Article in Security Global Fall 2009.
Ilan Juran,
Professor, Polytechnic Institute, New York University . Bruno Nguyen, Director of Water Operations Paris. Zion Cohen, vice president of planning and infrastructure Mekorot. supply of potable water is an essential service to all very special with features that make it apart: – it is a continuous even more essential urban service for health reasons (drainage, valve and hygiene) and Vital (for direct consumption and kitchen) – Product may degrade the quality standpoint and the number of parameters is very important to follow; – the resource depends on weather conditions (amount) and environmental (pollution) it is difficult to control and predict; – the infrastructure of the water supply system is very costly, subject to external constraints and often inaccessible for work; – pipe networks are extended and difficult to monitor; – hydraulic phenomena are complex and modeling requires knowledge detailed and accurate facilities and state; – the uses are very diversified (domestic consumers, manufacturers, artisans, municipalities, fire …) – the backup solutions and autonomy are very limited in urban centers with high density; – Finally, we must add that at all times, access to water was a political, economic issue, and major strategic.
Under these conditions, there is no wonder that the vulnerability of networks of water supply is the subject of special attention in terms of both governments and operators, whether public or private .
In the post-September 11, 2001 attacks situation, the level of vulnerability of critical networks (transport, communications, energy, water …) has been reviewed in many countries with the key security objectives revised upwards. In France, after the redesign of Vigipirate, the publication by the Ministry of Health of an assessment of the vulnerability of drinking water systems and the recent National Security Directive with its shutter guide “water” illustrate the attention is paid to the risks that may affect totally or partially the activity of drinking water.
It was inevitable that the initiatives taken here and there in the world to control the vulnerability of drinking water systems eventually meet one way or another. However reconciliations for effective cooperation in this field come up against several difficulties: – cooperation protocols at the state level, where the great majority of the operational competence rests at the local level are often cumbersome and unsuited as regards water , – the subject is sensitive, exchanges are hampered by the need for confidentiality that must exist in particular for access to restricted information; – a climate of mutual trust is essential for effective cooperation and strict rules must able to require all participants. Despite these difficulties, cooperation initiatives and working groups are created at all levels, among which may be mentioned the ASTE at the French level, the standardization work of ISO and CEN, IWA, EWA or . UN International Association W-SMART was created at the initiative of Joel Miele, Commissioner of the New York City Water, Sanitation and Environmental Protection (CDEP NY – New York City Department of Environmental Protection) following the attacks of 11 September 2001, to establish an international solidarity between the major operators in the urban water face the threats of terrorism rapidly expanding on a global scale.
Genesis of the W-Smart Association
in 1993 as a joint initiative of mayors of Paris and New York, a program of cooperation has been established between the municipal technical departments of both cities. This program, coordinated by the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, focused on several areas such as roads, cleanliness, green spaces, water and sanitation. Regarding drinking water, chosen interlocutors on both sides of the Atlantic were the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) and Eau de Paris – SAGE P. The form taken by the cooperation of drinking water services between the two techniques has led over the years by organizing an annual conference on topics as diverse as trenchless technologies (no dig) or remote management (scada systems). The venue then alternated between the two cities, and some players who could not move participated through a video conference. Thus, conferences were held in 1999 in New York, in Paris in 2000, and was scheduled a conference in New York September 30, 2001 …
The attacks of September 11 have had the impact that we know and NYCDEP was one of the most active services in crisis management and post-reconstruction attacks. Despite the crisis, barely two weeks after the attacks, Joel Miele decided to hold the conference to expand to other U.S., European and Israeli operators north, and to fit the theme of the particular situation. Participants were able to discuss directly with the New York accountable immediate consequences of the crisis, the way she was and had been managed, procedures, strategies and resources that would have to reduce the consequences. This experience single sharing hot experience of the crisis between operators and the exchange of opinions and recommendations were welcomed by all participants. They led to the unanimous desire to promote international solidarity between operators metropolitan networks of water supply to the threat of terrorism and to continue discussions on the issues of water security within a group international work involving public and private operators concerned. Coordinating this working group was entrusted by Joel Miele at the Urban Utility Center of the Polytechnic University of New York. In October 2002, the first meeting of the working group was held in Paris, under the co-chairmanship of Water and NYCDEP Paris with the participation of AMWA (Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies), a strategic partner of W-SMART from its creation.
