EPA recently announced the Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Initiative – Water and Wastewater Sector Action Plan to help improve water utility cybersecurity.  The Action Plan is part of President Biden’s Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Initiative, established in the National Security Memorandum on Improving Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure Control Systems.  Similar plans were implemented last year for the electrical and natural gas sectors.

The Action Plan will establish a task force of water sector leaders, which will include representatives from NACWA member utilities.  Incident monitoring pilot projects will be implemented, and actions will be taken to improve early detection of cyber-threats and rapid sharing of cyber threat data across the government.  EPA will lead the effort, along with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), in coordination with the Water Sector Coordinating Council (WSCC), an advisory group that includes NACWA and the other national water associations. 

The Action Plan is focused on larger utilities, with actions that can be taken within a 100-day period.  NACWA will closely follow how the Action Plan is implemented, and NACWA member utilities with a potential interest in participating in the Action Plan are asked to contact Cynthia Finley, NACWA’s Director of Regulatory Affairs.