From the horses mouth,... (If you can lead a horse to water why can't you make him drink? - mixing aphorisms,.. for a whimsical day)

From the insert in my water bill:

"Getting ready for the year 2000

The City of Fullerton Water Utility, along with the entire City, has been diligently preparing for Jan. 1, 2000, and the potential "Y2K Bug."

While the possibility of a problem with the water system on New Year's eve is remote, City staff has nevertheless prepared for any potential glitch. Following are the steps we are taking:

*The Water Utility staff has conducted a thorough review of all equipment, vendors, and critical suppliers to the Water Utility. These include the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the Orange County Water District, the Edison Company, and the City of Anaheim Electric Utility. While the City of Fullerton cannot ultimately vouch for the Y2K readiness of each of these suppliers, each of them is working hard to ensure there will be no interruption of service on Jan. 1.

*Staff has reviewed each of the City's water pumping facilities for potential time-dependent, Y2K-vulnerable equipment. As a result of this review, the City has replaced the old control and monitoring computer which oversees the City's water system with a Y2K-compliant computer.

*The Water Utility has developed a contingency plan in the unlikely event any unforeseen problems occur. On Dec. 31, 1999, all City reservoirs will be filled to maximum capacity and there will be Water Utility staff on duty in the remote chance that Fullerton experiences any problems.

Your Fullerton Water Utility is fully aware of the Y2K issue and has taken bold steps to ensure that you have a safe, adequate supply of water on Jan. 1, 2000, and throughout the year.

If you have further questions about your water supply, please call Water System Manager John Carlson at 738-6382."

Guess I'll have to call John and ask him about the city's aux. power, which in the past has been described as 'power for 3 days of extended electric utility outtage.'

--from the Cadillac Desert (glub, glub!) :-)

-- Donna (moment@pacbell.net), October 19, 1999

Answers

Donna, our police department has generator fuel for three days. The fire and ambulance services have fuel for one day. So you know the water and sewer department has fuel for one day also. I do know they don't have enough generators for each facility because they use a couple of mobiles to rush to trouble spots.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), October 19, 1999.

From: Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr (pic), near Monterey, California

About a month or so ago I first noticed a public service announcement (or maybe it's an ad) put out by the Santa Clara Water District. I'm not in that district, but we do get TV from there via cable. The announcement goes on about how pure and dependable the water is and how much they care about us (I think they even say "because you're family.") No mention of Y2K. Of course, this makes me wonder if they have the capacity to handle the filling of 300,000 bathtubs on the same day. I'm guessing they don't.

-- Dancr (addy.available@my.webpage), October 19, 1999.

As long as Y2K is a three-day snowstorm, no problem. I'm not quite sure they have forecasting abilities any better than Nostradomus, though.

-- Dog Gone (layinglow@rollover.now), October 19, 1999.