Formally established in Paris in December 2005, W-SMART itself the objective to bring together public and private operators of drinking water of major cities to promote the exchange of experiences within a secure environment, evaluate all security measures planned by state and federal authorities and their operational impacts, security, and financial on operators, as well as assess and accelerate the reliable use of new technological solutions and “systems smart ‘for decision support to improve their ability to detect, prevent and manage crisis. This desired by all participants cooperation is firmly based on the priority needs of operators and operational issues. It aims to strengthen the security of water supply for metropolitan populations through improved security measures and technical capabilities vis-à-vis natural disasters and the consequences of terrorism, both to better respond to situations crisis by implementing systems for a rapid return to normal. Defining the crisis The feed water security is defined as the ability of the operator to provide tap water users in quantity and sufficient quality; both in normal times in crisis situations (natural disasters, terrorist acts or linked to human activity, direct or indirect). A crisis is a period of loss of control; its duration is not necessarily known at the time it begins. However, its management must converge to a time when the effects of the crisis are no longer felt and management of water systems can then follow the procedures corresponding to normal operational conditions. According to the ISO definition, crisis preparation and implementation of effective management if it occurs, apply to both:
– To reduce the negative impact on the level of service
– to allow rapid service restoration in acceptable conditions before returning definitively normal. Active and passive safety
When studying and comparing the crisis preparation for operators of large urban systems for drinking water in different parts of the world, there is generally a variation along two main axes complementary and interdependent:
– the definition, assessment and implementation of means of protection and prevention can both reduce the occurrences of emerging crises and contain their effects
– the development of procedures to conduct operators to put in place structures for crisis management and mobilization of resources adapted to emergency situations; including information, education or mobilization of people in these situations.
For the first axis, it is mainly physical protections that could be called passive safety associated with critical infrastructure, responding to the risks identified and analyzed and for which solutions have been devised.
Accordingly, the passive protection often have substantial costs; they can only respond to specific situations and exhibit stability over time, subject to the subject of regular and effective facilities that are also by definition rarely requested maintenance. The deployment of passive protection is generally automatic.
The second axis, which can be described as active safety, for its part relies on the human element. It assumes that the actors are not only fully aware of what they should do but also their skills, their positions and their motivations are at the expected level. The cost of active safety is well below the cost of passive safety. Active safety requires continued attention by carrying out periodic exercises, regular recall instructions and a management that enhances the transmission of knowledge and feedback. Active safety is based on the principles of responsiveness and adaptability that give it the advantage of being effective against even a kind of unexpected crisis.
Every business knows that these concepts are implemented in the prevention of potential incidents, where one side is associated infrastructure and standards, and other exercises and training. It is always surprising how clean each through its educational, legislative or historical culture influences the definition and variation of the concepts of passive safety and active safety.
The principles of security and vulnerability analysis of various models are being fruitful exchanges in W-SMART.
The virtuous circle of continuous improvement
Continuous improvement process, although written in the quality assurance systems, allows those who apply to take advantage of every incident or crisis to draw valuable lessons and improve preparedness anticipation of the following incident. This method properly applied makes learning much of what has worked well as what needs to be improved.
It appears that the incidents or situations of crisis are actually experienced a major improvement cycle engine. But those who wish to improve their ability to prepare for and manage crises can neither expect that such situations occur in them, or just wait until they occur.
That’s why sharing within a group of operators acquired in managing water systems experience incidents which they sometimes face is very valuable opportunities for everyone to improve, subject However, the events and their analysis are delivered honestly and with sufficient detail. Is then easy to understand that trust between the group members is an essential element in this exercise, and that the information shared is not intended to be disclosed unless formal authorization or those that are at the origin.
