Arkansas US Rep. Rick Crawford introduces legislation aimed at preventing water system cyberattacks
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Cyber warfare has reached a new frontier: the kitchen sink. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, foreign hackers are targeting water departments, and some other states have already been hit.
Congressman Rick Crawford (AR-01) introduced H.R. 7922, the Water Risk and Resilience Organization (WRRO) Establishment Act, to combat the wave of bad actors. Initial reaction from water companies at the Arkansas Water Conference is positive.
“It’s become more of a risk and we’re seeing more attacks coming toward water systems, so whatever can be done we’re all for that,” Doug Shackelford with Central Arkansas Water said.
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Large companies, like Central Arkansas Water, employ an entire IT team to prevent what happened in 2021 at a Florida water treatment plant where a hacker tried to change the amount of different chemicals going into the water to unsafe levels.
“Water technology has come a long way and we do depend a lot on our computer systems to operate our entire distribution system, our water treatment process,” Shackelford said.
Dennis Sternberg is the CEO of the Arkansas Rural Water Association and has worked in the industry since 1979. He said smaller water departments don’t have the same automated processes as larger ones but the risk is still there for payment or personal information processed for every bill.
“I’m no computer person by no means,” Sternberg said. “There are people out that specialize in this and that is who we are going to have to rely on.”
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That’s where the Water Risk and Resilience Organization fits. Crawford’s legislation, if passed, would combine cyber and water-system expertise to develop and enforce cybersecurity requirements so the data streams are just as safe as the water streams.
Crawford shared a statement with his announcement of the WRRO Establishment Act:
“Foreign adversaries such as Russia and China have utilized cyber-attacks to target critical infrastructure such as water systems. This bill is a more proactive approach to safeguarding our drinking and wastewater from these types of attacks. These protections are vital at a time where cyber threats are constant and technology is evolving quickly.”
Sternberg said if a new governing body does become mandated, he wants assurances the training, access and implementation will be fully funded.
He said many of the smaller water departments only started reporting what they do for cyber security three years ago when the Environmental Protection Agency started requiring it as part of a risk and resilience assessment.
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The text of the resolution does not give an exact date for when the WRRO would go online but said the EPA administrator would set the date.
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