Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - AMSA in the News
No. 26
Thursday, February 7, 2002 Page A-4
ISSN 1521-9402
News
Security
Officials Responsible for Water, Sewers Respond to New Threats Posed by
Terrorists
ORLANDO--Since the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, security concerns and how to
pay to address them have dominated the challenges faced by drinking water and
wastewater officials.
Even before the attacks, a presidential directive was issued in 1998 to look
into the protection of water and waste water utilities, Diane VanDe Hei,
executive director of the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, said Feb.
6. At that time, cyber terrorism was the primary security concern, she said,
despite assertions by utility managers that threats to the physical plant were
equally problematic.
"That message is easier to get across now," VanDe Hei said, during the winter
meeting of the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies, which focused on
security issues.
In the wake of the attacks, Congress approved an emergency funding supplemental
appropriation for fiscal year 2002 that provided about $80 million for drinking
water vulnerability assessments. Further, the Bush administration included an
additional $20 million in its fiscal 2003 budget request for the Environmental
Protection Agency for drinking water security (24 DEN AA-1, 2/5/02).
However, AMSA officials said at the conference they were concerned that none of
that money was specifically targeted toward security for publicly owned
treatment works.
Janet Pawlukiewicz, director of EPA's water protection task force in the EPA
Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water, told the conference that the agency
is still deliberating on the use of the money from the supplemental
appropriation and the budget request.
"I anticipate there will be some support for waste water," she said.
Former National Security Advisory Sandy Berger also addressed the conference and
pointed out that most of the focus has been on the drinking water side.
"There needs to be a greater understanding that [threats to] waste water
treatment may pose an even greater risk," he said. "We need more focus on that
side of the equation."
An informal survey of publicly owned treatment works operators showed that most
did not have adequate funding budgeted for security issues. Most said that after
the attacks they were contacted by public officials or their governing boards
seeking assurances that they were taking steps to protect their facility.
Protection for 'Crumbling' Infrastructure
Bill Bertera, executive director of the Water Environment Federation, an
education and research organization affiliated with municipalities, said he
found it ironic that utilities are starting to get funding to protect external
infrastructure "that has been crumbling internally for 50 years."
He was referring to the campaign by municipal water and waste water utilities to
secure more funding from Congress to address aging infrastructure. Organizations
representing these groups estimate the funding needs for capital improvements
and operation and maintenance over the next 20 years at up to $1 trillion.
"While physical infrastructure is important, it's not as sexy as cyber
terrorism," he said.
Tools in the form of software and checklists have been developed by AMSA and
other groups to help waste water utilities grapple with the security issues.
Kenneth Rubin, senior partner with PA Consulting Inc., in Washington, D.C.,
which helped develop a vulnerability assessment checklist for publicly owned
treatment works, said that many of the new industry standards for security do
not come from the water industry because they have not been considered targets
for criminal or terrorist activity.
Instead, the standards have "come from high-risk facilities like nuclear power
plants and airports," he said.
The checklist includes an assessment of the facility's assets and the security
measures already in place. It helps facility managers to ascertain risk and to
put plans in place to deal with those risks.
Information Sharing, Analysis System
In addition, AMWA has taken the lead on developing an Information Sharing and
Analysis System for water and waste water utilities. VanDe Hei said she expects
the system, which is a secure Internet-based communications tool that will
include timely advisories and alerts, to be available in April.
"We want [the ISAC] to be able to take timely, credible, actionable information
from the FBI, the CIA, and other agencies and get it out to utilities," she
said. "We also want it to house sensitive information that we wouldn't want to
put out on the Internet where anyone can see it. It needs to be a safe house."
Glenn Reinhardt, executive director of the Water Environment Research
Federation, the research arm of WEF, outlined numerous research projects that
will help in the protection of utilities.
Many of these new technologies to address security concerns may have the added
benefit of helping facilities meet their regulatory obligations under the Clean
Water Act in a more cost-effective way. While concerns about security abound,
Reinhardt said, regulatory matters also remain.
By Susan Bruninga