EPA Releases Baseline Information on Malevolent Acts for Community Water Systems
Today EPA released its Baseline Information on Malevolent Acts for Community Water Systems, which details baseline information for CWSs to use in the AWIA-required risk and resiliency assessments. This document helps water systems assess threats to prepare for and manage risks and adopt an all hazards approach that:
- Identifies, deters, detects, and prepares for these threats.
- Reduces vulnerabilities of critical assets.
- Mitigates the potential consequences of incidents that do occur.
The values in this document are intended to serve as a starting point for systems to consider when they are estimating the threat likelihood of malevolent acts as part of a risk and resilience assessment. When conducting site-specific assessments, systems may determine that lower or higher threat likelihood values are appropriate. The process systems will go through to identify their specific threats will take into account their unique situations, which cannot be reflected in the baseline numbers. It is also important to note that threat likelihood is not an assessment of the risk that malevolent acts may have on public health. This is the first time EPA, or any other federal agency, has compiled this important information for systems across the country. For more information on the document click here. For more information on the new requirements of AWIA regarding risk assessments or and emergency response plans, as well as the certification process click here.
