Module Four - Readiness Summary Essay
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Feb 20, 2024
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Readiness Summary: Protecting Our Water Supply Martinez 1
Readiness Summary Essay: Protecting Our Water Supply
Jeanette Martinez
INT 370 July 31, 2022
Readiness Summary: Protecting Our Water Supply Martinez 2
Introduction
The sabotage to our water systems was not seen as a viable threat. However, due to the events of 2001, the threat has become a more plausible one. The water system has been recognized as being potentially vulnerable to terrorist attacks: including physical disruption, bioterrorism/chemical contamination, and cyber-attack. The water supply systems in the U.S. are
owned and controlled by various entities, either by State or local government and others by private companies which serves as a symbolic and political target for terrorist. The nation’s water system is formed of interlocking components that include: the water supply system (dams, reservoirs, natural lakes, wells, etc.), water treatment and filtration system; the water distribution system (pipes, pumps, valves storage tanks, etc.); and of course, control systems often run by computers. These systems are mostly aging and in urgent need of upgrading, not simply to keep them overseeing the growing water needs of the nation, but also to protect them from terrorist attacks.
Significance Many individuals feel that a terrorist attack which place chemical or even biological agents in the water supply is unlikely to be successful. Contamination of a reservoir with a biological agent would not likely produce a substantial risk to public health because of the dilution effect. These reservoirs hold hundreds of thousands and in various cases millions of gallons of water. A massive amount of contaminant would be needed for a successful terrorist attack at this point. If agents were to be introduced at this point, they are likely to be detected and
unlikely to survive the chlorination process. Even so, filtration and disinfection of the water may occur downstream mitigating the contamination. However, if the point contamination is after a treatment facility where filters, chlorination and other preventative measures would no longer be
Readiness Summary: Protecting Our Water Supply Martinez 3
effective, the likelihood of success is much greater. Fortunately, this type of act is still subject to the dilution issue which would lessen the severity of such an attack. Attacks on the nation’s water supply can come in numerous forms; contamination from chemical or biological agents or merely disruption to the processing filtration and distribution are
few types of attacks. The primary threats to the nation’s drinking water supplies are contamination which can be cause by chemical, organic, or biological materials. There are laws governing the acceptable amounts of contaminants, measured in parts per million or parts per billion in the nation’s drinking water. Water contamination detection, assessment, and response must go beyond just installing water quality monitoring analyzers that generate data. Key areas of consideration should include selected water quality parameters to monitor, identifying monitoring location, establishing baseline values for acceptable water quality levels, integrating remote water quality monitoring data with other information available to the utility, and rapidly assessing the information to initiate the right level of response. Facilities are required by law to monitor and report all levels of contamination on a regular basis. Real-time monitoring is critical to minimize the impact of a terrorist attack.
Impeding the ability of the water supply to reach the populace can have far reaching implications. Businesses would not be able to conduct operations, process manufacturing would halt, restaurants would close, and our daily routines would be thrown into disarray. In several areas, drinking water is also used to supply fire hydrants. Without adequate water supply, the fire
department’s ability to fight fires would be all but neutralized. Attacks on holding tanks, major distribution arteries, pumping stations or filtration and treatment facilities could cause significant
disruption to the water supply.
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Readiness Summary: Protecting Our Water Supply Martinez 4
With water infrastructure systems that are more connected to telecommunication systems,
they are also more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Computer networks and digital monitoring technology play a key role in the management of our nation’s water supplies. For example, water
tanks overflowing may be cause by a direct attack on a pumping station through the activation of
unscheduled pumps. Another example, say there is water tank one and water tank two. Due to malfunction of communication in the water supply system, information in water tank one is showing in water tank two which cause water tank two to physically overflow. The highly distrusted nature of local water supplies places pumping stations, holding tanks, electronically controlled valves, and miles upon miles of piping remote and often obscure locations making them prime targets to terrorists. Hypothetically, A skilled hacker could create all kinds of chaos within or from beyond our borders. Water treatment facilities are sensitive structures subject to the harsh environment. Freeze-thaw, abrasion, and chemical attacks are reason waterside structures corrode. The ideal technique to reinforce water tanks with corrosion free materials such as fiber reinforced polymer.
The quality of concrete also plays a crucial role in protecting the reinforcement from an aggressive environment. There are three major kind of water tanks: underground tanks, tanks resting on the ground, and elevated tanks. It is important to continue to innovate and sustain solutions that can provide longer service life to water tanks with minimum maintenance and repair. Holding tanks have a padlock on the door leading to the water contained in the tanks. It is also as easy as breaking into a water facility and having a simple pair of bolts cutters that could defeat that security. Organizations responsible for water distribution systems should increase the physical security of each of their facilities
Conclusion
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Damage to or destruction of the nation’s water supply and water quality infrastructure by terrorist attack could disrupt the delivery of vital human services. The entire water treatment and distribution system must be protected not just the treatment or storage facilities. A real-time chemical biological detection system with remote sampling sensing capabilities will significantly
improve the safety of the nation’s water supply. Engineering changes in water distribution system design and metering must also take place.
Readiness Summary: Protecting Our Water Supply Martinez 6
Reference
Choi, Sadollah, A., & Kim, J. H. (2020). Improvement of Cyber-Attack Detection Accuracy from Urban Water Systems Using Extreme Learning Machine.
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(22), 8179–. https://doi.org/10.3390/app10228179
Linville, & Thompson, K. A. (2006). Protecting the security of our nation’s water systems: Challenges and successes. Journal - American Water Works Association
, 98
(3), 234–241.
https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1551-8833.2006.tb07618.x
Monroe, Ramsey, E., & Berglund, E. (2018). Allocating countermeasures to defend water distribution systems against terrorist attack. Reliability Engineering & System Safety
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, 37–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2018.02.014
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