[CPEO-MEF] Dept of Homeland Security water monitor bill-monitors 'terrorism' =to

[pedal4mother@yahoo.com]

But will it monitor military contamination of water?
-sheila baker

AB 1532
Talking Points

.	California=92s drinking water systems span thousands
of miles of streams, rivers, reservoirs, treatment
facilities, pipelines and local distribution networks
all of which are vulnerable the accidental or
intentional introduction of biological, chemical and
radiological agents.

=95	The Department of Homeland Security and US EPA
believe that urban areas, with their large
populations, present the most attractive targets to
those who would intentionally contaminate drinking
water supplies.

=95	Currently, water monitoring is largely confined to
maintaining =93water quality=94 within the system and does
not attempt to detect the introduction of dangerous
agents.

=95	Several autonomous water monitoring devices designed
to detect very low concentrations of biological or
chemical agents have been developed and tested and a
number have been deployed for the military and in
actual domestic water systems.

=95	Devices to transmit real time alarms of the presence
of dangerous substances and routine periodic reports
from water monitoring equipment have been developed
and offer both cellular and satellite transmission.

=95	Continuous and autonomous monitoring and reporting
of water quality serves to leverage available manpower
and resources in protecting the health and safety of
the population and in protecting the environment.

=95	FACTS
=93According to the US Army, who examined the potential
threat of biological agents to potable water concluded
that on the basis of existing weaponization, stability
in water, and known or potential resistance to
chlorine, some of the bacterial agents (e.g.
clostridium perfringens [that causes] plague) and all
[emphasis added] of the biotoxins (botulinum,
aflatoxin, ricin) where potential waterborne threats.=94
(Source: p9, Early Warning Monitoring to Detect
Hazardous Events In Water Supplies, International Life
Science Institute, December 1999)

=95	According to W.D. Burrows and S.E. Renner,
Biological Agents as Potable Water Threats, p 1-5 in
Medical Issues Information Paper No. IP-31-017. U.S.
Army Center For Heath Promotion and Preventive
Medicine, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD (1998), most of
the bio toxins are stable or probably so in water,
most are resistant to treatment by chlorine at levels
of 10 parts per million, and all are considered
threats to the water supply.

=95	According to Remote Monitoring and Network Modeling:
Their Potential for Protecting the Nation=92s Water
Supplies, by Robert M. Clark, Senior Research Engineer
Advisor, National Risk Management Research Laboratory,
USEPA, Cincinnati, OH, Water Supply and Water Resource
Division, in reviewing the report of the Water
Protection Task Force (WPTF) of the USEPA for the
newly formed Office of Home Land Security, indicated
that 80% of the US population is served by 14% of US
water utilities (i.e. 54,000 communities with a
population of 264 million people). According to Clark,
=93In the report water distribution networks have been
identified as a major area of vulnerability.=94

=95	According to the USEPA sponsored Workshop on
Advanced Technologies in Real-Time Monitoring and
Modeling for Drinking Water Safety and Security , June
27-28, 2002, =93The value of real-time environmental
monitoring and prediction has to be appreciated anew
given recent heightened interest in securing the
safety of drinking water. =93=85. Real-time monitoring=85is
helpful or necessary to deal with natural and
deliberate or accidental human-caused conditions that
may threaten health such as the deliberate dumping of
biological or chemical contaminates, =85 Real-time
monitoring and modeling is appropriate in reservoirs,
rivers, and at water treatment plant intakes, and
post-treatment within the water distribution network.=94

=95	According to Minimizing The Vulnerability of Water
Supplies To Natural and Terrorist Threats, by Robert
M. Clark, Senior Research Engineer Advisor, National
Risk Management Research Laboratory, USEPA,
Cincinnati, OH, Water Supply and Water Resource
Division, =93 A number of factors make water supply
systems vulnerable to terrorist attack: they are
spatially distributed, susceptible to intrusion, and
contain many components.  Water tanks and storage
reservoirs are particularly vulnerable to deliberate
sabotage. =85 Water distribution systems are vulnerable
to deliberate microbiological contamination, although
residual chlorine provides some protection. A
contaminant would move rapidly through the system and
could cause widespread outbreaks of disease among the
inhabitants of the area served=85 There are pathogens,
however, which exhibit a high degree of resistance to
chlorine.=94


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