Water Treatment System Operators Turn to High-tech Tools to Harden Security
As the nation's utilities scramble to complete federally mandated vulnerability assessments to water and wastewater plants and utilities, system operators are also eagerly boning up on new high-tech tools designed for early detection of even minute changes in water quality.
At the American Water Works Association's 121st annual conference and exhibition, held in New Orleans June 16-20, security-based sessions drew standing-room-only crowds. Before the opening session, a day-long workshop on counter-terrorism and security for water treatment plants was oversubscribed. "They had 92 registrants and well over 100 showed up. They ran out of workbooks," said Paul Blair, a Livingston, N.J.-based engineer with AECOM's Metcalf & Eddy subsidiary.