The EPA's Office of Research and Development invites you to a free webinar! As part of their water research webinar series the US EPA invites you join them for a discussion of SARS CoV-2 in Wastewater Monitoring: Linking Research and Application to Meet Immediate Needs. Widespread studies conducted national and globally indicate that genes specific to SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus that causes COVID-19) can be detected in wastewater. The ability to collectively sample both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals has lead dozens of states, cities, and universities to actively monitor wastewater to inform public health decisions. The clarity of the reflection of community prevalence of infection within the mirror of wastewater can be distorted by several factors, including variation in analytical detection methods, decay and dilution of viral genes during wastewater transport, and imprecision in relating the wastewater signal to other imperfect measures of community infection rates. This webinar will focus on the following collaborative efforts of EPA's SARS-CoV-2 wastewater monitoring research team to reduce uncertainties: • Method development within the lab. • Application in sewersheds with distinctive levels of industrial and stormwater impacts–in coordination with the Cincinnati Metropolitan Sewer District. • Development of a wastewater surveillance systems in Ohio–in support of the […]

For National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, EPA will be hosting a 90-minute webinar featuring experts from EPA’s Water Security Division (WSD), the Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center (WaterISAC) and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA). Experts will discuss their roles in supporting and furthering the security and resilience of the drinking water and wastewater sector. The webinar will feature the following experts: Nelson Mix (Environmental Engineer, EPA), Chuck Egli (Lead Analyst, WaterISAC), Jennifer Lyn Walker (Cyber Threat Analyst, WaterISAC), and Mikko McFeely (Manager of Federal Relations, AMWA). The webinar will cover the importance of water quality surveillance and response systems (SRS) and communications; balancing valuable technology needs, such as Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), with cybersecurity performance measures; malicious threats in the cyber domain that threaten the sector; and the challenges that disinformation can pose to utilities. This webinar also offers free continuing education units (CEUs).  You can register for the webinar here:  https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/3911834082279759374

Join this webinar to hear a unique case study of the West Basin Municipal Water District’s experience managing their primary facility assets. Margaret Moggia, Executive Manager of Finance for the West Basin Municipal Water District, will share how the District leveraged their Operations Department’s efforts in asset management.  This allowed the District to improve their financial reporting of capital assets by developing a way to componentize its existing water facility assets with the appropriate useful life, and remove certain duplicate assets.  In addition, you will learn best practices related to asset management developed by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), and how to use asset management practices to boost partnership and regionalization efforts. Learn how an organization separates assets Understand ways to collaborate outside of your department Understand ways to leverage inter-connective opportunities Gain an understanding of GFOAenvironm best practices related to asset management

Join this webinar to hear a unique case study of the West Basin Municipal Water District’s experience managing their primary facility assets. Margaret Moggia, Executive Manager of Finance for the West Basin Municipal Water District, will share how the District leveraged their Operations Department’s efforts in asset management.  This allowed the District to improve their financial reporting of capital assets by developing a way to componentize its existing water facility assets with the appropriate useful life, and remove certain duplicate assets.  In addition, you will learn best practices related to asset management developed by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), and how to use asset management practices to boost partnership and regionalization efforts. Learn how an organization separates assets Understand ways to collaborate outside of your department Understand ways to leverage inter-connective opportunities Gain an understanding of GFOA best practices related to asset management Presenters:  Margaret Moggia, Executive Manager of Finance for West Basin Municipal Water District, Current GFOA Board Member , Past President for California Society of Municipal Water District (CSMFO)  Khristopher A Dodson, Associate Director, Syracuse University Environmental Finance Center Eva Olsaker, Senior Manager, GFOA

Here is an opportunity to participate in EPA training on America's Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) On November 2nd, 4th, and 5th, the EPA Headquarters Water Security Division in partnership with EPA Region 9 Drinking Water Program will be hosting a series of virtual workshops for meeting the America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) Risk and Resiliency Assessment and Emergency Response Plan requirements. The audience for these workshops are small and medium water systems and their consultants. There will be informational sessions, as well as small group working sessions, for participants to walk through completion of a Risk and Resilience Assessment using EPA's Small Systems Risk and Resilience Assessment Checklist. Additional information, including the registration link, can be found below. This module will cover Section 2013 Requirements, Certification, & Section 2018 Basics.  You can learn more or register here.

Here is an opportunity to participate in EPA training on AWIA.  On November 2nd, 4th, and 5th, the EPA Headquarters Water Security Division in partnership with EPA Region 9 Drinking Water Program will be hosting a series of virtual workshops for meeting the America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) Risk and Resiliency Assessment and Emergency Response Plan requirements. The audience for these workshops are small and medium water systems and their consultants. There will be informational sessions, as well as small group working sessions, for participants to walk through completion of a Risk and Resilience Assessment using EPA's Small Systems Risk and Resilience Assessment Checklist. Additional information, including the registration link, can be found below. This module will focus on risk and resilience assessments: malevolent acts, natural hazards and the small systems checklist.  You can learn more and register here.

Here is an opportunity to participate in EPA training on America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) On November 2nd, 4th, and 5th, the EPA Headquarters Water Security Division in partnership with EPA Region 9 Drinking Water Program will be hosting a series of virtual workshops for meeting the America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) Risk and Resiliency Assessment and Emergency Response Plan requirements. The audience for these workshops are small and medium water systems and their consultants. There will be informational sessions, as well as small group working sessions, for participants to walk through completion of a Risk and Resilience Assessment using EPA’s Small Systems Risk and Resilience Assessment Checklist. Additional information, including the registration link, can be found below. This module will focus on the emergency response plan template and guidance.  You can learn more and register here.

The Water Advisory Committee of Orange County (WACO) was formed in 1983 to facilitate the introduction, discussion, and debate of current and emerging water issues among Orange County policymakers and water professionals. It has also advocated the Orange County water community’s position on issues affecting the provision and management of our water supplies, with lawmakers, regulatory agencies, regional and state water organizations, and others. Topic: The Affordability of Water Meet Your Presenters Moderator and Speaker: Adan Ortega, CalMutuals  Speaker: Laurel Firestone, Member, State Water Resources Control Board  Speaker: Paul Jones, General Manager, Eastern Municipal Water District 

In December of 2015 and 2016, malicious cyber actors, unknown to the world at the time, launched a series of cyberattacks against civilian-owned and operated operational technology (OT) and industrial controls systems (ICS) in Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. These attacks disabled the electricity grid across the country, turning out the lights and heat in the middle of a Ukrainian winter for hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children. From there, the attack, leveraging NotPetya malware, spread across the globe, impacting companies' ability to provide critical public services such as transportation and health from Kyiv to Amsterdam to Heritage Valley, Pennsylvania. Much has been written about the hacking group we now call Sandworm (see Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers by Andy Greenberg). Researchers, some of whom are joining for today's panel discussion, traced several other high-profile attacks to the Sandworm team going back several years. In this program, panelists will discuss Sandworm and the Russian governments' worldwide cyber-enabled campaign to destabilize and interfere with critical economic systems of other countries, the importance of government and critical infrastructure to work together to combat Sandworm and other APT actors, and how organizations can mitigate the […]