Mission and objectives of the Association W-SMART
mission W-SMART is to create an international forum to promote and facilitate the sharing of information, exchange of experiences and cooperation primarily between public and private operators of networks supply drinking water metropolitan populations; it also aims to promote dialogue and cooperation with associations which include these operators; with international, national and local authorities; and finally, with the poles of applied research in the field of drinking water. To achieve its mission, the W-SMART Association has given objectives to implement the following actions:
1. organize an annual workshop of W-SMART to promote the exchange of experience between operators, assess security measures envisaged by state or federal authorities and develop a dialogue with them on operational, security and financial impacts of these measures, and to share thoughts on the practices adopted by operators and evaluate industrial developments, experiments and applications of new technologies.
This international forum for water experts (decision makers, security experts, operators and researchers) has in particular to assess and define security measures to enhance the ability of operators to manage crisis situations, to accelerate the development of new technologies and standardization, and finally to evaluate the rules and security policies implemented by national authorities for the management of drinking water systems.
2. Creating an international forum of operators for the evaluation and improvement of safety practices. Riche its collective experience, the role of this forum is to advise operators of water services in the form of periodic manual on innovative technologies, the development of methodologies for managing network security, as well as the practical evaluation of this new technology from experiments or practical applications on urban network solutions. This manual summarizes the collective experience of the member organizations of W-SMART.
3. Facilitate cooperation between operators for the development of joint projects to their needs priority. The objective is to establish protocols of cooperation between members of W-SMART organizations to pool their resources, their expertise and experience to undertake all the development, implementation and monitoring of projects to strengthen common their ability to meet the challenges of the security of their networks.
4. Provide a secure information system to establish bases of data, identify and analyze data on the occurrence of disasters and their impacts on the networks of drinking water, and allow members of W-SMART organizations and ‘AMWA share their experiences in an environment of trust mutual.
5. Partnering for research and development. Such partnerships, often involving the operators concerned, industries with innovative technologies and research centers have essentially aims to identify emerging technological solutions to support applied research to industrial development and accelerate their experimentation on pilot projects, their evaluation and standardization for industrialization.
6. Provide training manager of crisis management and technical advice to operators involved in the preparation, implementation and evaluation of exercises of crisis management. The main objective is to promote the sharing of experiences gained and evaluation practices adopted by the members, including the participation of W-SMART and AMWA as observers in the implementation and evaluation exercises crisis management carried out by other members. These observers share their experience then during debriefing sessions with the manager
the year. W-SMART also offers technical assistance to members involved in the evaluation and improvement of their strategies for crisis management by capitalizing on an enhanced synthesis of the collective expertise of members.
7. collaboration between the water sector and other critical infrastructure networks, develop particular managers of urban networks (gas, electricity, telecommunications, transportation, etc..) in and other stakeholders, with the aim of identify interdependencies and common strategies and strengthen the safety of urban networks;
. 8 Representing the interests of members of W-SMART with other organizations (IWA, ISO, international aid organizations, etc..) to:
– Fostering strategic partnerships
– develop and use the collective expertise of members;
– develop standards;
– explore opportunities for co-financing for priority projects identified by the members of W-SMART.
9. Establish, with the support and cooperation of the IWA, an international network of experts able to provide technical assistance to appropriate international organizations, national and local governments and operators of water systems for areas affected by disaster; one such technical assistance may include an on-site expertise, international assistance mobilizing critical resources, training and education, and other technical activities mutually identified by local governments, beneficiaries of technical assistance and the members concerned W- SMART.
The fact that W-SMART is recognized by international and government regulators country organizations such as France, the United States, Israel, Portugal and the United Kingdom, is the result of the recognition of a real need and shared by the community of water professionals in the ensemble.Dès its inception in 2005, W-SMART interest in cooperation with AMWA has organized annual workshops on various topics on methods of crisis management, security measures metropolitan networks drinking water and new technologies.
