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National Rural Water Association Small Systems Serious About SecurityFull accounting will not be available until later; however as of June 30, EPA reports that 90% of systems between 3,300 and 10,000 have submitted their Vulnerability Assessments as required by the Bio-Terrorism Act.
Recently, in Pennsylvania a water works employee spotted a suspicious black bag located near its 33-million gallon water supply reservoir. The reservoir was shut down for several hours as the city’s bomb squad and hazardous materials crew responded. Turns out, it was some teenage kid’s soiled underwear. Amazingly, the youth climbed over two security fences topped with barbed wire in his quest to hide an embarrassing moment. Once such an incident would have gone unnoticed but in today’s world of heightened water security, one kid’s dirty underwear turned out to be a national news story. During the past year, State Rural Water Associations have provided 2,114 on-site types of assistance related to security consisting of 4,379 hours. One system from Ohio stated the training they received from Ohio Rural Water Association on the SEMS software made all the difference in completing a comprehensive VA. Because they saw for themselves the necessity of a thorough security check, their water system was given a critical examination. It was a lot of hard work, extra long hours and many team meetings but the effort was well worth the benefits from the assessment. For more information and assistance with system security, contact your state rural water association. A quick state reference listing may be found on the NRWA website: www.nrwa.org National Rural Water Association and its 48 state associations provide service and support to over 23,501 water and wastewater utilities throughout the United States.
ESI is published by the National Rural Water Association, 2915 S. 13th
Street, Duncan, OK 73533. Copyright 2004, |
Small systems
recognize that the best security is public awareness and thinking security
in the daily activities of utility staff. For example, over 55,000
“Warning Signs” have been purchased and posted on system properties.
These signs notify would-be vandals that tampering with a water utility is
a federal offense. Prior to 9/11, most security breaches were viewed as
acts of vandalism that seldom compromised the quality of water. Today,
any event is treated as a potential act of terrorism until proven
otherwise.