DHS Domestic Municipal End-to-End Water Security Architecture Study

A team led by Michael Baker Jr., Inc. is conducting a study of the state-of-the-art in water security for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency, in coordination with EPA. The Baker Team will is developing a "roadmap" to help guide DHS's future R&D investments in infrastructure security for the water sector in the short and mid-term (1–5 years). Among several tasks, the project is examining intentional contamination with chemical or biological agents and long-lived, highly active radiological isotopes, as applied to post treatment distribution component of water systems. For the Symposium, the team will present initial findings in each of these areas. Chemical, biological, and radiological agents have been prioritized, considering whether they can be hydrolyzed in water, their availability, required quantities, and whether they can be transported and introduced before they kill the perpetrator. The ultimate goal of the project is to identify technical and operational gaps in our ability to prevent, respond, and recover from attacks. The preliminary set of R&D recommendations will be presented. This paper was presented at the 8th Annual Water Distribution Systems Analysis Symposium which was held with the generous support of Awwa Research Foundation (AwwaRF).