The Show Must Go On
Critical infrastructures are industrial sectors based on areas of utilization and specialty that are critically vital to the continued operations and maintainability of our nation's way of life. Several sectors are more important than others, either based upon financial or human risk factors. The "water sector," for example, for which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible, is vitally important to our nation. We use water everyday, for cooking, direct consumption, industrial manufacturing, processing, cooling, and more.
With that knowledge comes the introduction of a new initiative toward safeguarding our nation's critical infrastructures, called Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP). Before Sep. 11, 2001, former President Ronald Reagan realized the importance of our nation's resources, dubbing the more critical resources "infrastructure." Many think of the word infrastructure and immediately associate the word with public works departments. Although this isn't entirely false, this thinking limited the scope of the definition of what was considered infrastructure. During former President Bill Clinton's terms, the term was refined even further. Several initiatives were introduced, the most significant of which spawned the term "critical infrastructure." Presidential Decision Directive No. 63 (PDD-63) 1 defined, at a strategic level, an outline for several definitions of what is considered "critical infrastructure." This document set a course for establishing new organizations to maintain and safeguard our nation's resources.
After Sep. 11, 2001, President George W. Bush refined the term to its present definition and introduced several more initiatives, the first one defining and establishing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, along with several other subsequent documents that defined key, critical roles for the federal government, several critical infrastructure sectors, and more. Homeland Security Presidential Directive No. 7 (HSPD-7)2 further elaborated safeguarding our nation's infrastructure, introduced several key legislative acts, and defined roles and responsibilities for each critical infrastructure sector. EPA was deemed as the key-defining organization that was (and still is) responsible for directing and coordinating security and regulatory activities within the water sector, which includes both water and wastewater treatment and processing, between both public- and private-sector organizations.
Some Perspective
There are more than 160,000 public and private water systems, serving over 75 percent of the U.S. population. These systems provide millions of gallons of water for just about everything and are of great importance to our nation. CIP provides a "roadmap" for reducing threats through risk management (risk assessments, analysis, mitigation, and remediation efforts), disaster recovery planning (what to do in case of a disaster or emergency), business continuity planning (how to keep going, even if partially operable, during or after a disaster or emergency), vulnerability assessments (includes penetration testing and analysis), policy management, documentation management, emergency management, and operational planning (both strategic and tactical). CIP identifies "what-if" scenarios by attempting to answer any critical questions before those situations actually occur. Sep. 11 brought to light many concerns regarding the integrity and security of a few, very specific, key infrastructure components, some of which are interdependent on one another, including the water sector. One sector's dependence upon another sector, can often lead to "cascading effect processing," in which one process or system has an impact (direct or indirect) upon another process or system, not necessarily in direct sequence between each dependent system or process. For example, if System A were to provide output to System B, System B could not operate properly unless System A was first operating. Additionally, System C might rely upon System B, which would then rely upon System A, and so on and so forth. This method of thinking is often referred to as the "domino effect."
Early Efforts
Shortly after Sep. 11, EPA and its partners from the drinking water and wastewater industries launched several massive initiatives to develop training and improve procedural guidelines specifically for water security. Ironically, many risk management methods can be implemented within and between each sector. These methods often overlap or coexist, but each sector's operational requirements are often unique to that sector.
For example, some issues that might be specific to the water sector may pertain to health issues, or might include other aspects, such as the chemicals used in water treatment. For some, these chemicals can be potentially toxic to living organisms (e.g., chlorine dioxide gas or sodium hypochlorite, either one used for disinfection in water treatment process). These chemicals may be used for other purposes, such as manufacturing chemical reactionary processes (not associated with water treatment); however, these chemicals may also be used for more nefarious purposes, such as building explosives or exposing large numbers of people to a hazardous substance or material.