Drinking water and sewage facilities are threatened by the Y2K computer bug, and lax oversight by the feds and industry are to blame, according to a reported released by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Center for Y2K & Society. The report authors, based on surveys conducted by such groups as the American Water Works Association, expressed “serious doubts” that 55,000 drinking water utilities and 16,000 publicly owned wastewater facilities in the U.S. would be prepared for the New Year. Although government and industry reps agreed with the report findings that every household in the country should stock up on water for the first few months of 2000, they said the situation is far from dire. Don Meyer, a spokesperson for the Senate Y2K committee: “We are very concerned about wastewater preparedness. However, we disagree that drinking water is in a crisis.”
