Year 2000 and Your Drinking Water Supply

What Year 2000 Means
  Talk about Y2K has reached a fever pitch as we step closer to the new millennium. Computers are a big part of everyday life, controlling almost every process used in today's society. With the growing awareness that Y2K may affect more than just the home computer, people are growing more apprehensive. Will the world come to a screeching halt? How will it affect us? No one is really sure what to expect, but the Northern Kentucky Water Service District is doing its best to be prepared.

 As the new year approaches, the Water District continues to receive numerous inquires from worried water customers about what will happen to their water service on January 1, 2000. The Water District has made Y2K issues a priority-and we're providing this brochure to answer some of your questions.

Will My Water Service Be Interrupted?
  Water service in Northern Kentucky should not be affected. All of the water treatment plants in the Northern Kentucky Water Service District are powered by electricity and incorporate computerized controls to ensure consistency in water quality and efficiency. However, if necessary, all systems can be operated manually by trained personnel, as long as electricity is available. The District will investigate the use of backup generators for critical will investigate the use of backup generators for critical pump stations.

What Have You Done to Ensure Uninterrupted Service?
  When we first became aware of the Y2K concerns and issues, we took an inventory of our facilities and determined all areas that could be affected. Non of the pumps, switch gears and water meters have date functions, and therefore will not be affected.

 The Water District uses the Ohio River and the Licking River as sources of water for the treatment process, with pump stations at each of these locations. Outside consultants have already tested the processes used at both locations and all equipment, software and monitoring gear is Y2K compliant, with written documentation on file. As stated before, if something would go wrong with the process, both locations can and will be run manually, as long as electricity is available.

The District also utilizes two water treatment plants, one in Fort Thomas and one in Taylor Mill. At the main treatment plant, located in Fort Thomas, all automation can be bypassed and the plants run manually. All water leaves the Fort Thomas Treatment Plant by the use of gravity which eliminates the need for pumps. In case of emergency, this plant also has a generator that can completely power the entire plant. The Taylor Mill Plant is currently in the midst of an extensive instrumentation and chemical feed system upgrade, which will bring it into compliance with Y2K. The upgrade will be completed by May 1, 1999, which will allow plenty of time for additional Y2K testing. Outside consultants have reviewed our processes and the systems used to pump and treat the water. Consultants actually set our comp0uter systems to December 31, 1999 and run a Y2K trial. During these trials, all pumping and treatment processes continued to work normally. Also, all computer systems for accounting, billing, and engineering functions are already Y2K compatible or will be by July 1, 1999.

Vendor Compliance
  The Northern Kentucky Water Service District receives a variety of products from outside vendors. For example, the tools, instruments and equipment that we require our employees use and wear, the chemicals we receive to treat the water, and the electricity and phone service needed to run the plants are all provided by outside sources. Because we are committed to offering our customers high-quality water service, we wanted to be sure we explored all aspects of the Y2K issue. To continue to provide you with the service you expect, it wasn't enough that all of our equipment and processes are compliant, we needed to ensure that our vendors' processes were Y2K compliant as well.

 We have Y2K compliance documentation from all of our laboratory instrument vendors on-site. In the event that our equipment fails, arrangements have been made to perform laboratory testing at an off-site commercial laboratory for those few tests that cannot be done manually.

In addition, the District has implemented a backup plan if a chemical supplier is unable to make a shipment due to Y2K issues. The District has reserved the right to use another supplier. The District is also ordering an extra supply of chemicals, enough to last several months, to have on hand by November 1999. This will ensure that we have all of the needed supplies available.

The Northern Kentucky Water Service District looks forward to providing you with high-quality water service through the Year 2000 and beyond.