June 2, 2003 -- To help small drinking water utilities assess their vulnerabilities to terrorism, EPA Assistant Administrator for Water G. Tracy Mehan, III announced the awarding of $1.5 million in grants for Water Security Training and Assistance to five nonprofit training and technical assistance organizations. The program is authorized under the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002. The grant recipients are:
Maryland Center for Environmental Training at the College of Southern Maryland in La Plata, Maryland; National Environmental Services Center - West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia; National Rural Water Association in Duncan, Oklahoma; Rural Community Assistance Program in Washington, DC; and Water Environment Federation in Alexandria, Virginia
Grant funds, up to $300,000 per organization, will be used to support "Train-the-Trainer"efforts to build staff expertise in drinking water security and then provide no-cost training to state, tribal, or local agencies that assist drinking water systems. The ultimate goal of this program is to provide a resource pool of trained professionals and trainers who can deliver training and technical assistance to drinking water systems serving populations of less than 50,000 people. The training sites and dates will be announced. For more information on EPA's water infrastructure security efforts go to http://www.epa.gov/safewater/security/.
