Fund Drinking Water Security, Experts Warn

WASHINGTON, DC, December 2, 2003 (ENS) - Water distribution systems are the physical components of U.S. drinking water utilities most vulnerable to terrorist threats, according to an expert panel surveyed by the General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative branch of the U.S. Congress.

The panel warned that physical disruption, bioterrorism, chemical contamination, and cyber attack could disrupt the security of the more than 170,000 public water utilities across the United States. The availability of safe drinking water and the delivery of services that depend on these water supplies, such as fire suppression, would be affected.

In a report to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on how federal funds might best be spent to reduce vulnerabilities in the U.S. drinking water supply, the panel pointed out the need to safeguard water distribution systems, which in larger utilities may contain thousands of miles of pipes and numerous access points. The experts also warned of vulnerable computer systems that manage critical utility functions, treatment chemicals such as chlorine stored on site, and source water supplies.

In their report, dated October 31 but made public Monday, more than 90 percent of the experts said that water utilities serving high density areas deserve a high priority for federal funding. Utilities serving critical assets such as military bases, national icons, and key academic institutions should also be high on the priority list, they said.

The valve room at the water filtration plant, Port Washington, Wisconsin (Photo courtesy City of Port Washington)

Senator James Inhofe, the Oklahoma Republican who chairs the committee, said, "Addressing the nation's security needs requires a partnership between all levels of government. GAO's analysis of what the federal role in this partnership may be will be helpful as we receive requests from local governments for assistance and as we develop federal funding priorities."

Senator Jim Jeffords, a Vermont Independent who is the ranking minority member of the committee, said, "This report indicates that our nation's drinking water supplies remain vulnerable from both manmade and natural disasters. Many of us take safe drinking water for granted, and this report shows that we shouldn't. Congress has a responsibility to make sure that our drinking water systems are a safe as they can be."

To determine what the priorities for federal spending should be, the GAO, under the direction of Natural Resources and Environment chief John Stephenson, conducted a systematic Internet based survey of 43 nationally recognized experts to seek consensus on key drinking water security issues.

More than half the experts said direct federal grants would be very effective in distributing funds to water utilities to address vulnerabilities in their systems. Fewer experts recommended using the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund for security upgrades.

When experts were asked to identify activities most deserving of federal support to enhance drinking water security, physical and technological upgrades were high on the list.

Education and training to support simulation exercises that would provide responders with experience in carrying out emergency response plans should be funded as a priority, the panel indicated.

Specialized training of utility security staff, and the establishment of multidisciplinary consulting teams to assess utilities’ security preparedness and recommend improvements were other suggested uses for federal dollars.

Relationships between water utilities and other agencies that may have key roles in an emergency response, such as public health and law enforcement agencies, and neighboring drinking water systems should be strengthened with federal funds, some members of the panel said.

One expert commended the way eight San Francisco Bay Area utilities meet regularly as the Bay Area Security Information Collaborative to address security related topics.

Gate valve regulates the flow of water for Seattle Public Utilities. (Photo courtesy City of Seattle)

In addition, they warned, there is a lack of redundancy in vital system components, which increases the likelihood that an attack could render an entire utility inoperable.

In selecting panel members, the GAO report says a balance in representation was sought amongst federal agencies, state or local agencies, industry and nonprofit organizations, and water utilities of varying sizes.

In general, the GAO reports, their observations were similar to those of major public and private organizations that have assessed the vulnerability of these systems to terrorist attacks, including the National Academy of Sciences, Sandia National Laboratories, and key industry associations.

When asked to identify what they believed to be among the top vulnerabilities of drinking water utilities, nearly 75 percent of the experts - 32 of 43 - identified one or more components of the distribution system. Twelve of the 32 experts said the distribution system is a utility's single most important vulnerability.

Accessibility of the distribution systems at numerous points was a recurring concern. One expert cited the difficulty of preventing the introduction of a contaminant into a distribution system from inside a public building.

Another noted that since the water in a distribution system has already been treated and is in the final stages of being transferred to consumers, the distribution of a chemical, biological, or radiological agent in such a manner could be difficult to detect until it is too late to reverse any harm done.

Federal funding should go into research to develop technologies that will prevent, detect, or respond to an attack, many of the experts said, particularly the development of near realtime monitoring technologies to quickly detect contaminants in treated drinking water already on its way to consumers.

Almost half of the experts on GAO panel - 19 of 43 - identified as vulnerable the utiilties' computer systems, known as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, that allow operators to monitor and control processes throughout their drinking water systems.

Thirteen of the 43 experts identified treatment chemicals, particularly chlorine used for disinfection, as among utilities’ top vulnerabilities. The destruction of large canisters of chlorine could release toxic gases in densely populated areas, they warned.

Some experts noted, however, that this risk has been minimized by utilities that have chosen to use the more stable liquid form of chlorine instead of the more vulnerable compressed gas canisters that have traditionally been used.

Croton Reservoir located north of New York City supplies urban residents with drinking water. (Photo courtesy Croton Watershed Clean Water Coalition)

But the Bioterrorism Act forbids the disclosure of any information that is “derived” from vulnerability assessments submitted to the EPA.

"It is important to protect sensitive information about each utility’s vulnerabilities from individuals who may then use the information to harm the utility," the GAO report states. By law, only individuals designated by the EPA Administrator may have access to the vulnerability assessments and related information.

Yet even those individuals would have difficulty in citing vulnerability assessments to support decisions on allocating security related funds among utilities, the GAO report says.

Other experts mentioned a dilemma affecting any effort to set priorities for funding decisions based on the greatest risk - whatever does not receive attention becomes the best target.

The GAO pointed out that judgments about who should receive priority for federal funding, and how those funds should be spent, must be made in the face of great uncertainty about the likely target of an attack, the nature of an attack - physical, cyber, chemical, biological, or radiological - and its timing. The experts on GAO’s panel have had to consider these uncertainties in deriving their own judgments about these issues.

"Their judgments, while not unanimous on all matters, suggested a high degree of consensus on a number of key issues," the GAO said.

As the lead federal agency responsible for water infrastructure and developing emergency preparedness strategies with public and private agencies, the EPA received a draft of this report for review and comment. The EPA did not submit a formal letter but did provide comments from officials in its Office of Water and its Office of Homeland Security.

The comments from the Office of Water said that the report’s results were “useful and well thought out.” EPA’s Office of Homeland Security said that the report “demonstrates a well conceived and executed project,” and that “a number of the issues raised in the document will be useful to the agency as it moves forward in the drinking water security program.” Both offices also offered specific technical comments and suggestions, which the GAO has incorporated into the final document.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued precautionary warnings to water utilities nationwide.

The report, "Drinking Water: Experts’ Views on How Future Federal Funding Can Best Be Spent to Improve Security," is available online at: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0429.pdf

The EPA drinking water security website is at: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/security/flyers/index.html