Operators of large cities, members of W-SMART have very generously offered the hospitality of their cities for the organization of these workshops. Their themes are presented on the website of W-SMART www.w-smart.info/wsmart . Moreover, in cooperation with IWA and other international organizations, including UNICEF, the UN, etc.. W-SMART co-organized workshops open to the international community.
Among these workshops, we note that organized by UNICEF in cooperation with W-SMART, AMWA and IWA after the tsunami in 2004 to support local governments in the affected region and to strengthen international cooperation to deal with stains substantial reconstruction of their drinking water and sanitation.
It should be noted that since its inception the association has also given objective to contribute concretely to strengthening the capacity of detection, prevention and crisis management in developing, in particular, two areas of activity include:
The research, development and site assessment of new technological solutions and tools for decision support.
The main objective of W-SMART in this area is to identify new technological solutions being industrial development generally by corporations to start-up and create research and development partnerships with operators, members of W-SMART, and specialized research centers to accelerate the development of these technologies, their experiments on pilot projects and assessment for their industrialization. W-SMART involved in the design and implementation of these projects and can also offer technical support to accelerate standards or acceptance by the regulatory bodies of these new technologies.
Assessment practices by operators in the design, implementation and evaluation of crisis management exercises. Following the SMART Workshop W-08, held in Israel on the initiative of MEKOROT on the crisis management practices, including the training of managers and the implementation and evaluation exercises simulating actual incidents or scenarios reference exchange program experience, observation during execution exercises and mutual evaluation of these practices was established. It helps to promote and facilitate the participation of W-SMART and AMWA as observers in the implementation and evaluation exercises crisis management at the invitation of the organizing members. The observations made by these observers in debriefing sessions, inspired by their own experience, were much appreciated by operators organizers of these exercises. Through this program, we can note exercises conducted by MEKOROT during the workshop, by Great Cincinnati Water Works in cooperation with the EPA, and Eau de Paris. It should be noted that the practices deployed by operators are strongly influenced by their institutional, socio-cultural and operational. The synthesis of the experience gained is now the subject of the work of a group of experts who aim to develop concrete recommendations and strategies for benchmarking with appropriate performance measures for the planning, execution, evaluation and debriefing exercises in crisis management.
Research, development, and evaluation of new technologies
The main project of R & D of W-SMART is currently BIOCOM (Biological Control & On-Site Monitoring) project selected and funded by the National Research Agency of the French government, under the patronage an Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee with the participation of representatives from the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Health. The project was designed in cooperation with an Israeli technology company BioGem which is behind the development of the technology covered by this project. ‘s Research Consortium, created at the initiative of W-SMART gathers including the following partners: Eau de Paris, as operator for the evaluation of the technology on a pilot project, the HERITIER as an industry producing a biosensor designed for system control and monitoring proposed, and specialized research centers at the University of Lille, of KWR (Netherlands) and INER IS (laboratory industrial risk assessment of the Ministry of Ecology), and W-SMART, providing international expertise to the development of this project.
With a budget of 2M euros, financed by the ANR and partners, BIOCOM project aims to develop the first integrated bio-control system, combining intelligent monitoring with innovative sensors for bio- detection in situ and an interactive platform for communication and decision support.
Designed for safety management of water both by public and private operators by government experts and / or military organizations, the BIOCOM system will provide operating guidelines and safety of water services operational tools, reliable and efficient support for: i) the integration of new bio-sensors in intelligent monitoring systems; ii) identification of risks bioburden and system vulnerabilities; iii) the assessment and classification of the severity of each event of bio-contamination; iv) analysis of the impact and spread of high-risk areas; v) analysis of the situation, minimizing false alarms, and facilitating decision-making on measures to be taken; vi) the spatial and temporal consequences of the measures taken up; and vii) communication with all stakeholders, media, users, etc..
BIOCOM methodology for bio-detection in situ is made possible by the use of patented optical technologies originally designed for the military. BIOCOM the system using algorithms developed for other industries, will optimize the integration of technological solutions in the development of smart surveillance. The development of the integrated control system for real-time analysis and microbiological risk management should enable managers of drinking water significantly improve the ability to respond to emergencies and ensure security to safeguard the health public.
