DEP 59.17 Junction Blvd, 11th FL

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL THURSDAY, DECI R 27, 2001

Terrors Water Utility Officials Fear ‘Backflow’ From Reservoirs May Be Safe, but House Pipes Can Be Used to Push Toxins Into a By Yochi J. Dreazen Sto/f Reporter of T heW S J all treet ournal Neighborhood y In St. Petersburg, Fla water authori- Down the Pipes? fies are keeping ? iUoer eye on system- The federal government devotes little money to prctecting the nation's water supply wide water pressure. In Cleveland, offi- system, which many law enforcement officials see as a potential terrorist target cials are weighing whether to add more chlorine to their water so larger amounts • Amount of money spent by the Environmental Protection Agency to combat of the chemical will Unger in their pipes. bioterrorism in fiscal year ended Sept 30, 2001: $2.5 million (the agency spent In; Portland, Ore., alarms are now trig- $10,000 on the issue in 1998, no money on it in 1999, and $100,000 in 2000). gered by smaller drops in water pressure . • Amount that municipal and private water-system officials wanted to see the agency ftan in the past. spend on the issue in the current - — million. fiscal yea-: $ir$ . Across the country, water utility offi­ • Amount the EPA will spend in the current fiscal year, according to recently passed cials are taking steps to prevent terrorists emergency spending legislation: $90.3 million. from reversing the flow of water into a home or business—which can be accom- • Total amount of money that water-system officials want Congress to devote to improv­ pUshed with a vacuum cleaner or bicycle ing drinking-wata- and wastewata plants: $5 billion. pump-and using the resulting “backflow” • Total number of municipal water systems across the country: 54,064. to push poisons into a local water-distribu- • Total number of Americans served by the systems: 263.9 million. tion system. Such an attack would use util- ity pipes for the opposite of their intended • Amount water systems would receive for immediate security projects, according to a purpose: Instead of carrying water out of just passed Senate bill: $50 million. a tap, the pipes would spread toxins to Sources: EPA. American Water Worts Association, WSJ reseeren. nearby homes or businesses. : Water utility officials say the backflow So far, the only backflow incidents on serves on the National Critical Infrastruc- threat dominates their post-Sept. 11 discus­ record have been accidental. Four years ture Protection Advisory Group, a water- sions with law-enforcement personnel. Al- ago. dozens of gallons of fire-fighting foam industry organization-put it in the May though utiUties have posted extra guards backed up through the hoses of firefight- issue of the journal of the American Water to patrol reservoirs and treatment plants, ers in Charlotte, N.C., and made its way Works Association, “One sociopath who un- officials say the biggest threat to the na- into the city’s water system, prompting derstands hydraulics and has access to a tion’s waler supply may be from the pipes officials to order thousands of residents drum of toxic chemicals could inflict seri- that carry the water, not faculties that not to shower or drink tap water for sev- damage pretty quickly.” store or purify it eral days. In 1998, workers at a United Utility officials say that it is difficult to '7 “There’s no question that the distribu- Technologies Corp. Sikorsky helicopter fully prevent a backflow incident, but they flon system is the most vulnerable spot we plant in Bridgeport, Conn., added chemi- are hopeful that they can limit the damage have,” says John Sullivan, chief engineer cals to the facility’s fire prevention system through early detection. The beginning of for the Boston Water & Sewer Commission to guard against corrosion. Some of the a backflow attack probably would be and president of the Association of Metro- chemicals backed into the town’s water marked by a sudden drop in water pres- poUtan Water Agencies. ’’Our reservoirs system, deluging area homes with contam- 8*®® ® targeted neighborhood as terror- are really weU protected. Our water-treat- inated water that residents were told not stopped the flow of water into a home ment plants can be surrounded by cops to drink or use fbr washing or bathing. % ^wtaeifc We pressing would then J- clim^ as attackers reversed the flow and guards. But if there’s an intentional th and carry poison. attempt to create a backflow, there’s no Utilities regularly monitor system-wide ^way to totally prevent it.” water officials, ^en before the Sept 11 pressure, because a sharp and unan- ' Most reservoirs hold between three mU- ticipated decrease-at times other than, •Uon and 30 million gallons of water, which SSfctpJLSSS “y* Superbowl, when tens would dilute any poison so significantly’ n^vSh American toflets flush-can that terrorists would have to release enor- -Mte with lawmaker, indicate that a pipe has burst Most utffi- •mous quantities to do serious damage. water officials and .engmeers across the ties mo itor pressure at water-treatment And most poison would be destroyed when 'country. The group publishes a newsletter plants and inside the underground pipes file water was purified at a treatment r ^d an educational comic book for chil- that carry the water to nearby homes and plant. A backflow attack, by contrast, ‘dren that features a character named businesses; some use advanced telemetric could spread highly concentrated amounts Buster ' Backflow. sensors inside pipes. of poison to a few thousand homes or busi­ Still, experts have long feared that a fir recent weeks, many utilities say nesses, making the toxin far more effec- Iterrorist would try an intentional attack, they have increased the frequency oftheir live. As Gay Porter DeNileon-a journalist who checks. “A small drop-off would attract

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