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Water Security Initiative

Program Overview and Available Products

 EPA Office of Water • EPA 817-F-10-011 • water.epa.gov/infrastructure/watersecurity/index.cfm • September 2010

Program Overview

The Water Security (WS) initiative is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program that addresses the risk of 

contamination of drinking water distribution systems. EPA established this initiative in response to Homeland Security 

Presidential Directive 9, under which the Agency must “develop robust, comprehensive, and fully coordinated surveillance 

and monitoring systems, including international information, for... water quality that provides early detection and awareness 

of disease, pest, or poisonous agents.” 

EPA is implementing the WS initiative in three phases: 

Phase I: Develop the conceptual design of a contamination warning 

system for timely detection and appropriate response to drinking 

water contamination incidents to mitigate public health and economic 

impacts; 

Phase II: Test and demonstrate contamination warning systems 

through pilots at drinking water utilities and municipalities and make 

refinements to the design as needed based upon pilot results; and 

Phase III: Develop practical guidance and outreach to promote 

voluntary national adoption of effective and sustainable drinking 

water contamination warning systems. 

Figure 1 below shows EPA’s approach to developing the WS 

initiative.

United States

Environmental Protection

Agency

Phase

System Architecture

Conceptual

 Design

Convert to Guidance for 

any Utility

Initial Pilot Additional Pilots Voluntary National Adoption

I. DESIGN II. DEMONSTRATE III. EXPAND

Approach

Scope

Apply to 

single pilot 

utility

Rene and enhance

Evaluate Apply to 

multiple pilot 

utilities

Rene and enhance

Philadelphia New York

Evaluate

Dallas

San 

Francisco

Cincinnati

Figure 1: WS Initiative Program Overview
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 EPA Office of Water • EPA 817-F-10-011 • water.epa.gov/infrastructure/watersecurity/index.cfm • September 2010

Phase I: Develop a Conceptual Design

A WS contamination warning system (CWS) involves 

the deployment of multiple monitoring and surveillance 

components to achieve timely detection of possible 

contamination in drinking water distribution systems.

As illustrated in Figure 2, there are two major operational 

phases associated with a multi-component CWS: Routine 

Monitoring and Surveillance and Consequence Management. 

The day-to-day operation of the five monitoring and 

surveillance components of a CWS include: 

• Online water quality monitoring comprises stations 

located throughout the distribution system that measure 

chlorine, total organic carbon, conductivity, and other 

parameters. Software analyzes the monitoring data to 

establish baseline parameter levels. Possible contamination 

is indicated when a significant deviation from a baseline 

occurs. 

• Public health surveillance involves the analysis of healthrelated data to identify disease events that may stem from 

drinking water contamination. Public health data may 

include over the counter drug sales, hospital admission 

reports, infectious disease surveillance, Emergency 

Medical Services (EMS) reports, 911 calls, and poison 

control center calls. 

• Sampling and analysis is the collection of distribution 

system samples that are analyzed for classes of 

contaminants, as well as specific contaminants. Sampling 

is both routine, to establish a baseline, and triggered, to 

respond to an indication of possible contamination from 

another component. Analyses are conducted for chemicals, 

radionuclides, pathogens, and toxins using a laboratory 

network. 

• Enhanced security monitoring includes the equipment 

and procedures that detect and respond to security 

breaches at distribution system facilities. Security 

equipment may be cameras, motion sensing lights, door 

contacts, ladder and window motion detectors, and access 

hatch detectors.

• Customer complaint surveillance enhances the collection 

and automates the analysis of calls by customers for water 

quality problems indicative of possible contamination. 

Customers may detect contaminants with characteristics 

that impart an odor, taste, or visual change to the drinking 

water. 

Routine monitoring and surveillance, along with event 

detection and initial trigger validation, determine if 

contamination is possible. Consequence management is 

the second major operational phase of a CWS and provides 

a decision-making framework used to establish credibility, 

implement response actions to minimize public health and 

economic impacts, and ultimately return the system to 

normal operations.

