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Small Water System Security
By Dana Harris
Since the attacks on the United States on September 11th, all of us have had to rethink the way we go about our everyday routines. Security at water treatment facilities has always been important, but how many of us really put it at the top of our list? Most of us (members of the New York Rural Water Association) live in small communities that no one has heard of before, so we feel a sense of comfort because of it. The number of victims of the terrorist attacks was just over 3,000, most of our small communities have a population of at least that many. So are you willing to stay complacent and say nothing can happen here, that we are too small to be significant? I’m not talking about a terrorist group striking your system, but we should do all we can to protect our water supply and treatment systems. New York Rural Water keeps its members updated on the new threats and water treatment facilities are now among the top of the list. This should make us want to be more cautious than we have been in the past.Now that you have read this far, you are thinking that I am paranoid and that I am going to suggest that you put land mines and booby traps around your treatment facilities and well houses. I had made a comment to Pat Scalera about some of the things we have done recently around the Wellsville Water Treatment Plant to increase security and she asked if I would share it with you.
These are security measures that we all can take that don’t have to break our budgets.
The Village of Wellsville Water Treatment Plant has had in place a security system for a few years, but we have now improved upon it and changed some of the ways we go about our operation procedures. Our original system consisted of fire and entry protection alarms. We are fortunate that we have a local police agency so that we had our dialers go directly to them, saving us a monthly monitoring charge.
Recently, we have installed monitoring cameras on all sides of the treatment plant. They were installed by the plant operators to cut down on the camera and installation costs. We purchased a security monitor that will scan four cameras at timed intervals. The cost of the cameras was $99 each (on sale at Radio Shack) and the monitor was $190. The cameras have motion detectors that will alert an operator when someone is in the vicinity; plus they also have a microphone and speaker system that allows you to communicate with someone in the camera vicinity. A TV/VCR ($190) that will record from the security monitor during the hours that the treatment plant is unmanned was also purchased. All of these items came to less than $800 and they don’t have to be purchased all at once. Ours is a treatment plant, but this could be incorporated at a well house. The cameras can be connected to a VCR and set to start recording if the motion detectors trip.
All of the locks at the plant have been rekeyed. There are master keys that fit all locks and some keys that only fit the front door for the office personnel to use. The new keys are numbered and assigned and a record is kept of who has them. Our new keys are stamped "do not duplicate" to help stop extra ones from being cut. There were so many out that we had no idea where they all were. In the past, we would come to work and all of the doors would be unlocked and left that way until we went home. Now all doors remain locked, with the exception of the front. All visitors must use the front entrance, which has them pass by the DPW secretary’s office.We now have a sign in sheet for all chemical deliveries. The driver is required to put down the company that he is delivering for, the chemical being delivered, the date and his signature. One of our chemical suppliers mailed out pictures of all of its drivers.The New York State Department of Health sent out a public water system inspection checklist on security. We went over the list with the police department to familiarize them with our system. The police now have a key and the alarm codes that allow them to access the plant in an emergency.You can help insure that the people that live, work, or just travel through your community are getting the best possible drinking water that you can provide.
Dana Harris
Plant Supervisor
Wellsville Water Treatment Plant
www.wellsvillewater.com
The New York Rural Water Association thanks Dana for sharing this information with our readers. If you have something you believe our readers could benefit from and you wish to submit an article, we would welcome you to do so. Email our editor, Cheryl Kearns at kearns@nyruralwater.org
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