Water Facility Security Training

I ran across an interesting training notice on Facebook for a training class for water facility personnel to prepare utilities for the security and safety requirements under House of Representative’s Bill HR 3258, the “Drinking Water System Security Act of 2009.” The class will be held the week after next in Murfreesboro, TN. According to the notice:

“Utility operators will become familiar with the requirements of this Bill and how to comply with the Bill. Free RAMCAP compliant software is available to help systems prepare risk-based security plans, and alternative chemicals and processes to replace compressed gases.”

Now HR 3258 was incorporated in HR 2868 as Title II of that bill and was subsequently passed in the House. Readers of this blog will know that I do not believe that this bill will come to a vote in the Senate this year. Having said that I am nearly certain that a similar bill will come up next year and there will be some sort of provisions for water facility security in that bill. I’m not sure what ‘RAMCAP compliant software’ Taud Training Station is using, but the RAMCAP program was one of the bases for the development of the current CFATS tools. Additionally, addressing the issue of ‘alternative chemicals and processes’ (I like that better than IST) should certainly be of benefit to water system operators even if there is no IST mandate in future legislation. A six hour training program will not provide in depth coverage of any of these topics, much less all of them, but it is certainly enough time to give a good overview and point participants in the proper direction for further training. I don’t know anything about the Taud Training Station or any of the specifics of their proposed training, but the info provided on the Facebook page certainly would be enough to get me to make a call to John Shadwick for further information if I was a small water system operator.