Protecting Water and Wastewater Systems

Abstract

After the promulgation of Public Law 107–188 on June 12, 2002, Nebraska established a Drinking Water Security Program with four goals. These goals were encouragement to water systems to secure their facilities; development of an effective emergency response plan; development of cooperation and teamwork among all emergency responders; and production of a video for law enforcement personnel on how to collect crime scene evidence related to public water systems. In order to achieve these goals a comprehensive training program (as described in this chapter) was initiated which proved to be highly effective based on the responses from Nebraska water utilities and first responders.

Appendix: Security Needs Assessment Summary

This is a summary of the information gleaned from the Water System Security Needs Survey. The survey was mailed to Community and Non-Transient Non-Community PWSs which serve a population of less than 3,301. The survey was mailed out in mid-May 2005 with a return date of July 15, 2005.

The numbers in parenthesis in the first table represent the number of systems that completed and returned the survey. Surveys were mailed to 564 CWS. A total of 316 CWS surveys were returned for a 56% response rate. Surveys were mailed to 183 NTNC. A total of 68 NTNC surveys were returned for a 38% response rate.

Population	CWS	NTNC	% Reporting
0–100	83 (45)	112 (48)	47.6
101–500	290 (156)	56 (18)	50.2
501–1,000	102 (53)	7 (2)	50.4
1,001–3,300	89 (62)	8 (2)	65.9

The numbers in parenthesis for questions 2 through 9 represent the percentage of responding systems that do or do not have these components in place for their PWS. The numbers in ( ) for question #10 represent the percentage of responding systems that feel they need these improvements at their facilities.

Table 4

The categories that do not total 100% indicate that the question was not answered on each survey.