|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
U.S. Response: More Funds Needed for Water Security, Utilities Say Officials from more than 80 U.S. water departments are expected to visit Washington this week to lobby for more funds to safeguard U.S. public water systems from a terrorist threat, USA Today reported today (see GSN, Oct. 10, 2001). The officials plan to push for at least $2.1 billion to adequately safeguard water supplies, including $500 million for vulnerability reviews conducted by outside security experts and $1.6 billion for new security measures, such as alarms, cameras, locks and fences. President George W. Bush proposed $37.7 billion in homeland defense funding in his fiscal 2003 budget, of which $22 million would go toward public water safety. That is only 1 percent of what is needed, water utilities said. “Utilities aren’t particularly vulnerable to an attack, but they are not invincible, either,” said Rob Renner, deputy executive director of the American Water Works Association. Threats to water supplies might come less from terrorists dumping poisonous chemicals than from attacks on facilities themselves, said Tom Curtis, deputy chief for governmental affairs at the American Water Works Association. “It’s not necessarily truckloads of chemicals that we’re worried about,” Curtis said. “There are pumps. There are pipes. There are things utilities need to protect.” Water utilities want the additional funds to come without regulations that might mandate making security review findings available to the public, according to USA Today. “Is keeping this away from public view going to guarantee safety? No,” Curtis said. “But why make it easy for somebody to have a blueprint to attack the water supply in a city?” (Patrick O’Driscoll, USA Today, March 18).
| ||||||||||
Back to top
