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Water Authorities Increase Vigilance Against Terrorism Risk
 Auburn,
Feb. 19, 2003 ---
Many people assume the drinking water source most vulnerable to a
terrorist attack is surface water – lakes, rivers and streams that
supply much of the nation’s drinking water.
But the threat lies
much closer to home. While surface water remains a possible
target, the most vulnerable source is stored drinking water
– water that has been treated and stored before its final trip to
the tap.
The good news for
consumers is that water treatment authorities have made dramatic
strides toward reducing this risk since the 9/11 tragedy.
“Among the general
public, the most typical imagined sources of attack are lakes,
rivers and streams that feed drinking water supplies,” says Dr.
James Hairston, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System water
quality scientist. “And it is true that anyone could walk into a
densely wooded area and pour a contaminant in a lake or river that
supplies local drinking water.”
Even so, this
probably wouldn’t work, Hairston says, because the contaminant
likely would be neutralized or removed in the course of water
treatment.
But then there is
stored drinking water – the water source that has health authorities
most concerned.
“Once you’ve
treated and stored water, it would be relatively easy to climb to
the top of the tank and pour a chemical or biological agent into
it,” Hairston says. “And several days would pass and a great deal
of havoc would ensue before it was corrected.”
Yet, even these
risks have been reduced dramatically in recent years due to the
efforts of the EPA and cooperative agencies, such as the American
Water Works Association. They are working with water-treatment
facilities throughout the nation to identify practices on their part
that may contribute to these risks.
In some cases,
addressing these problems may be as simple as constructing fences
and a 24-hour monitoring system around water-storage facilities,
Hairston says. In other cases, it may involve setting up
neighborhood watch-type programs so that people living near these
storage facilities would know to report any strange activity to the
authorities.
In the aftermath of
the 9/11 tragedy, Congress added one more layer of protection. The
Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response
Act of 2002 requires community water systems serving populations of
more than 3,300 people to undertake a careful study of their
facility’s vulnerability to terrorist attack or similar intentional
acts aimed at disrupting its ability to provide a safe and reliable
water supply.
The study is based
on a vulnerability assessment fact sheet, developed by EPA and
tailored to the particular needs of each system. The fact sheet
takes account of all facets of water treatment. It includes
potential vulnerability of ground and surface water, as well as
risks associated with the water in the course of its transmission to
treatment facilities and its subsequent treatment and distribution
to consumers.
This assessment is
also designed to help water-treatment authorities determine what
changes must be undertaken to reduce these risks, such as equipment
upgrades and changes in security and monitoring procedures.
While Hairston is
the first to support these new policies, he still believes that
consumers should also remember that drinking water remains an
unlikely target, especially from the standpoint of the terrorist.
“Water
contamination is just too inefficient from the standpoint of most
people,” Hairston says. “Terrorists have proven time and time again
that they’re out to kill the largest number of people in the
shortest time.”
“Drinking water is
not a very desirable target for that reason, largely because of the
dilution factor but also because any act is likely to be detected
along the way, especially now that water treatment facilities are
maintaining higher vigilance.”
(Source: Dr. James Hairston,
Extension Water Quality Scientist, 334-844-3973)
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