Water System Security
Vulnerability Assessments
On June 12, 2002, President Bush signed the
Public Health Security and
Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (Title IV) into law. The act
requires every community water system serving more than 3,300 persons to:
- Conduct a vulnerability assessment
- Certify and submit a copy of the assessment to the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) within a specified time
- Prepare or revise an emergency response plan incorporating the results of the
vulnerability assessment
- Certify to EPA that the system has completed such a plan within six months of
completing the vulnerability assessment
For additional information on these requirements, download or view these
EPA documents
on EPA's Web site:
To
help water systems meet these requirements, the Office of Drinking Water
provided training to water systems serving between 3,301 and 99,999
people. Read more about Security Vulnerability Self-Assessment Guide for Small Drinking
Water Systems.
Water
systems serving fewer than 3,300 people are not required by the law to
conduct vulnerability assessments. However, in the interest of
protecting all citizens, the Office of Drinking Water allocated separate funds to
provide training to these smaller systems as well.
Time frames for submitting vulnerability assessments and emergency response plans
|
| Population
served by water system: |
Certify
and submit vulnerability assessment by: |
Certify
emergency response plan within 6 months of vulnerability assessment,
but no later than: |
| 100,000 or greater * |
March 31, 2003 |
Sept. 30, 2003 |
| 50,000 to 99,999 |
Dec. 31, 2003 |
June 30, 2004 |
| 3,301 to 49,999 |
June 30, 2004 |
Dec. 31, 2004 |
| Under 3,300 |
Not required |
Not required |
*
Water
systems with a population greater than 99,999 are working directly with
EPA to meet their deadlines.
For more
information, contact the Office of Drinking Water.
|
