Montana State University |
Montana State University |
By Carol Flaherty
MSU News Service
9/8/99 - BOZEMAN – The important difference between Chicken Little thinking the sky was falling and people being afraid of fiscal and physical disruption in the year 2000 is that there was no chance Chicken Little was right.
By all official reports (and I believe them), there is not a likelihood of service disruption in the early days of year 2000 (Y2K), but there is an increased chance of disruption.
I liked the way Jason Smith, executive director of the Five Rivers Chapter of the American Red Cross, phrased it when he spoke in August at Montana State University as part of the President's Council for the Year 2000 Conversion.
"Our community is a safer place as a result of Y2K planning," said Smith. However, he added, "We encourage families to plan what they would do to keep themselves safe." That means safe in a big snow storm, or power outage or the other events that are much more common than the millennium.
That makes our jobs easy if we are willing to assume two things: most of us can't put thousands of dollars into "preparedness," and most of us can't leave work to hide in a private retreat.
We can, however, make some simple preparations to ensure our family's well-being.
Montanans should plan well before January how they would keep themselves warm and supplied with water, food, and a pot to . . . provide for basic physical needs. (If you're on a well and the electricity goes out, the toilet will flush once, but not refill.)
Though I don't rate them in my top four, having access to emergency radio reports, flashlights, batteries, recent financial reports and a few extra days worth of cash could prove useful.
Heating in the middle of a Montana winter is critical. There are two separate issues that will decide whether you are warm in January: your power supply and your heater.
Montana Power Company says it has been working toward Y2K compliance since 1993 and will be ready.
However, there is more than Montana Power involved in our power system.
Montana is within the western "power grid" composed of parts of 12 states, two Canadian provinces, and two tiny parts of Mexico. The grid is a network of producers, distributors and electric power suppliers that help each other out. Power sharing among them works automatically and somewhat like the weather's high and low pressure systems. When power is low one area, power flows in from another. Most of the power flow is automated, and date-sensitive automated controls are at the heart of Y2K concerns.
Jim Cole is a Montana Power Company engineer working on Y2K issues. Cole says links from the Western grid to other grids are weak and unlikely to affect our power.
That still means the flow within our grid must remain within tolerances. Power companies nationwide have improved since the big 1965 grid failure. On Nov. 9 that year, a blackout put 30 million people in the northeastern United States and Ontario, Canada into the dark for up to 13 hours. To help prevent this from reoccurring, companies banded together into the North American Electricity Reliability Council. January 1, we'll see how well all the improved controls work.
Even if you assume you will have power in January, you still have a job to do.
If your heating system was installed within the past 10 years, it may have a computer chip to help regulate it, says Mike Vogel, Montana State University Extension housing specialist. Not all of those chips will be Y2K compatible. The potential for a problem is less for home systems and greater in larger corporate furnace systems. However, if you have a furnace that warms up before you get out of bed and turns itself off as you leave for work, it has a clock and perhaps a computer chip. A major manufacturer advised that while all its equipment is Y2K compliant, add-ons by the installer may not be.
This is your job: If your furnace has been installed within the past 10 years, write down its make, model and year, then call the installer to check its Y2K compliance. Don't wait until December or even November. The later you wait, the more difficult it will be for your installer to meet your needs.
Regardless of your furnace, all households face occasional power outages, and you should have what is necessary to keep you safe at 30 below zero for a couple of days.
Your plans may be as simple as staying under lots of blankets. If your budget allows, you might check into a small back-up heater. Be sure it is safe indoors, since fuel fumes can be dangerous. Back-up generators are "not a do-it-yourself job," says Vogel. He recommends they be installed by or at least inspected by an electrician.
Another need is for water and food that doesn't need heating. The Red Cross recommends supplies "for several days to a week."
For water, you can either buy enough for a week or simply fill multiple clean plastic jugs with tap water. Store water in a basement, if possible, since it is less likely to freeze there than above-ground.
Tap water cannot be stored indefinitely without additional steps to keep it safe. Store your water within the two months before you intend to use it.
For food, I personally favor canned goods you can donate later to a food bank. Canned soups or stews can be eaten cold if need be. Make sure you have a manual can opener.
That covers heat, water and food, and I'll bet you can figure the pot out for yourself.
A brief comment on finances.
Leigh Bohn of Montana's Federal Reserve Banking System office says the Reserve has been preparing for Y2K since 1996 and that banks and credit unions are more than 99 percent Y2K compliant.
There is, however, one financial glitch only you can prevent.
There are few banks in the United States that could supply enough money for all depositors to make major withdrawals Dec. 31. One credit union reported that it is ready for up to four times the usual withdrawals, but there are finite limits to cash storage. In all likelihood your money is safer in a bank than at home. However, if you plan to make withdrawals before January, do so slowly over the weeks before December and make sure you have a safe place to keep it.
Whatever each of us decides is wise should be done sooner rather than later. If we all waited until Dec. 31 to fill water bottles, go to the grocery and bank, we would cause the problem we are worrying about.
Go to more feature stories arranged by category.
Send questions or comments to Carol Flaherty, MSU Communications Services, Bozeman, MT 59717 or email Flaherty at carolf@montana.edu.
You are the 7970th person to access this page.
