It doesn't say here whether or not the level indicator was a mechanical failure or a problems with a computerized monitoring system.

Water reservoir failure repaired Source: The Southland Times Publication date: Feb 05, 2000

FAULTS at Tapanui's reservoir that left residents without water for up to four hours on Tuesday have been fixed.

The Clutha District Council had replaced a malfunctioning level indicator and a filtering screen that was washed away by heavy rain, a council spokesman said yesterday.

Tapanui residents noticed dirty water on Tuesday afternoon but inspection of the plant and faulty level indicator seemed to show that all was well.

But by 8pm, many residents had no water.

Further complaints sparked a second inspection by council contractors that found the reservoir almost empty, the spokesman said.

The screen at the intake for removing debris had washed away and the intake pipes were partially blocked. These were cleared and the reservoir filled, but an air-lock developed causing further delay. Supply was eventually restored at midnight.

Publication date: Feb 05, 2000 ) 2000, NewsReal, Inc.

link

http://beta.newsreal.com/cgi-bin/NewsService?osform_template=pages/newsrealStory&ID=newsreal&storypath=News/Story_2000_02_10.NRdb@2@18@3@516&path=News/Category.NRdb@2@16

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 11, 2000

Answers

link

-- (kb8um8@yahoo.com), February 11, 2000.

Typical problem...if we had lost power over wide regions at rollover, this would have occured within 12-48 hours in most cities.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), February 11, 2000.

Q: WHERE is this story from? Tapanui -- Southland -- Clutha -- Is this the South Pacific or NZ or what?

TNX

-- Squirrel Hunter (nuts@upina.cellrelaytower), February 11, 2000.

Notice the news story is dated 5 Feb, making the previous Tuesday... (drumroll please)the First of February (or January 32, if you like). Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not.

There were two episodes (at least) of "Y2K upgraded" computer systems explicitly resulting in small water systems in the U.S. having their water storage tanks accidentally emptied. This was in the 12 or 18 months prior to Rollover. One was in the upper Midwest U.S. as I recall, and the other somewhere in the Southwest U.S. Both were mentioned in small but "mainstream" media news reports, then nothing more was heard. I sent Gary North an email with one of the news stories at the time but his website never posted it, don't know why.

One of the episodes (at least) resulted in a small town having to truck in water for a few days until they closed the appropriate valves and refilled their storage tanks. The mayor was quoted as being pissed that the new Y2K-compliant software had emptied the tanks. If I can, I'll try to find the references in my hardcopy files at some point this weekend (unless someone here beats me to it).

It would be VERY interesting to know whether the problem in the news item above is computer-linked at all. I do hope someone can provide some follow-up on this new episode.

Cheers,

--Andre in southcentral Pennsylvania

-- Andre Weltman (72320.1066@compuserve.com), February 11, 2000.

I know there is a "Tapanui" on the South Island of New Zealand. Sure seems likely it's the same place. The linked website (thanks, kb8um8@yahoo.com, whoever you are !!!) doesn't help at all with pinning this down, as far as I can tell.

OK you southern hemisphere sorts, stop enjoying the summer weather and track this one down! Taz? Pieter?

Cheers, --Andre in southcentral Pennsylvania

-- Andre Weltman (72320.1066@compuserve.com), February 11, 2000.

Found one of the articles in electronic format in the dusty recesses of my hard drive: --Andre in southcentral Pennsylvania

Computer snafu causes some Incline reservoirs to run dry

By Anjeanette Damon, RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL, *11 July 1999*

A glitch in a new computer system controlling pumps on Incline Village's water reservoirs affected an estimated 500 homes Saturday, some going without water completely for the morning.

Software for the water district's new telemetry system, which controls pumps in the district's 12 reservoirs, malfunctioned some time during the night causing four of the reservoirs to run dry.

This caused a dip in the system's pressure, leaving some people without water, others with gurgling air bubbles in their pipes and leaving others with no problems, said Mike Pennacchio, public information officer with the Incline Village General Improvement District.

"When people started calling when their water went out, we thought there was a water-main break," he said. "But no one reported any gushing water anywhere."

When crews arrived at the plant, they found the empty reservoirs and manually started the pumps. Pressure began to be restored by about 9:30 a.m. and was back to normal by 1:30 p.m., he said.

Officials issued a boil order as they fixed the problem; it was lifted by 1:30 p.m. "We advised people to put some water in a glass and wait until they could see through it if they had any sediment," Pennacchio said. "If they wanted to drink it, we told them to boil it for five minutes." No contaminants have been found in the water, but a loss of pressure can cause scaling in pipes that results in cloudy water, he said.

Although state law requires a boil order for 48 hours when a system loses pressure, Pennachio said their pressure didn't fall below the required pounds-per-square-inch measurement. Officials will continue to test the water and have slightly increased the disinfectants used to clean the water, he said.

"We'll bring them right back down to their normal levels and no one should notice any difference in the taste of their water or anything like that," he said.

The new telemetry system was installed recently to replace a system that was not Y2K compliant, Pennachio said. Officials are researching what caused the software to fail and will call the programmer Monday morning.

"We'll babysit it through the night to make sure this doesn't happen again."

-- Andre Weltman (72320.1066@compuserve.com), February 11, 2000.