The objectives for EPA’s recommended CWS design 

include: 

• Detect a broad spectrum of contaminant classes;

• Achieve spatial coverage of the entire distribution 

system;

• Detect contamination in sufficient time for effective 

response;

• Maintain operational reliability;

• Minimize the false positive rate; and

• Provide a sustainable architecture for day-to-day 

monitoring of distribution system water quality. 

Figure 2: WS Initiative Operational Phases

Phase I.

Routine Monitoring & Surveillance

Phase II.

Consequence Management

Credibility Determination Actions

conrm or rule out contamination 

and may include:

• Site characterization

• Outside data sources

• Laboratory confirmation

Response Actions protect public 

health during the investigation 

process and may include:

• Isolation 

• Flushing

• Public alerts/notifications

Remediation and Recovery 

restores a system to normal 

operations and may include:

• System characterization

• Remedial action

• Post-remediation activities

Online Water Quality

Public Health

Sampling and Analysis

Enhanced Security

Customer Complaints

• Event

 Detection

• Initial Trigger

 Validation

Possible

Determination
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 EPA Office of Water • EPA 817-F-10-011 • water.epa.gov/infrastructure/watersecurity/index.cfm • September 2010

Phase II: Test and Demonstrate

Greater Cincinnati Water Works Pilot Project

EPA deployed the first full-scale, comprehensive CWS 

pilot in partnership with the City of Cincinnati at the 

Greater Cincinnati Water Works (GCWW). Planning and 

pre-design activities for the pilot began in December 

2005, were substantially completed in June 2009, and data 

collection concluded in June 2010. The drinking water CWS 

components are fully operational, with performance data 

continuing to be evaluated by EPA.

Elements of each Cincinnati CWS component, as installed, 

are noted below, and are described more fully in the report 

Cincinnati Pilot Post-Implementation System Status, (EPA817-R-08-004), available at water.epa.gov/infrastructure/

watersecurity/index.cfm. 

Water Quality Monitoring 

• Installed a network of 17 water quality monitoring stations 

with capability to measure a variety of water quality 

parameters; 

• Installed a dedicated communication network and 

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) 

system; and 

• Deployed two water quality event detection systems. 

Sampling and Analysis 

• Established a local laboratory network to support analysis 

of routine and triggered samples for priority contaminant 

classes; 

• Implemented a baseline monitoring program to 

characterize background contaminant occurrence; and

• Developed specialized field and laboratory procedures for 

incident response sampling and analysis.

Enhanced Security Monitoring 

• Installed video cameras, motion sensors, and door contact 

switches at three large pump stations and ladder motion 

sensors at seven elevated storage tanks; and 

• Leveraged existing partnerships with local law 

enforcement agencies to support the investigation of 

security breaches. 

Customer Complaint Surveillance 

• Enhanced the interactive voice response system that greets 

all callers to include a category for water quality issues; 

and 

• Deployed event detection systems to continually analyze 

data from the interactive voice response and work order 

systems to detect anomalies that might be indicative of 

contamination. 

Public Health Surveillance 

• Deployed systems to capture new data streams, specifically 

911 calls and emergency medical service data applicable to 

drinking water exposure; 

• Established a Public Health User’s Group with local 

partners and GCWW personnel; and 

• Implemented automated email notification to notify all 

partners when a potential water-related health anomaly is 

detected. 

Consequence Management 

• Developed a Consequence Management Plan to serve as a 

response guide, and a Crisis Communication Plan to guide 

public notification and risk communication procedures 

during all phases of a potential contamination incident; and

• Coordinated a training and exercise program for utility 

staff and local response partner agencies to test, evaluate, 

and train participants on CWS plans and procedures. 

The use of multiple monitoring and surveillance components 

is expected to provide broad contaminant coverage 

throughout the core GCWW retail service area, reduce the 

time for initial contaminant detection, and improve the 

reliability of information generated by the system. Further, 

the integration of monitoring and surveillance systems with 

routine operations provides many opportunities for dualuse benefits (e.g., improved water quality management and 

customer service). 

