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Gold Hill systems are Y2K ready Public works director says city could face up to most disasters By MELISSA MARTIN GOLD HILL -- Royal Gasso had just finished testing the new generator at the city's water treatment plant when the power went out one day this month. The generator switched back on and hummed along as it pumped, purified and distributed Rogue River water for Gold Hill's 1,280 residents until electricity was restored eight hours later. "When the grid power went off, the generator came on automatically and it produced water for eight hours," said Gasso, public works director. "It did everything the way it was supposed to." Be it a power outage, tornado, flood or computer failures, Gold Hill's water and sewer plants are ready for any disaster, Gasso said. The public works director took an inventory of equipment at the water and sewer plants to identify components vulnerable to year 2000 computer rollovers. The fear is that microchips used to control computerized systems will read 2000 as 1900, causing malfunctions. "The city had few pieces of equipment that were sensitive to automatic dates," Gasso said. "Our biggest problems came from possible failures of systems beyond our control such as power and telephone service." The city spent $21,000 for a 250-kilowatt generator and $10,500 for an automatic transfer switch that senses a power failure and ignites the backup source. Gold Hill also purchased battery-powered Motorola radios with a two-mile range, plenty for the public works staff to communicate in a town that encompasses one square mile. The city's wastewater plant has had a generator for some time. Crews are fueling it up and changing the oil this week. And like every other city in Southern Oregon, Gold Hill stores water for its residents. The town has two reservoirs that hold 1 million gallons of water, a week's supply in the winter. Gasso also plans to purchase a limited amount of food to store at city shops to share with elderly residents in the event of an emergency. "We guarantee that drinking water will be flowing and operating normally over the course of the new year," Gasso said. "Our customers won't notice Y2K as far as their utilities go." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA