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America's
hidden terrorist labyrinth: Sewerage systems
Chicago Tribune
- 5/27
Since
the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, most of the nation's
security efforts have focused on facilities such as airports,
skyscrapers and nuclear plants. But experts are beginning to worry
about what they say is a serious threat from something so mundane
most people rarely think about it: a city sewer system.
America's
wastewater systems include some 800,000 miles of tunnels, and
they lead to every major building in every city in the country.
The sewers connect to 16,000 wastewater treatment plants, many
of which store large amounts of toxic chemicals.
Experts
fear the dark, largely unmonitored tunnels could become routes
for terrorists.
"Sewer
pipes form a vast underground network that can provide a terrorist
with access to many public buildings, urban centers, private businesses,
residential neighborhoods, military installations and transportation
systems," said Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.), chairman of the
House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee.
Bud
Schardein, executive director of the Metropolitan Sewer District
in Louisville, was more direct.
"We
have sewers as much as 22 feet in diameter. You could drive a
railroad locomotive through there," Schardein said.
"It
doesn't take a genius to figure out how to get into them. It's
a network under every building in the city."
A
bill moving through Congress would provide about $200 million
to help cities evaluate the vulnerability of their waste treatment
systems. It also would pay for such improvements as securing sewerage
entry points and installing video cameras and fences.
Experts,
however, say the money is primarily intended to encourage the
study of weaknesses of wastewater system security rather than
for cities to bolster it. With officials having so many other
anti-terrorism concerns, some experts worry that wastewater systems
are not getting the attention they merit.
A
White House report issued in February listed waste and drinking
water systems among 11 crucial areas. Power plants, transportation
and emergency services also were listed.
Homeland
Security concerned
"Certainly
we are concerned about water treatment plants and wastewater,"
Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Rachel Sunbarger said.
The
Army issued an urban warfare field manual in 2002 outlining the
potential problem.
"Sewers,
subways, tunnels, cisterns and basements provide mobility, concealment,
cover and storage sites for insurgents and terrorists," it
says.
Sewers
lead to wastewater treatment plants that are critical to sanitation,
the environment and the maintaining of normal urban life. An attack
that cripples a wastewater plant could have catastrophic effect
on public health.
Schardein
said that while it may be difficult to break into a major building,
it could be far easier to enter sewerage and slip underneath one
to plant a bomb or release a toxic chemical.
With
thousand of manholes and other access points, a sewer system is
impossible to fully secure, said Jack Farnan, general superintendent
of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.
Some cities treat sewer security as a low priority because it's
unclear what can be done.
"We
probably have at least 150,000 access points" in the Chicago-area
sewerage system, Farnan said. "Even if you put a policeman
on top of every single one, if someone had some kind of material
that they wanted to pour into the system and ignite, they wouldn't
need to use a public space. All they would need to do is rent
a building with a floor drain."
Visible
targets get attention
Farnan
said most cities are focused on higher-profile targets, including
transportation systems, power plants and drinking water facilities.
"The
problem is that we don't know what we're looking for," Farnan
said. "Everybody is looking in 40 different directions."
As
part of its homeland security efforts, the Environmental Protection
Agency has created a Water Protection Task Force that is working
with local officials to figure out how wastewater and drinking
water systems may be vulnerable to attack.
Cynthia
Dougherty, an EPA official who leads the task force, said the
agency wants sewerage system operators to identify "the priority
points where if something happened it would be catastrophic."
"You
don't have to secure every inch of the system," she added.
Dougherty
said that the threat of invasion through sewers is less a concern
than possible attacks on wastewater treatment plants, which usually
have large quantities of toxic chemicals.
Rande
Wilson of Red Oak Consulting, who advises cities on security issues,
said it is important to strengthen control over these chemicals,
among them chlorine, a common but toxic disinfectant.
"On
site, if there is a leak, it could be devastating to people who
work at the facility or live nearby," Wilson said. Chlorine
gas also could be used as a weapon if it were stolen and released
in a building or while being transported through a city, he said.
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