Drinking Water
Vulnerability Assessments

Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, the United States has spent a considerable amount of time and resources examining the safety and security of assets associated with critical infrastructure systems across the country. Threats to potable water systems have been determined to pose a credible risk to the safety and security of the nation. Such attacks could result in very serious consequences to public health and the ability of certain critical components of society such as fire departments, hospitals, and military facilities to carry out their missions. As a result, the 2002 Bioterrorism Act amended the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to require all community public water systems serving 3,300 people or more to prepare vulnerability assessments (VAs) and emergency response plans (ERPs).

Battelle experts have been working with the Department of Defense to prepare VAs and ERPs for facilities across the United States.

The VAs provide facility management personnel with a tool for understanding the risk of operations and pinpointing areas where security improvements might reasonably be expected to reduce risk. The assessments have focused on the effectiveness of physical barriers, access controls, surveillance and assessment systems, alarms, lighting, mitigation, and recovery capabilities.

Battelle’s VA teams conducted surveys of critical installations/assets, reviewed security policy documents and assessments, and interviewed facility staff to obtain a thorough understanding of protection systems, security philosophy, threats, and protection strategy. VA reports were then prepared according to a systematic approach where a detailed description of each drinking water system was followed by a prioritization of the critical facilities, a threat assessment, a consequence assessment, a thorough analysis of the existing physical protection system, and short- and long-term recommendations for protection enhancements to the system. The subsequent ERPs, which are based on EPA and military guidance documents, are designed to guide emergency response personnel through a series of steps to ensure public safety, minimize damages to the infrastructure, and regain control of the water system following any potable water emergency event. The ERPs include emergency operation procedures for trained personnel to follow to react to emergency conditions and make on-the-spot decisions appropriate to each level of responsibility.

As a follow-on project to preparing the VAs and ERPs, Battelle is currently working with DoD to perform a comprehensive review of the assessments to define a baseline of the existing security of their potable water systems and to determine whether there are any common vulnerabilities at selected DoD installations. The goal of the exercise is to document the lessons learned during the VA process and coordinate a uniform approach to assist the DoD in implementing the security enhancements recommended in the VA reports.

For additional information, please contact Dr. Bruce Alleman at (614) 424-5715, allemanb@battelle.org.