March 31, 2004 -- The National Academy of Sciences confirmed MSD Executive Director Bud Schardein's participation in an expert panel the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) is convening on Wastewater Security.
Schardein has served on several similar panels involving Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies (AMSA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the FBI.
GAO, an independent and nonpartisan agency of Congress, is conducting a study addressing wastewater security for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The Committee, like many other decision makers, has expressed concern about the prospect of terrorist attacks against wastewater facilities. GAO will use the panel of experts to provide information regarding:
• Ways the Nation's wastewater treatment facilities may be vulnerable to terrorism;
• How federal funds can best be allocated among potential recipients to reduce vulnerabilities; and
• What specific activities merit federal support.
GAO used a similar approach for a drinking water security study last year. The final report - Drinking Water: Expert Views on How Future Federal Funding Can Best be Spent to Improve Security - may be viewed on the Internet at http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-29.
