals assessment, but most of the tasks related to software remediation. Some of the smaller specialty and custom software had not yet been upgraded or replaced. Much of the work on the financial software, such as Oracle and the investment management software, had been completed, but there was still some work left. The Financial Department also had the on-going task of keeping abreast of bank system changes. As computer systems are upgraded and changed, the systems are tested to assure that they are working properly and are, in fact, Y2K compliant. The Community Involvement Department also has on-going tasks in keeping customers, local residents, and employees informed about Y2K.

The chemical needs assessment will be finished soon, and the contingency plans are currently being written. The general outline of the contingency plan is complete, but there are some details remaining to be worked out.

Once the contingency plan is written, emergency exercises will be planned and practiced and the contingency plan will be revised as necessary. Overall, the District is very confident that all preparations will be completed in time for Y2K.

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-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), September 05, 1999

Answers

Also see this link for a table of the Y2K readiness (as of July) of water/wastewater treatment facilities in the largest American cities:

http://www.senate.gov/~y2k/hearings/990715/chart4_tbl.gif

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), September 05, 1999.

Cherri, why are you submitting these incredibly long and tedious reports that nobody will read? People's eyes just glaze over. There are hundreds of cities in the country; some will have water systems that function during Y2K and some won't. An endless report on a few California water districts has no overall meaning regarding Y2K.

-- cody (cody@y2ksurvive.com), September 05, 1999.

Cherri, why are you submitting these incredibly long and tedious reports that nobody will read? People's eyes just glaze over. There are hundreds of cities in the country; some will have water systems that function during Y2K and some won't. An endless report on a few California water districts has no overall meaning regarding Y2K.

-- cody (cody@y2ksurvive.com), September 05, 1999.

Cody,

Like they say when there is something else someone does not want to read around here, Do not read it!

I thought they may be at least as relevent to this forum as the contrail and blue sign posts.... Sorry if they bore you but don't bother to read them if they do, I won't be offended. Trust me I do NOT plan on posting every water works Y2K work in here *grin* but these are examples of what some are doing which may ease the minds of some people (or not).

I do not demand anyone think anything, I just put 'em up and allow people to use their own minds and think for themselfs.

I'm sorry reading through them and understanding at least part of them is beyound the ability of your mind, but thats ok, we all ave different capabilities.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), September 06, 1999.