April 3, 2002 -- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is releasing additional information on the $53 million in grants available to the nation's largest public drinking water systems for water security planning.
A fact sheet and request for applications are available at: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/security/status1.html.
On March 19, EPA Administrator Christie Whitman detailed a nearly $90 million national effort to make drinking water and wastewater utilities as safe as possible as quickly as possible.
In response to the attacks of Sept. 11, Congress provided the funding to reduce the vulnerability of water utilities to terrorist attacks and to enhance their security and ability to respond to emergency situations.
The grants are available to large drinking water systems, those that regularly serve 100,000 people or more, to support vulnerability assessments, remediation planning and/or emergency plan development.
EPA is working closely with states, tribes and utility organizations to determine the best ways to meet small and medium drinking water and waste water system needs. Another portion of these funds will support state water security coordination and planning activities.
