Water district adopts anti-terror warning system

Published 11:41 am Friday, February 22, 2008

LYNNWOOD – How vulnerable is the fresh water supply to a terrorist attack?

Vulnerable enough to have been a consideration for increased scrutiny by the intelligence and security experts since well before the World Trade Center attacks.

The Alderwood Water District has become one of the first in the nation to take advantage of a program designed to increase security of the nation’s water supplies and to put in place an early warning system should intelligence gathering systems perceive an imminent attack on the water supply.

After undergoing a federally mandated “vulnerability assessment” that is monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Alderwood district decided to subscribe to a program labeled “WaterISAC,” or Information Sharing and Analysis Center.

For Alderwood general manager Arden Blackledge, being a subscriber to the program is much like having an insurance policy on a car.

“We would have a hard time facing the liability that would occur if we had an incident and we had not invested the time and money to have had this information available ahead of time,” he said.

The annual subscription to the service costs the district $4,500 plus expenses related to training and is based on the size of the customer base of the district. The Alderwood district, the fifth largest in the state, supplies water and wastewater services to more than 200,000 people.

For that annual fee, the district receives some computer hardware and secure access to an Internet portal that lists any threats to water systems in the United States.

While that may seem like a broad net, for Blackledge, it is a way for the district to be made aware of issues that may not have been apparent during the vulnerability assessment.

“If we hear about a problem with a supplier or a security breach on another state, it gives us the chance to step back an re-examine our procedures and systems to be sure we are not vulnerable to a similar issue,” he said.

The ISAC, while an outgrowth of presidential directives in both the Clinton and Bush administrations, is not a government program.

It is facilitated by a coalition of water and watewater industry organizations and is funded solely by subscription fees.

Currently, the Washington. D.C. offices are home to four intelligence analysts and an equal number of support staff.

“The analysts are contract employees with experience and connections in the intelligence community,” said Michael Arceneaux, deputy director of the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, one of the component organizations which organized the ISAC.

“We operate as a clearinghouse of information for the water suppliers,” he said. “Membership is voluntary and there are other ways of getting this information.”

Blackledge agrees, but believes that the overall service creates an efficiency that he does not have.

“They have intelligence connections and water system experts,” he said. “I could call around for the information, but knowing exactly who to call and when and the amount of time that would take means that we would likely miss something.”

The Alderwood Water District expects to be on-line with the WaterISAC within 30 days.

Other local districts will be offered the opportunity to subscribe over the next two years as they complete their assessments.