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April 23, 2003 AMSA Fax Alert

Member Pipeline - Fax Alert SpecialEdition - April 23, 2003

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April 23, 2003

AMSA SEEKS MEMBER INPUT ON SECURITY/EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS NEEDS – ACTION PLEASE BY MAY 2, 2003

Since September 11, 2001, AMSA has been actively engaged in a wide variety of initiatives related to wastewater infrastructure security and emergency preparedness. Efforts to inspire and support legislation to help utilities fund vulnerability assessment and remediation, as described in last week’s FaxAlert, represent just one of AMSA’s initiatives in this area. The Association’s efforts to date have consistently focused on both the potential for terrorist attack and preparedness for other crisis events such as natural disasters, unavoidable disruption of service, and extreme cases of vandalism. AMSA’s initiatives to date include:

  • The Asset Based Vulnerability Checklist for Wastewater Utilities
  • The Legal Issues in a Time of Crisis Checklist
  • The Vulnerability Assessment Software Tools -
    - VSATwastewater™ (and its recent downloadable upgrade)
    - VSATwater™
    - VSAT water/wastewater™
    - Training & Tutorials (coming soon!) in support of the tools
  • Collaborative work with on the development of an anthrax decontamination water protocol (nearing completion)

Future efforts to further improve and enhance AMSA’s Vulnerability Self Assessment Tool (VSAT™) software are in the works, but we are also interested in learning more about remaining needs in the security/emergency preparedness area, as identified by AMSA’s Members and Affiliates. The potential does exist for new federal funds to be directed in support of additional wastewater initiatives.

We would welcome any recommendations you would have for specific projects, initiatives or unmet needs. Please forward your recommendations to Paula Dannenfeldt via fax (202/833-3743) or e-mail (pdannenfeldt@amsa-cleanwater.org) by Friday, May 2, 2003. Thank you in advance for any input you provide.