Our drinking water systems are more connected than ever, and more exposed to risks
Our drinking water systems are more connected than ever, and more exposed to risks
Publish Date: 2026-06-10 15:46:00
Source Domain: federalnewsnetwork.com
Terry Gerton When people think about cybersecurity threats, we know water systems are not the first thing that comes to mind, but your new report for GAO suggests that they really should be. What’s changed in the time that you’ve been watching this issue that really makes it so urgent now?
Dave Hinchman You know, I think that’s a really fascinating question. When we think about water, it’s something we take for granted, but the water sector is one part of the national infrastructure of resources. This is electricity transportation. And since 2003, GAO has reported on the cybersecurity threat to that infrastructure. Of those areas, water is certainly one of them, but in the last couple of years, the water sector’s become increasingly reliant on connected technology. They have remote valves or remote pipes that control these massive sprawling infrastructure networks. And all of those points of access, of electronic access, are potential vulnerabilities to a bad actor.
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Terry Gerton The water systems that we are talking about, safe water and water treatment, drinking water and water-treatment systems, are not managed by the federal government. They’re managed by localities, counties, all kinds of different constituencies out there. How much does that complicate this issue?
Dave Hinchman That’s probably the single biggest complexity to this. To your point, there are 170,000 owner-operators of water and water treatment facilities around the country. And all of them, as you point out, it’s a mix of private operators, some municipal ones, and of all those things, none of them are required to do things, most things that the federal government says. We have a very sort of, I guess, cooperative relationship with the Environmental Protection Agency, which is the lead agency for the water sector. And so they do have some legislative authority to require people to do things, but for the most part they really try to convince these owner operators that…
