JMT served as the major subcontractor for the preparation of a Vulnerability Assessment of the City of Baltimore's water system.  In the discovery phase of the assessment, JMT studied the City's water facilities to identify vulnerabilities from intentional destructive acts.  In addition, data available from government agencies was evaluated related to chemical and biological events, including the Centers for Disease Control, and Federal Bureau of Investigation.   Meetings were held with the City's management to identify critical functions of the water facility, and facilities were identified and subsequently visited that were integral to these critical functions.  The results were used to identify key vulnerabilities and to determine the consequences of loss.  Improvements were recommended to protect against these key vulnerabilities.  This information has enabled the City to establish costs and priorities for protection of its water system to intentional destructive acts.

Additionally, JMT is preparing updates to Emergency Response Plans for the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC).  These updates will reflect the findings of the Vulnerability Assessment of its water system.  Current plans have been reviewed and compared to regulatory requirements, with the intent of ensuring that they are compliant.  Concurrent with this review, detailed inspections have been conducted of representative WSSC facilities in order to gather information on response equipment, emergency procedures, process operations and site layout.  Interviews have been held with key WSSC personnel and local first responders to gather detailed information on emergency response operations.  The findings were incorporated into an Integrated Contingency Plan, which presents both time-critical and non-time critical emergency response procedures and information.  As a final step in the process, JMT will be conducting a scenario-based exercise to allow WSSC and local first responders to truth the Integrated Contingency Plan. 

The field of security assessments and response planning is applicable to many aspects of infrastructure engineering, and we believe that the process applied to water systems is applicable to this broader area of practice.  Furthermore, as security improvement recommendations are implemented, we believe that our knowledge of water systems and security system engineering makes JMT well qualified to assist clients through this process. 

In general, we, as Americans, have a tendency to take reliable and safe water sources and supplies for granted.  However, since the events of 9/11, the threat of chemical and biological terrorism has raised concerns about the safety, security and reliability of the current water system infrastructure.  This concern will grow as the demand for water increases with more residential, commercial and industrial consumers.  By 2050, projections suggest that the water supplies in 50% of the world's nations will be insufficient to meet expected demands, as compared to 8% facing this problem today. 

In the United States, water treatment and distribution systems are vulnerable to even minor problems, whether natural or intentional.  These vulnerabilities impact national security from social, economic, and political aspects.  The level of vulnerability of a water system depends upon the risks and consequences of a threat and its target, such as a treatment plant or its distribution system. 

In 2002, the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act was passed in response to national security concerns, including water systems.  For water systems, this act requires major water utilities (i.e., serving in excess of 100,000 people) to assess the vulnerability of their systems to a terrorist or other intentional attack planned to disrupt the system, to provide a safe and reliable water supply of drinking water.  There are approximately 350 of these systems or "major water utilities" across the United States, and all were required to complete the Vulnerability Assessments prior to March 31, 2003.  In addition, they are required to have Emergency Response Plans, which incorporate the results of the Vulnerability Assessments, completed by September 30, 2003.

The USEPA serves as the managing agency for these documents, and has provided guidance for preparation.  JMT has been involved with preparation of a Vulnerability Assessment and revisions to Emergency Response Plans for major water utility providers in the Baltimore-Washington region.  We believe that this work is a natural extension from our past and current involvement with water infrastructure design for major utilities across the region, and our involvement with the design of facility security systems.  Much of the experience gained in this work has been directly applicable to our work in Vulnerability Assessments and Emergency Response Planning.