Auckland City Council - City Scene

Auckland City will be ready for Y2K - the Millennium bug that could cause some computers to stop, or error on January 1, 2000.

Chief executive Bryan Taylor says the Council has completed two years' work to find, test, fix and test again any systems likely to be affected by the bug.

"The Council is now confident that all systems within its control - including the water and wastewater services provided by Metrowater - are ready for the changeover to the new millennium." He says routine testing will continue until the end of the year to ensure systems remain Y2K compliant.

"However, the structured project which was begun in 1997 to find and fix any computer problems is essentially over. The organisation's attention has now turned to business continuance and contingency planning so that we can minimise the impacts on our residents of any disruptions that might occur as a result of factors outside our control."

The Council's highest priorities in its Y2K readiness programme has been traffic control and ensuring the City's water and wastewater utility company Metrowater has all the systems it needs in place to provide an uninterrupted supply of potable water and removal of wastewater.

Working in the city's favour is the fact that most of the city is on a gravity-fed water supply system. Gravity also takes most of the city's wastewater away. The city's traffic lights are generally not dependent on computers to keep operating.

Mr Taylor says: "No major remedial work was necessary, although some key computer componentry in wastewater pumping stations and in building security systems was replaced. Also, some businesses within the Council had used Y2K as an opportunity to upgrade computer systems."

The total cost of the programme had been less than $2 million, he says.

"The reason for this comparatively low cost has been Auckland City's strategic approach to maintaining its systems, including a policy of buying only Y2K compliant computers and software since the late 1980's."

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