Review – S 1118 Introduced – Water System Threats

Back in March, Sen Markey (D,MA) introduced S 1118, the Water Intelligence, Security, and Cyber Threat Protection Act of 2025. The bill would require the EPA to carry out a program to support, and encourage participation in, the Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center (W-ISAC). The legislation would authorize $10 million for FY 2026 and FY 2027 to support this initiative.

This text of this bill is essentially identical to S 660, the Water System Threat Preparedness and Resilience Act of 2023, that was introduced by Markey in March of 2023. No action was taken on that bill in the 118^th Congress.

Moving Forward

Markey is a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there should be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in committee. I see nothing in this bill that would engender any organized opposition, and the spending issue is less of a problem in the Senate than in the House. At this point, this bill is more likely to move forward in committee than is the House bill.

Commentary

While the undefined term ‘malevolent acts’ used in §2(b)(4)(B) would certainly seem to include cyber incursions or attacks, I would prefer to see cybersecurity specifically addressed. To that end, I would suggest changing subparagraph (B) to read:

“(B) enhancing the preparedness of community water systems and publicly owned treatment works to identify, protect against, detect, respond to, and recover from cybersecurity threats (as defined in 6 USC 1501), malevolent acts (within the meaning of section 1433 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300i–2)) or natural hazards.”