Date: 2001-12-18
Speaker: TOM DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Virginia

Mr. Speaker. in the wake of the attacks of September 11th. Americans have begun in earnest to critically look at the security of our nations infrastructure. Indeed. unanticipated failures of electrical power or water supplies could have devastating and longterm effects on a regions economy. safety and security. The security of infrastructure is of particular importance in the National Capital region. I rise today to applaud your efforts. Mr. Chairman. with regard to this important legislation. In the years to come I believe that this legislation will prove to be a significant first step in the nations efforts to develop models for criticallyimportant water system security technologies and procedures. However. I also rise today to direct your attention to the importance of ensuring that water systems in highly vulnerable areas. or areas that serve a large number of federal facilities. are given greater funding priority by the Environmental Protection Agency. In response to the September 11th attacks and the heightened security in the region. the Fairfax County Water Authority in my district has had to begin developing a number of critically important physical security enhancements and practices in order to better protect the regions water supply. The Authority is particularly sensitive to the threat of electrical power outage by potential terrorist attack. For instance. the failure of commercial power for a period of even three hours would render the public water supply for the 1.2million users in the Fairfax County Water Authority service region virtually useless. The Fairfax County Water Authority is currently studying the feasibility of constructing an onsite stateoftheart power generation complex capable of making the Authority selfsustaining. even during periods of reduced power or blackouts. Staff at the Authority has a long and solid record of responding to a wide variety of operating conditions in the treatment and distribution system. These actions. however. have been in response to slowly evolving external pressures or isolated component failures. To improve staff skills in thinking through its response plan. and identifying communications. command. control and information issues during a period of sudden attack (or perceived attack) on a water system. the Authority is also developing a holistic crisis. rapid response staff training workshop. Both the study and the workshop could be used as tools for water providers throughout the nation. It is my fervent hope that when deciding water infrastructure security awards. the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency will take into account the region or service areas vulnerability of or potential for forced interruption of service. Indeed. i believe that no one would disagree with the notion that the Administrator should consider a water systems importance to national security and the operation of government. This is especially true in my district. The Fairfax County Water Authoritys service area covers many critical federal facilities. Some of the largest of these facilities include: Ft. Belvoir U.S. Ary Reservation. Ft. Belvoir Proving Grounds. Dulles International Airport. facilities of the Central Intelligence Agency. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Harry Diamond Laboratories). Dulles Mail Distribution Center. U.S. Navy Family Housing..U.S. Coast Guard Information Systems Center. training facilities. and housing. Facilities of the General Services Administration. Facilities of the U.S. Department of State. and. Office space and warehouses for the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission. It is my fervent hope that this bill will help ensure funding for the Fairfax County Water Authority next year.