Sludge Watch ==> WEF - $1.7 Million - Homeland Security and Sludge

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Here we go...here is a pocket of funding.

The EPA should retain the Pathogen team that Dr James Smith has assembled to 
bring in some public health consultants like Dr Steve Wing and Dr Edo 
McGowan, to examine the security and emergency response implications of 
having every kind of pathogen and toxin ever invented flow into the sewer 
plants and from there to farmland in the form of sludge.

Allowing unknown substances poured down a drain, either maliciously or 
inadvertently, to end up on farm fields is a staggering risk, especially in 
a developed country...like the US, whose sophisticated distribution systems 
could allow such contamination to have far reaching effects in the food  and 
  water marketplace.

Here is a chance to finance research on the topic. Such research could look 
at how alternative waste disposal practices could protect public health and 
national security at the same time.

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WEF Receives $1.7 Million From Department Of Homeland Security To Support 
Security And Emergency Response Training Program
10/31/2006






Alexandria, VA — The Water Environment Federation (WEF) has been selected by 
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to receive $1.7 million to 
implement a three-year comprehensive training program addressing 
interdependencies between the water sector and other critical 
infrastructures.

Building on its current water sector security program, the Federation will 
examine interdependencies within and outside the water sector in order to 
foster and enable effective partnerships that can advance prevention, 
protection, response, and recovery from incidents of national significance. 
The training will focus not just on water and wastewater (water sector) 
utilities but also on managers from other related critical infrastructures 
and on local government officials

“WEF has been a leader in providing all size water sector utilities with 
security and emergency response training and we are particularly pleased to 
cooperate with DHS on this innovative program," said WEF Executive Director 
Bill Bertera. "Many of the nation’s critical infrastructures are dependent 
on the water sector, and we are dependent on them. Addressing this 
relationship is key to reducing loss of life as well as minimizing the 
economic, social, and other impacts on the nation should an incident occur.”

Through a series of webcasts and other distant learning vehicles, 
stakeholder symposiums, and regional training sessions/workshops targeting 
participants from across the nation, the training program will build 
partnerships with, and provide information to, water sector utility managers 
and their counterparts from the transportation, energy, and other key 
sectors.