January 4, 2002—Haestad Methods has released the proceedings from the first Water Security Summit held in Hartford, Connecticut, on December 3 and 4. More than 600 water utility and government officials from around the world crowded into Hartford, Connecticut, to hear 30 experts discuss security measures to prevent a potential bioterrorist attack on the nation’s water supply.
Both speakers and attendees explored water system vulnerabilities; discussed guidelines for implementing security plans; and reviewed existing federal, state, and private resources.
The topics of the proceedings focus on the theme of the summit, “Prevent, Detect, Respond,” including how to:
- Assess the vulnerability of water systems
- Obtain state and federal funding for infrastructure protection
- Develop strategies for decreasing exposure to attacks
- Identify and mitigate physical, chemical, and biological threats
- Develop emergency management plans
- Implement warning, monitoring, and detection technologies
- Apply hydraulic models to assess system vulnerability and emergency response capabilities.
Highlights of the summit include Peter S. Beering, Esq., Deputy General Counsel, IWC Resources Corporation, opening the first day by urging professionals to make common sense decisions in response to the threat of a terrorist attack on our water systems. “There is no such thing as an immune jurisdiction,” he said, as he outlined various weapons of mass destruction. “Having this summit and establishing relationships among the many professionals at this conference is one of the first steps in a measured response against the threat of a terrorist attack on our water systems,” Beering said.
Another critical issue identified at the summit is funding for water security. With 168,000 public water systems in the United States and 16,000 publicly owned treatment works with over 600,000 miles of sewer lines in service, even modest remedial security measures will result in the need for large scale funding on a national basis.
For a complete account of presenters and an overview of presentations, visit the Water Security Summit 2001.
