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August 4, 2005                             

Infrastructure Security Training Program Assists Water/Wastewater Utilities

Training program based on interim voluntary guidelines to help water
 utilities protect against terrorist attacks

Reston, VA—Drinking water and wastewater utilities now have a comprehensive training program to incorporate enhanced security measures into facility design, operation and management. This modular-format program is based on three recently-released interim voluntary security guidance documents. Both the training program and guidance documents were funded by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The training program provides managers, operations personnel, design professionals and regulatory officials involved in drinking water, wastewater and stormwater utilities with detailed practical assistance for implementing improved security measures in new and existing facilities of all sizes.
 

The three training programs and guidance documents were developed by the American Water Works Association (AWWA), the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Interim Voluntary Security Guidance for Water Utilities Training Module (developed by AWWA), Interim Voluntary Security Guidance for Wastewater/Stormwater Utilities Training Module (developed by WEF) and Interim Voluntary Guidelines for Designing an Online Contaminant Monitoring System Training Module (developed by ASCE) are provided in MS Word, MS PowerPoint and PDF formats on a CD-ROM, available through each organization's Web site: http://www.awwa.org/, http://www.wef.org/ and http://www.asce.org/.
 

The training program’s modular design allows instructors to easily tailor the material to suit utilities’ individual needs and target audiences, including management, operations personnel, facility designers, and regulatory and elected officials. The program includes full sets of MS PowerPoint presentations, instructor guidelines, quizzes and exams.

 
The guidance documents and related training materials, along with feedback from industry professionals and additional research, will be the basis for the development of voluntary consensus standards, to be published in late 2006.
 

Founded in 1852, ASCE represents more than 137,000 civil engineers worldwide and is America's oldest national engineering society. ASCE is widely known for its technical assessment of infrastructure performance following man-made and natural disasters. The Society celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2002.
 

AWWA is the authoritative resource for knowledge, information, and advocacy to improve the quality and supply of water in North America and beyond. AWWA is the largest organization of water professionals in the world. AWWA advances public health, safety and welfare by uniting the efforts of the full spectrum of the water community. Through our collective strength, we become better stewards of water for the greatest good of the people and the environment.

Founded in 1928, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) is a not-for-profit technical and educational organization with members from varied disciplines who work toward the WEF vision of preservation and enhancement of the global water environment. The WEF network includes water quality professionals from 76 Member Associations in 30 countries.