Protecting a municipal water system starts with knowing which IT and operational technology (OT) assets control treatment, removing unnecessary ways into those systems, and being able to restore critical operations from tested backups. Pair those controls with a practiced incident plan that keeps safe water and wastewater service at the center of decisions.
1. Find out what is connected and what matters most
Build and maintain an inventory of the utility’s IT and OT assets: servers, workstations, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) components, human-machine interfaces (HMIs), programmable logic controllers (PLCs), network equipment, remote-access tools, and relevant supplier connections. Record each asset’s purpose, location, owner, support status, and dependencies. The inventory should help operators and IT staff see which systems affect treatment, monitoring, distribution, or wastewater processes—not just which devices are on the network.
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Use that map to assess cybersecurity gaps and rank fixes by operational risk. An outage or unauthorized change to a process-control system can have a different consequence from the compromise of a routine office device, so mitigation priorities should reflect effects on safe, continuous service.
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Choose an assessment that fits the utility
| Option | What to check | Important limit or question |
|---|---|---|
| Self-assessment | Use an assessment tool to identify gaps, document risks, and connect mitigations to owners and timelines. | Confirm the work covers operational dependencies and OT, not only office IT. |
| Government-supported assistance | EPA and CISA list assessment, scanning, technical-assistance, and regional-support resources. | Eligibility, availability, and scope vary; confirm current details with the agencies. |
| Paid provider | Ask for relevant experience with water operations, OT/ICS/SCADA, architecture, remote access, logs, and recovery planning. | Agree on access limits, operational safeguards, deliverables, escalation paths, and how findings will support the utility’s RRA and ERP. |
For any assessment, clarify whether it includes facilities and suppliers, how it handles systems that cannot be patched or taken offline, and whether its recommendations identify accountable owners and realistic deadlines. EPA provides a vendor procurement evaluation checklist for vendors, integrators, and managed service providers. Limit third-party access to what is justified.
2. Reduce exposure and restrict access to control systems
Review which services and connections are reachable from the internet and remove those the utility does not need. Avoid direct internet connections to OT assets unless operations explicitly require them and the access is appropriately controlled. EPA and CISA warn that an unsecured, remotely accessible HMI can let unauthorized users view or adjust live settings, creating a risk of treatment disruption. Read EPA’s water-sector cybersecurity guidance and its 2024 guidance for drinking-water and wastewater systems.
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- Use unique accounts and restrict administrative privileges to people who need them. Remove or change access promptly when personnel leave or change roles.
- Keep operating systems and software supportable, and address vulnerabilities according to risk and operational constraints.
- Collect and retain useful system and network security logs so responders can investigate activity.
- Prohibit unauthorized hardware connections where feasible, and review remote access granted to vendors or integrators.
Some controls may not be practical to apply exactly as written in a continuously operating plant. Document the constraint, assess the risk, and select compensating protections with operations and security staff rather than leaving the exception informal.
3. Keep backups that can restore service
Back up critical IT and OT information regularly, keep copies separate from the systems they protect, and test restoration. EPA’s examples include network configurations, PLC logic, and engineering drawings. Decide which information is needed to rebuild or safely reconfigure each critical process, who can access the backup, and how a clean copy will be identified if the source system is compromised.
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A disconnected backup copy—potentially held on an external drive under a utility’s security and procurement procedures—is one possible implementation, not a universal solution or an EPA-endorsed product. Choose media and handling procedures that fit the system, protect the copy from unauthorized changes, and verify that staff can restore it. A backup that has never been restored in a controlled exercise is not evidence that operations can be recovered.
4. Put cyber response into the emergency plan
Cyber incidents can affect treatment and service continuity, so incident response belongs in the utility’s emergency response plan (ERP), not only in an IT document. Use risk assessment findings to shape preparation, response, and recovery actions. Assign decision-makers and contacts, define how operators and IT/OT staff coordinate, and exercise the plan. EPA provides a customizable water-sector incident response template and checklist through its cybersecurity planning resources.
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Write down actions before an incident
- Who can declare an incident, approve operational changes, and make service-continuity decisions?
- How will the utility coordinate operators, IT/OT staff, vendors, integrators, local officials, and emergency partners?
- Which logs, system images, configurations, and other records should be preserved, and who is responsible for collecting them?
- Who should be contacted, including law enforcement, CISA, state regulators, WaterISAC, and any applicable insurance or incident-response-retainer contacts?
- Which mission-critical processes must be restored first, and how will staff confirm that restoration is safe before returning systems to service?
During an actual incident, follow the utility’s plan and coordinate through current agency channels rather than improvising technical response steps from a general article. The joint EPA, CISA, and FBI Water and Wastewater Sector Incident Response Guide explains federal partner roles and points utilities to further resources.
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In the United States, community water systems serving more than 3,300 people must complete and certify risk and resilience assessments (RRAs) and ERPs under Safe Drinking Water Act section 1433. They must review them every five years and revise them as necessary; the ERP must address resilience, including cybersecurity. These requirements do not automatically apply to every utility type, and a wastewater-only system should not assume that this community-water-system rule covers it. Check the system’s specific status and current legal requirements using EPA’s assessment page and its enforcement alert.
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EPA reported that over 70% of systems it inspected since September 2023 violated basic section 1433 requirements, and that it had taken over 100 section 1433 enforcement actions since 2020. These are EPA-reported compliance and enforcement figures for the stated populations and timeframes; they are not estimates of how many water systems have been hacked.
Reporting duties can also depend on current federal and state rules. EPA’s 2024 guidance described CIRCIA incident-reporting regulations as still in rulemaking and noted that a proposed rule would cover at least some water-sector entities. Verify the current rule and the utility’s applicable obligations instead of assuming that one reporting deadline or process applies to all systems.
6. Make security a recurring operating practice
Assign owners and review dates for asset inventories, risk mitigations, account access, backups, incident contacts, and exercises. Revisit them when equipment, vendors, processes, or staffing change. Coordinate cybersecurity work with treatment and maintenance schedules: a control that is technically sound but disrupts safe operations needs an operationally workable implementation or a documented alternative. No checklist, assessment, or device guarantees protection; the goal is to reduce risk and improve the utility’s ability to detect, respond, and recover.
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