Y2K: Councils fear millennium breakdown

By Scott MacLeod

HAMILTON - An expected tourist boom in December is adding to fears that the millennium computer bug may cut vital services such as water supplies and sewage disposal.

Councils in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty yesterday said they would cancel leave, hire generators and call in sewage trucks on New Year's Eve to help deal with possible shutdowns caused by the bug.

Chief executive officers at eight councils said staff were taking precautions against the computer hitch, but there were no guarantees that services would be safe.

Thousands of tourists are expected in the region to see one of the first sunrises in the world for 2000.

The Hamilton City Council's emergency manager, Ray Pooley, said the computer bug was definitely a risk and the council had been meeting police, firefighters, Health Waikato, power companies and Telecom to draft backup plans in case of emergency.

The council was likely to fill water tanks early on December 31 and keep extra staff on duty.

An Environment Waikato spokesman, Adam Munro, urged householders to prepare 72-hour survival packs with radios, water, medicine and other essentials.

Local Government New Zealand, the umbrella group for 86 councils, has called all mayors to a summit meeting in Wellington on March 31.

The mayors will consult executives from the banking, electricity and telephone industries to find ways of protecting services.

The Local Government chief executive, Carol Stigley, said the computer bug was a big issue for councils this year. She was hounding, pushing and shoving councils to fight the bug.

Water and sewage were the main concerns.

"Communities can cope with dog registrations falling over, but none can cope without water."

A Waikato District Council spokesman, Billy Michels, said much of its water and sewage system could be manually controlled. The council was worried about power cuts beyond its control, but storage tanks in the water system would act as a buffer.

Meanwhile, the Kaipara District Council reported few fears over potential failure of its equipment. Unlike other larger, local bodies, none of its key infrastructure was controlled by computer.

A spokesman, Chris Ellington, said Kaipara's water and sewage systems were controlled mechanically.

He said only the council's office computer systems could suffer New Year glitches, but tests on these to British standard-Y2K compliance would be completed by next month.

The Whangarei District Council has spent $350,000 updating all its computer systems to cope with Y2K.

Its spokesman, Tom McClelland, said work began two years ago to identify and address problem areas.

"We have checked everything and are as ready as we can be."

The automated water and computerised wastewater systems had manual overrides.

The Far North District Council listed most of its activities in a minor-risk category, but sewage and water supplies were a big concern because of their pump dependency and a non-compliant telemetry system.

The council's finance manager, Ian Bell, said funding would be sought to upgrade the telemetry system, and it was proposed that contractors be on standby to address any pumping problems.

The millennium or Y2K bug exists in computers that are primed to see each year as two numbers. Those computers are likely to become confused when the year 99 becomes 00.