The Jerusalem Gichon Water and Sewage Company has completely
complied with all measures recommended by pertinent
professionals, in order to guarantee the steady flow of its
services during the coming year. It has announced that it is
Y2K compliant.
Y2K is the name of a failure which computer systems as well
as electrical and communication systems may be subject to at
the start of the year 2000. In the early days of computing,
the year was often designated with only the last 2 digits of
the year, so that such computers cannot distinguish between
the year 2000 and the year 1900. This inability may cause
failure of such systems as they change over from the year
1999 to the year 2000.
Gichon recently held a drill in order to examine the
stability of the system under various circumstances liable to
arise as a result of Bug Y2K. Its pumping installations and
engineering devices have all been successfully run for 24
consecutive hours by a mechanical support system, without the
use of electricity.
Officials of the water company stressed that residents do not
need to stock up on water. On the contrary, they noted that
it is inadvisable to store water due to the possibility of
contamination and the accumulation of bacteria.
The Israel Electric Corporation has previously announced that
it is Y2K compliant.
Recently, many authorities have begun saying that the threat
of disruption due to the Y2K problem seems minor. Public
anxiety is way ahead of the actual Y2K threat, according to
the assessment of Gartner Group researchers and most other
experts. They expect computer problems to be minor, for the
most part, with many Y2K problems detected in November and
December of this year as date-forward transactions begin to
uncover gaps in system protections. Gartner Group is a major
U.S.A. based computer research firm.
