Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - AMSA in the News
No. 143
Thursday, July 25, 2002 Page A-1
ISSN 1521-9402
News
Security
House Panel Authorizes $220 Million For Wastewater Plant Security Activities
The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure July 24 authorized
$220 million for security activities at wastewater treatment works.
The bill (H.R. 5169) would provide $200 million in grants--to be made by the
Environmental Protection Agency--for facilities to conduct vulnerability
assessments and undertake security improvements.
In addition, it would authorize $15 million for technical assistance to small
wastewater plants and $5 million for the improvement of wastewater vulnerability
self-assessment methodologies and tools.
No amendments were offered during the markup of the bill.
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, a great deal of attention has been paid
to the vulnerabilities of drinking water systems but little to those of
wastewater systems, according to Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.), chairman of the
Water Resources Subcommittee and a sponsor of the bill.
Sewer Pipes Can Provide Access
However, sewer pipes can provide a means of uncontrolled access to public and
private buildings, he said.
A bioterrorism bill (P.L. 107-188) signed June 12 authorizes $175 million for
drinking water system security activities, but does not address wastewater (114
DEN A-1, 6/13/02 ).
During the conference on the measure, Senate conferees requested that language
on wastewater security be included in the Safe Drinking Water Act, according to
the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The House conferees did
not agree and instead the transportation committee offered to move separate
legislation.
Such legislation was introduced July 2, 2002, by Reps. Don Young (R.-Alaska),
committee chairman, James Oberstar (D-Minn.), and Duncan.
Utilities Laud Measure
The Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies expressed its support for the
bill in a July 24 statement.
"AMSA's more than 270 public agency members, who serve the majority of the U.S.
population, are public servants dedicated to making clean water progress and to
ensuring that their plants, employees, and customers are made as safe as
possible," said Ken Kirk, executive director of the group.
"H.R. 5169 will provide municipalities with the tools needed to meet this
important objective," he said. "AMSA stands ready to help this legislation
become a reality."
AMSA said it has worked closely with EPA to develop a vulnerability
self-assessment tool called VSAT(TM)wastewater, which was released July 23 and
will be distributed to public wastewater treatment agencies across the United
States.
More information on AMSA's software tool is available at
http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org
on the World Wide Web.