“EPA’s Water Security initiative : Integrating the Water Sector and Public Health”

Wednesday June 20, 2012

Healthy and Safe Community Environments (Track 1

) 1

Presentation Overview

• Background on the Water Security Initiative • Conceptual design • Partnering and Public Health • Conclusions and Resources

Background

• Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-9 – Establishes a national policy to defend the agriculture and food system against terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies. – Signed January 30, 2004 • HSPD-9 requires EPA to – “ develop robust, comprehensive, and fully coordinated surveillance and monitoring systems . . . for . . . water quality that provide early detection and awareness of disease, pest, or poisonous agents,”

Programmatic Approach of the Water Security Initiative

Conceptual Design

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Distribution System Vulnerabilities

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Large, complex, and accessible:

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Commercial & residential service connections

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Fire hydrants Finished water storage

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Difficult to contaminate an entire city via the distribution system, but

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fairly easy to impact small sections or individual buildings

Primary Design Objectives

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Detection of a broad spectrum of contaminant classes

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Achieve spatial coverage of the entire distribution system

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Detect contamination in sufficient time for effective response

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Reliably indicate a contamination incident with a minimum number of false-positives

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Provide a sustainable architecture to monitor distribution system water quality

Dual Use Objectives

• • • • •

Expanded laboratory capability for emerging source water contaminants Enhanced knowledge of distribution system water quality leading to improved operations Early detection of undesirable events such as nitrification or corrosion problems Improved relationship with public health agencies Increased ability to respond effectively to a variety of emergencies

Water quality monitoring

Monitoring Components

Customer complaint surveillance Enhanced security monitoring Integrated Contamination Warning System Sampling and analysis Public health surveillance

System Architecture

Phase I.

Routine Monitoring & Surveillance

Online Water Quality

Possible Determination

Public Health Sampling and Analysis Enhanced Security · Event Detection · Initial Trigger Validation Customer Complaints

Phase II.

Consequence Management Credibility Determination Actions

confirm 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

Partnering and Public Health

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Partner Organizations

Federal Bureau of Investigation Centers For Disease Control and Prevention EPA Regional Offices EPA Criminal Investigation Division State Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agencies Local Health Department Local Fire, EMS, and HazMat Local Wastewater Utility Water Utility Local Law Enforcement EPA National Response Center Local Civil Government State Emergency Responders State Law Enforcement Local Emergency Planning Committees State Drinking and Waste Water Primacy Agencies Host Facilities Public Health and Environmental Laboratories Neighboring Utilities State Government Media

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Public Health Surveillance

Surveillance Tool

911 Calls EMS Runs PCC Calls ED Visits

Description

Calls from customers filtered by health incident categories – analyzed by time and location.

EMS responses to customers – categorized by EMS technician assessment (i.e., symptom categories).

Calls from customers – case-specific assessments.

Customer visits to emergency departments to seek medical assistance – categorized by chief complaint.

Primary Care Physician/ED Physician Disease Reporting Calls made to health departments or PCC by primary care physicians or ED physicians reporting unusual or unexpected cases and/or symptoms.

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Public Health Surveillance

A PHS alert is detected; email alert sent to User’s Group The PHS alert is analyzed by User’s Group entities and determined valid and without known cause (i.e., contaminated water cannot be ruled out) A User’s Group Participant activates the communicator, which sends out messages to User’s Group User’s Group receives message and each entity analyzes pertinent data

PHS Communicator Protocol

User’s Group convene on conference call to discuss alarm *This is an example of a communication protocol (used in Cincinnati) *The User's Group for the Cincinnati Pilot included the local public health departments, poison control, water utility, fire department, US EPA, and FBI.

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Public Health Surveillance

Tier Agency

Water Utility Local Public Health Partners (LPH), (e.g., epidemiologists) Poison Control Center Local and Federal Law Enforcement Fire Department Hospitals (e.g, communicable disease specialists) Public Health Laboratories (State and local) Utility Site Characterization Team and/or HazMat Local Public Health Department (e.g., Health Commissioner and Public Information Officer State Health Department Emergency Response Groups (Based on Feedback from the Cincinnati Pilot User’s Group) 15

Conclusions to Date

● The Water Security initiative contamination warning system design is technically feasible for a utility to deploy and sustainable for a utility to operate ● Public Health Surveillance exemplifies the need for partnering ○ Evaluating alerts requires coordination ● A major future challenge will be promoting national adoption of drinking water contamination warning systems ○ All utilities can benefit from development of plans and procedures to utilize the data already being collected more effectively for contaminant detection 16

Community-Based Water Resiliency Initiative

• Increases community preparedness by: – Improving integration of Water Sector into community emergency preparedness – Increasing understanding of critical interdependencies – Highlighting benefits of preparedness • Fosters collaboration between utilities and

all

community members: – City/county managers – Public works officials – Emergency responders – Business community – Citizens • Electronic tool gives communities over 400 resources to develop and implement water resiliency plans • Website : http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/watersecurity/communities/index.cfm

Published Documents

• Available on the Water Security initiative website: http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/watersecurity/lawsregs/initiative.cfm

1. WaterSentinel System Architecture

, EPA-817-D-05-003, December 2005

2. Water Security Initiative: Interim Guidance on Planning for Contamination

Warning System Deployment

, EPA-817-R07-005, May 2007

3. Water Security Initiative: Interim Guidance on Developing an Operational

Strategy for Contamination Warning Systems

, EPA-817-R-08-002, September 2008

4. Water Security Initiative: Interim Guidance on Developing Consequence

Management Plans for Drinking Water Utilities

, EPA-817-R-08-001, September 2008

5. Water Security Initiative: Cincinnati Pilot Post-Implementation System

Status

, EPA-817-R-08-004, September 2008 • Available in the Journal of the American Water Works Association:

1. Optimizing operational reliability of the Cincinnati contamination warning system,

J. AWWA, Volume 103, Issue 1, January 2011 18

Questions?

• For more information on the Water Security Initiative: – http://water.epa.gov/infrastructure/watersecurity/lawsregs/init iative.cfm

• US EPA, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water, Water Security Division

Chrissy Dangel, MPH

Phone 513-569-7821 E-Mail [email protected]

CAPT Nelson Mix, PE, CHMM

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