Evaluation of the Cincinnati pilot will quantify system 

performance, derive lessons learned, and assess the cost/

benefit of deploying CWSs at drinking water utilities. This 

information, along with data gathered from other pilots, will 

be critical in the development of effective and sustainable 

CWS guidance for drinking water utilities nationwide. 

Additional Pilot Projects

EPA awarded funding for CWS pilots in New York City, San 

Francisco, Philadelphia, and Dallas. These four additional 

pilots were selected through a national competition and will 

conclude in 2012.
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 EPA Office of Water • EPA 817-F-10-011 • water.epa.gov/infrastructure/watersecurity/index.cfm • September 2010

Phase III: Provide Guidance and Outreach

Interim Guidance on Planning for Contamination Warning 

System Deployment (EPA-817-R07-005)

Developing a CWS is a significant undertaking that impacts 

most departments and divisions of a utility at some phase of 

deployment. 

During planning and pre-design, the utility should 

define design objectives for their CWS and conduct an 

assessment and gap analysis to identify capabilities for 

each monitoring and surveillance component as well as 

consequence management. Utilities should also identify 

and engage local partners that may have a significant role 

in routine operations, such as local health departments 

and environmental laboratories. During implementation, 

enhancements are installed, operational procedures and 

response plans are reviewed, revised, and reconciled, and 

training for routine operation, maintenance, and consequence 

management should be conducted. 

Baseline data will be collected during the preliminary testing 

phase of the project. Once a sufficient level of baseline 

testing has been completed, the utility will transition into full 

deployment, and the CWS will be fully operational. 

Interim Guidance on Developing an Operational Strategy 

for Contamination Warning Systems (EPA-817-R-08-002)

A preliminary operational strategy developed during 

the design phase of the CWS can identify key users and 

their requirements for information access, procedures to 

guide system operation, information systems that may be 

leveraged, and requirements for notifications to key users 

and decision-makers. 

The operational strategy should be developed with full 

participation of the project management team and front-line 

staff, including representatives from outside organizations 

involved in the design or operation of the system. This 

approach will build acceptance of responsibilities for system 

operation, as well as ensure that system operations are 

portrayed accurately. 

Interim Guidance on Developing Consequence 

Management Plans for Drinking Water Utilities 

(EPA-817-R-08-001)

A Consequence Management Plan serves as a guide for the 

utility that describes the actions that should be taken upon 

discovery of a possible contamination threat, as detected by 

one of the CWS monitoring and surveillance components. 

In the event of a confirmed contamination incident, the plan 

provides information on remediation and recovery steps to 

return the utility to normal operation. 

This guidance document assists drinking water utilities 

with planning, designing, implementing, and maintaining 

an effective Consequence Management Plan as part of a 

CWS. It also provides a framework for the integration of the 

Consequence Management Plan with existing plans (such 

as an Emergency Response Plan), training scenarios, and 

outreach efforts to local, state, regional, and federal response 

partner agencies. 

Steps to develop a preliminary operational strategy: 

•System-wide assessment of resources; 

•Component-specific analysis to develop standard 

operating procedures; and 

•System-wide integration of componentspecific standard operating procedures into a 

comprehensive operational strategy for the CWS. 

Deployment phases of a CWS include:

• Planning and pre-design;

• Design;

• Implementation;

• Preliminary testing;

• Operation and maintenance; and

• Evaluation and Refinement. 

Opportunities for Involvement

The following are opportunities for involvement in 

EPA’s WS initiative program: 

• Review and comment on interim CWS guidance 

products;

• Participate in technical studies, such as the Event 

Detection System Challenge.

To learn more about these and other opportunities for 

involvement in EPA’s WS initiative, please send an 

e-mail to watersecurity@epa.gov or contact the WS 

initiative project coordinator, Dan Schmelling 

(202-564-5281). 

WS initiative products are available on the WS initiative 

website: water.epa.gov/infrastructure/watersecurity/

lawsregs/initiative.cfm

Comments on interim guidance documents are welcome 

and can be submitted to watersecurity@epa.gov (please 

include the document title in the subject line of your 

e-mail).

water.epa.gov/infrastructure/watersecurity/

index.cfm