Y2K Environmental Problems

Lots of little glitches keep popping up during

testing for Y2K preparedness. One recent glitch was not so little. In the San Fernando Valley of California, 4 million gallons (15 million l) of raw sewage were spilled onto a 10-acre (4 ha) section of the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area when a gate controlling sewage transfer from a main pipeline was accidentally closed—a malfunction traced to a programming error made in 1985. Fortunately, there was no release of sewage into the Los Angeles River.