The Water Security Research and Technical Support Action Plan

This report describes progress on issues set forth in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Water Security Research and Technical Support Action Plan (Action Plan). EPA collaborated with many stakeholders in developing the Action Plan, which identifies research and technical support needs to ensure the security of the nation’s water infrastructure. (It should be noted that, for the purposes of this document, the term “water,” as it applies to the water infrastructure, encompasses both drinking water and wastewater.)

EPA has initiated more than 100 projects to meet the needs listed in the Action Plan. These projects will result in a number of important products—including voluntary guidelines, protocols, technologies, software, training, handbooks, and other scientific and technical tools—to improve the nation’s capabilities in preventing and responding to a water security threat or incident.

 

This report is divided into the following sections:
- Section I, Executive Summary, provides an overview of the progress made to date.
- Section II, Background, describes EPA’s role in water security and the development of the Action Plan.
- Section III, Accomplishments to Date, summarizes the technical support and research products currently completed.
- Section IV, Products in Development, describes the high-priority, “Tier 1” technical support and research products in development. Tier 1 products are the highest-priority research products identified in the Action Plan and are of interest to a diverse group of stakeholders.
- Section V, Next Steps, describes additional collaborative efforts under way to further address the needs identified in the Action Plan.
- Appendices to this report include tables that summarize the status of all technical support and research products. Appendix A addresses completed Tier 1 products, and Appendix B describes Tier 1 products still in development. Appendix C focuses on Tier 2 products, which are of interest to smaller, specialized groups of stakeholders and are not described in detail in this report. Appendix D lists acronyms used in this report.