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1 1 (March 1, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/govecko0001 and id is 1 raw text is: C o g e s o a R e e a c S e r i c March 1, 2021 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA): Water System Security and Resilience Provisions The disruption of a safe and reliable water supply remains a long-standing concern related to the protection of public health. Two events have increased congressional attention to water system security and resilience from events that could disrupt the provision of water supply. These include a cyberattack on an automated system at a water treatment plant serving a Florida community and water service disruptions in Texas related to frigid weather and power losses. Intentional acts and natural hazards can damage water infrastructure, including automated systems that control treatment, resulting in the interruption of safe and reliable drinking water. Water systems are one type of critical infrastructure (CI) covered by broader efforts to improve CI security. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been designated the lead agency responsible for water sector security, including cybersecurity (Executive Order 13636). (See CRS Report R45809, Critical Infrastructure: Emerging Trends and Policy Considerations for Congress.) To address both intentional acts and extreme weather that may threaten water systems, Congress added several provisions to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to support the safety of water supplies and resilience of water systems. Primarily found in SDWA Part D Emergency Powers, these provisions range from risk and resilience assessment and emergency response planning, to civil and criminal penalties against those who tamper or attempt to tamper with a public water system (42 U.S.C. §300i-300i- 4). The Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (the Bioterrorism Preparedness Act; P.L. 107-188; Title IV) added or revised many of these SDWA provisions. After first focusing on security, Congress expanded SDWA provisions to address water system resilience to a range of risks such as droughts, floods, wildfires, and other extreme weather/natural events. America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA; P.L. 115-270) amended provisions to expand the risks that water systems evaluate and authorized grant programs to increase resilience. In addition, as a condition of taking on primary enforcement authority, SDWA requires states to have an adequate plan for providing safe drinking water under emergency circumstances, such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and other natural disasters, as appropriate (42 U.S.C. §300g-2(a)(5)). The act authorizes various financial assistance programs that may assist water systems in addressing threats that could disrupt water service. These authorized resilience-related financial assistance programs have yet to receive appropriations, or began receiving appropriations in FY2020. Risk and Resilience Assessments and Emergency Response Plans In 2002, Congress first required drinking water systems to assess risks that could disrupt the provision of a safe and reliable water supply and prepare plans to address such risks. Added by P.L. 107-188, Section 1433 required community water systems (i.e., systems that regularly serve at least 25 individuals year-round) to (1) assess their vulnerabilities to terrorist attacks or other intentional acts intended to disrupt water service, (2) submit these risk assessments to EPA, and (3) develop emergency response plans based on their assessments (42 U.S.C. §300i-2). EPA was directed to provide guidance to small systems (serving fewer than 3,300 people) on how to conduct vulnerability assessments, prepare emergency response plans, and address threats. As initially added to SDWA, Section 1433 did not require water systems to update their assessments. AWIA rewrote Section 1433 to require community water systems serving more than 3,300 people to conduct risk and resilience assessments. Under the revised section, such water systems are required to assess their system's vulnerabilities to natural hazards, in addition to malevolent acts. As a part of their assessment, water systems are required to evaluate the resilience of their current physical infrastructure, including electronic, computer, or other automated systems (including the security of such systems) and their management practices, as well as financial capacity to respond to these risks. For purposes of Sections 1433 and 1459A(1), resilience is defined as the ability of a community water system ... to adapt to or withstand the effects of a malevolent act or natural hazard without interruption to ... a system's function, or if function is interrupted, to rapidly return to a normal operating condition (42 U.S.C. §300i-2(h)). Based on the assessment, water systems must also develop emergency response plans that address the risks and resilience issues that systems may face. Water systems must certify their assessments and submit the certifications to EPA by deadlines specific to the communities' size. Water systems serving 3,300 or more persons must review their risk assessments every five years and update them, if needed. Risk and resilience assessments and emergency response plans are voluntary for small water systems. AWIA amended SDWA to authorize appropriations of $10.0 million for grants to public water systems serving fewer than 3,300 people and grants to nonprofit organizations to support risk assessment and response planning activities (42 U.S.C. §300i-2(g)). Similar to P.L. 107-188, AWIA requires EPA provide guidance and technical assistance to small water systems on how to conduct resilience assessments, prepare emergency response plans, and ittps://Crsreports.congress.g( 0

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