Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - AMSA in the News
Terrorist threats to water to be focal point of hearing
Infrastructure/Water Resources, Infrastructure, Water Resources
Daily
10/08/2001
Short and long-term efforts to secure the nation's water foundations from
terrorist attacks is the subject of a Wednesday hearing in the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. A host of federal, local and
industry officials will be on hand for the session, which a committee source
said will delve into communication and coordination efforts underway both prior
to and in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
This week, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is expected to lay
out before Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Minority Leader Trent Lott
(R-Miss.) a $1 billion to $5 billion matching grants request for drinking water
infrastructure security improvements, funds that the committee asked to be
included in the upcoming economic stimulus package. For now, it appears the
House is moving a bit slower. A Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
source would not comment on any legislative vehicles that might take into
account water security.
Meantime, according to a committee statement, the Wednesday hearing is expected
to delve into security measures at water supply systems, wastewater treatment
plants, dams and reservoirs, federally owned power plants and hazardous chemical
facilities. The panel notes that in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, security
measures have begun to change to take into account what were once considered
low-risk threats.
A range of security measures are up for discussion at the hearing, including
federal efforts at hydroelectric facilities operated by the Army Corps of
Engineers and Tennessee Valley Authority. TVA, for example, operates three
nuclear power plants, 11 fossil fuel plans and 29 hydroelectric power plants.
The Environmental Protection Agency, which is responsible for emergency
preparations and response to oil, hazardous substance and certain radiological
material incidents, is also up for review.
The hearing is likely to cover much ground when it comes to drinking water
security. In the days following the attacks, water officials said they had
boosted their security efforts. Yet they also complained that their long-range
planning efforts were behind, both in data gathering and in funding.
Jim Manwaring, executive director of the American Water Works Association
Research Foundation, acknowledged that the threat to water supplies is
everpresent, though he also said it was probably way down on a terrorist's list.
Manwaring said the nation's water resources were for the most part fortified,
pointing out how sister operations in nearby cities are interconnected and can
be called upon to help one another. Further, water infrastructure is about 85
percent underground and not as accessible to a terrorist as a tall building. "It
is such a diverse system that affecting one point doesn't necessarily affect the
whole system," he said, adding that it would take a great amount of a
contaminant to impact a large water supply.
Diane VanDe Hei, executive director of the Association of Metropolitan Water
Agencies, said in a recent letter to Congress that drinking water officials were
already at work prior to the attacks to shore up defenses. Still, she requested
in her letter about $150 million in federal help, funds that would be used
toward vulnerability assessments for the nation's largest drinking water
systems, research and development on security systems, and emergency response
plans.
As Congress scopes out water security, one place it could look for guidance is a
1997 report by the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection,
as well as its 1998 outcome, Presidential Decision Directive 63. PDD 63, signed
by then President Clinton, called for the creation of, among other things,
Information Sharing and Analysis Centers, networks divided by industry sector
that are to be the clearinghouse for everything from risk assessments to
research and development.
Retired Air Force Gen. Tom Marsh oversaw the PCCIP report. In an interview with
Environment and Energy Dailylast month, he recalled that his group's work was
buried upon its completion, noting that the lead federal agencies responsible
did not follow up on Clinton's orders, most notably in their outreach to the
private sector. "Too many other things were on the minds of our leadership," he
said, pointing to the fact it took three years for officials from the private
water industry to come together and begin discussing the formation of an ISAC.
Within the water sector, VanDe Hei is the lead industry source. Her group held
its first meeting this January. Ultimately, she said she visualizes the water
ISAC as a "real-time information center" providing secure updates on terrorist
threats to water utilities across the country.
Witnesses: Robert Bostock, special assistant to the administrator for homeland
security, Environmental Protection Agency; Ronald Dick, director of the National
Infrastructure Protection Center; Michael Parker, assistant secretary of the
Army; Glenn McCullough, chairman of Tennessee Valley Authority; Beverly O'Neill,
mayor, Long Beach, Calif.; Jeffrey Danneels, department manager, Sandia National
Laboratories; John Sullivan Jr., president, Association of Metropolitan Water
Agencies; Patrick Karney, director, Association of Metropolitan Sewerage
Agencies; Randy Speight, senior director of regulatory affairs, American
Chemistry Council; Joanne Moreau, director, Office of Emergency Preparedness,
East Baton Rouge Parish, La.