This system is built around three main axes:
1) An optical detection and enumeration in situ biological pathogens, made possible by an innovative technique photon counting in a wide field of analysis.
2) A device for sample preparation (fluorescent filtering device).
3) A decision aid for the evaluation and management of biohazards system for integrating support tools, decision algorithms and effective means for the visualization and communication of spatial analysis and . temporal situation on a platform to connect to various agencies involved in the management of the crisis
The current performance of the prototype system for the detection and enumeration can be summarized as follows:
– Grand detection field (Ø 25 mm )
– Analysis in a single shot,
– the precise location detecting means for confirmation if artifacts;
– Detection of microorganisms of the January-February size microns and therefore well below the pixel size ,
– Detection of bacterial viability by a temporal analysis of the fluorescence during the process of growth
– Ability to measure a pixel in an extremely low fluorescence to reduce the time required for effective growth detection (time detection for Ecoli currently being reduced by 16 hours, a common practice at 6:00 and Cryptosporidium to 3 hours).
The next step in this project is the evaluation of BIOCOM by the operator, Eau de Paris system from a test protocol on a pilot site and comparing its reliability and effectiveness to those methods used in laboratory tests. This assessment should allow for validation and improvement of the prototype system for standardization or acceptance by the Steering Committee for its practical use in detecting in situ bioburden and MRM crises to enable managers drinking significantly improve their ability to ensure the security of their networks water.
Conclusion
What seems remarkable, as founders of W-SMART is the richness of the exchanges that take place at the sharing of experiences and during the confrontation of different practices deployed by operators face challenges common safety metropolitan networks drinking water.
The experience of W-SMART leads us to the following considerations:
– Crisis services represent the general opinion of the operators, a necessary and indispensable means of preparing agents for delicate situations and validation procedures.
– The operators of water services are not only dealing with crises: the presence and involvement of stakeholders, including policy makers, increase with the level of consequence, real or imaginary, may affect populations. Under these conditions, it is essential for operators to provide understandable and properly formatted external authorities specific information elements quickly.
– Institutional, cultural and operational between the environments in which the operators must assume their responsibilities often leads to practices of crisis management and to very different procedures in particular the relationship between operators and regulators .
– However, the discussions on these issues are essential in order to benefit from all the experience gained so far to improve current practices of crisis management, accelerate the evaluation of new technology solutions, and evaluate security measures envisaged by state or federal authorities and develop the necessary dialogue with the authorities on the operational, security and financial impacts of these measures. Also, the synthesis of acquired and analysis of results obtained using different practices in their specific operational context experiences are likely to stimulate the imagination of local operators to offer innovative and creative solutions.
– It is in this context that the participation of W-SMART and AM WA as observers in crisis management exercises and shared in debriefing sessions observations were highly appreciated by the organizers operators these exercises. Finally, we like to introduce W-SMART as a network of networks through its members access to a large area where there are random:
– Reflections and standardization work in the field of crisis in the water sector at all levels: local, national and international levels;
– The feedback and research on new technologies and their applications
– A bibliographic documentation expanded and pooled rich but subject to very strict rules regarding its broadcast.
In conclusion, operators can not afford to wait passively crisis situations in a global context increasingly characterized by abrupt changes, whether climatic, political or economic.
If the opening seems desirable to take advantage of good practices here and elsewhere, it could lead to a detrimental scattering. W-SMART with the practical experience of fruitful exchanges, which rely strongly on the priority needs of operators and operational issues, we believe we have found the way to balance.
The authors thank the members of the consortium BIOCOM for their contributions to the preparation of the executive summary of the work performed under this project include: Dr. Jean Pierre Duguet, Water DeParis; Prof. Jacques Philippe, University of Lille, Jean Claude Robin, Optex Consultant, Erich Shaw, W-SMART and Dr. Jack Van de Vossenberg, KWR.