Don Nord is running against the clock. As much as anyone at Western Area Power Administration, the agency's year 2000 project manager knows there could be "big problems" by midnight Dec. 31, 1999 if the agency isn't prepared for the widespread computer-readiness phenomenon known as Y2K.

The Y2K problem—not only at Western, but throughout the country and the world—has resulted from older, 1960s-era computers that were programmed to read only the last two digits of a date, such as '98 for 1998. Programmers didn't consider that when the year 2000 rolled around, those computers wouldn't know a new century had started and could shut down systems. There are also billions of computer chips with potential date problems. If not fixed, computers could read 2000 as 1900, causing havoc with almost everything imaginable—government agencies, financial institutions, health care facilities, airlines, supermarkets and much, much more.

What Y2K problems face Western? A federal agency within the Department of Energy, Western markets and transmits hydroelectric power to a wide wholesale customer base—electric utilities, rural electric cooperatives, federal and state agencies, municipalities and water irrigation districts throughout the West. If the Y2K problem is not solved, Western risks operational problems. Power deliveries to Western's customers could be interrupted, literally shutting off the lights and power to millions of residential and business customers.

Although Nord became aware of potential century-end computer glitches as long ago as the mid-1980s, he didn't become seriously concerned until the late 1990s when a fellow Western co-worker brought the issue to management's attention. Management responded by creating a whole new job, Y2K project manager, to handle the matter.

Today, along with a team of Y2K specialists in each of Western's four regional offices, he is working hard to ensure Western is not caught in the potentially uncomfortable, if not downright disastrous, glare of those year 2000 headlights. "There's lots of gloom and doom talk that this could be the end of civilization as we know it," he said. "I expect there will be some scattered problems throughout the country, but it won't be as bad as some have predicted. This is based on our work with the electric power industry."

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Having served on the project for nearly two years, Nord and other team members are determined that Western will be as ready as possible. To do this, they planned, gathered information and updated and tested computer programs. Now they are making contingency plans to prepare for the worst.

"We are asking a lot of ‘what if' questions," said Nord. "For instance, what levels of power generation do we maintain? What if voice or data communications are lost? What levels of staffing, such as maintenance crews and communications employees, should be on call on New Years's Eve? Should employees come to work on Jan. 3 if we have local utility outages? My job is to make sure we get the right people to make these decisions."

Although Nord is generally pleased with the progress the Y2K project team has made, he admits the job is not an easy one. "I'm concerned with the amount of work and limited time we have and that we also have had to deal with constant new requirements that make planning difficult," he said. "But in one big way it's been easier because we were already changing out some of our key finance, maintenance and transmission operations systems."

Nord believes Western's Y2K plan is sound. Some suggestions he has for others planning for Y2K readiness:

Conduct a Y2K inventory to determine which computer software, hardware and other equipment needs to be modified, retired, replaced or upgraded.

Focus on what is "mission essential" to your organization to prioritize work loads.

Assemble technical staff, including telecommunications and maintenance employees, to adequately upgrade and test equipment and software.

Work with other agencies and organizations to share data and get additional information.

Make contingency planning a crucial element in your overall plans. Ask what could happen both inside and outside the organization and then be ready for it.

"Y2K problems are complex and widespread and Western still has much work to do," said Nord. "However, we are taking appropriate steps to ensure that we will continue to provide power and service to our customers."

Western plans to have all critical systems and equipment Y2K ready by April 1999. For more information, see Western's Web site at www.cso.wapa.gov/y2k.

Editor's Note —Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure Statement (in accordance with Public Law No. 105-271)