Fortifying Water: Building Resilient Treatment Plants

Access to clean water is the lifeblood of any thriving society. Water and wastewater treatment facilities, the guardians of this essential resource, tirelessly work to ensure its availability. Yet, these facilities constantly grapple with a range of threats. Let’s dive into the challenges they face and explore how cutting-edge network surveillance technology and AI-powered edge processing can fortify their defenses.

“Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.” – W.H. Auden

Auden’s words resonate deeply. Water is a universal necessity, transcending geographical boundaries and socioeconomic differences. Before we can drink it, cook with it, or use it in countless other ways, it must undergo treatment. Water treatment facilities are the unsung heroes, transforming raw water from rivers and lakes into potable water and purifying wastewater before it’s safely returned to the environment. These facilities also play a vital role in providing purified water for industries like manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.

These facilities form the very foundation of healthy communities, providing clean water that supports societal and industrial activities. Disruptions can have immediate, significant, and widespread consequences. That’s why water and wastewater treatment plants are considered critical infrastructure in every nation, subject to stringent regulations. Initiatives like the EU’s Critical Entity Resilience (CER) Directive and NIS2 underscore the need for these organizations to enhance their resilience.

However, these facilities are vulnerable to physical intrusions, safety incidents, water contamination, cyberattacks, and operational failures. Building true resilience demands a well-thought-out, comprehensive strategy that incorporates smart technology. This approach can help defend against disruptions and improve overall safety, security, and operational continuity.

Defending against physical threats to facilities

Controlling access to water treatment plants and reservoirs is paramount. Intruders could contaminate the water supply or damage vital equipment, leading to disastrous outcomes if their actions go unchecked. Technology can bolster security efforts by enhancing situational awareness, verifying threats, reducing the need for physical patrols, and minimizing false alarms. Let’s explore how these solutions can be applied in practice, both inside and outside your facility.

Starting at the outer perimeter, the goal is to intercept and prevent threats – whether they arrive by land or air – before they even reach your property. A proactive approach involves deploying radar devices outward from the fence line. These devices can detect and identify unusual activity within a designated “buffer zone” beyond your property. Thermal cameras can be strategically placed along the fence line to detect intruders, working in tandem with PTZ cameras that track and identify suspects. PTZ cameras can also be integrated with third-party drone detection systems to identify and track airborne threats.

Moving inward, the area within the perimeter fence demands a different approach. Here, the focus is on understanding all activity within the fence line, deterring unwanted behaviors, and intervening when necessary. Radar devices, thermal technology, and visual cameras provide security operators with the information they need to prevent intruders from accessing sensitive and high-risk areas.

Even with robust perimeter security, unauthorized individuals may still attempt to approach buildings and critical assets. Access control is crucial at this point, as it often represents the point of impact for malicious activity. Intruders pose both a security and a safety risk, potentially damaging vital equipment or unknowingly entering hazardous areas. An integrated solution that combines credential validation, multifactor authentication, and video verification ensures that you know exactly who is on your property and which buildings they are attempting to access. This allows you to intervene as needed to prevent unauthorized entry into critical or dangerous zones.

Beyond physical threats

While physical intrusions are a serious concern, malicious actors don’t always need to set foot on your property to cause harm. Cybercriminals can remotely access and control networks and outdated legacy systems. This isn’t just a hypothetical threat. In 2021, hackers gained remote access to a water treatment facility in Florida and briefly altered the chemical levels in the system before their actions were detected and reversed. Had they succeeded, the consequences would have been devastating.

Mitigating the threat of cyberattacks requires a multifaceted security approach to ensure a strong defense. This includes using devices designed with cybersecurity in mind, regularly updating software to protect against the latest threats, and modernizing systems to defend against organized and well-funded cyberattacks.

Improving operational efficiency and business continuity

Any disruption to water supplies can have far-reaching and severe consequences, especially if prolonged. Therefore, business continuity is of utmost importance for water treatment plants. Security incidents aren’t the only threats to continuity. Ensuring that equipment is in good working order is essential to prevent system breakdowns.

Traditionally, issues were only identified after a piece of equipment malfunctioned or during a routine inspection. The subsequent investigation and repairs resulted in unplanned downtime and significant financial losses. However, technological solutions now exist that can detect the earliest signs of dysfunction before they cause major problems.

For example, equipment failure is often preceded by an increase in temperature. Thermometric cameras can monitor surface temperatures, treating any unexpected increases as a key indicator of dysfunction. This allows for proactive intervention before failure and shutdown occur, reducing costs and improving overall resilience. Furthermore, collecting and analyzing historical operational data can help identify trends and implement processes that mitigate issues over time.

A word on safety

As an employer, you have a responsibility to ensure the health and safety of your employees, the public, and the wider community. This encompasses everything from providing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) to ensuring proper signage and preventative measures are in place, in accordance with regulations. This is even more critical given the hazardous chemicals stored and used at these facilities and the potential impact of contaminated or compromised water on the community and environment.

Video surveillance technology can be used to support the assessment of regulatory compliance and intervene if non-compliance is detected. For example, systems can identify whether an employee is wearing the correct PPE in a specific area and restrict access if they are not. Solutions can also monitor and detect falls, enabling prompt assistance for injured employees, and assess environments for the presence of fire or smoke, alerting teams as needed. Audio systems can deliver vital messages to workers, helping to preserve life and ensure their wellbeing.

Protecting a vital societal resource

Threats against critical infrastructure are becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated, and a successful attack can directly impact society. Building resilience into the safety and security operations of water and wastewater treatment facilities is crucial for withstanding and recovering from threats, whether malicious or accidental. Investing in technology that supports security, safety, and operational efforts is key to maintaining continuity and resilience. By taking these steps, you can address today’s challenges while mitigating the risks of tomorrow.

Click here to find out more about how you can use Axis technology to protect your water and wastewater treatment facility.

About Axis Communications

Axis creates solutions to improve security and business performance, enabling a smarter, safer world. As a network technology company and industry leader, Axis offers solutions in video surveillance, access control, intercom, and audio systems. These are enhanced by intelligent analytics applications and supported by high-quality training.

Axis has around 5,000 dedicated employees in over 50 countries and collaborates with technology and system integration partners worldwide to deliver customer solutions. Axis was founded in 1984, and the headquarters are in Lund, Sweden.

The Axis Experience Centre across APAC showcase many of the latest offerings, including advanced surveillance systems with features like audio analytics, intrusion detection, automated access control systems, and data analysis tools that provide actionable insights for better decision-making.

Learn more and book a visit: https://www.axis.com/axis-experience-center?head_region=APAC

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