Welcome to Iowa This Week.
I'm Tim Harwood.
Headlines during the last few weeks have made you stop and take notice.
If you're about to turn on the water tap, word of hacks into water systems in many locations across the country.
Fortunately, none of those in eastern Iowa, but we're going to talk about the concern and the precautions being taken in Waterloo as we connect now with Chad Kuhn, General Manager of Waterloo Waterworks.
Thanks for
being with us.
Thank you.
Thank you.
When you hear these stories about to these communities, I know there have been some in Minnesota, some in New Jersey.
What comes to mind first for you as somebody who's in this business?
Just overall the concern of what did happen.
You know, we know the potential of what could happen.
And so then listening to some of the discussion nationally.
and trying to figure out where we're at, you know, what safety precautions has Waterloo taken to make sure that we can avoid these issues that are going on that have been noted.
are there some things in those stories and again it's a little different whether you're in one place versus another I'm sure but are there some things in those stories that kind of miss the marker that are going to confuse people as they think about their situation in Waterloo in particular since that's the area that you're familiar
with?
Yeah so I think that there are a variety of things that that are
concerning, like what, you know, so what could happen?
So could, you know, as far as our aspect in Waterloo, what could happen?
What could a bad actor do?
Could they shut off chlorine?
Could they, you know, shut off a pump or increase a pump or there are variety of things that could happen.
And so you got to play the what if game.
And in Waterloo, we've had Siza come in.
and run some different testing.
It's a federal agency, cybersecurity infrastructure, safety administration, I think, and so under Homeland Security, and try to do some penetration testing, see where we're at, can they breach the network or not, and then look at where we're at.
This summer we also had the EPA come to town.
and do an inspection.
And cybersecurity was part of that inspection.
And so very thankful to have Chris Youngblood at the city that is helping build a robust network and making sure that security matters are top of mind.
Yeah, we need to get through the day operationally, but also knowing that on the security side that we are very much proactive, not reactive in this arena.
We're talking with Chad Kuhn, general manager of Waterloo Water Works, about security and particularly cyber security around water infrastructure in the community, especially in the wake of cyber attacks on water systems in other locations.
Could you talk a little bit more about the safeguards?
You talked about some of the testing, cyber testing and preventative measures.
What sort of safeguards are there that would prevent someone from turning the dials and changing the mixture that would come out of the tap?
So for us, we've got a remote network that
We've got to have passwords to get into.
And we've also got staff that are visiting sites daily.
So we've got a variety of wells that may or may not be running, trying to make sure that we're getting the water to town that everyone needs in the quantities that they need.
So we've got different things in place as far as security systems.
And I think that reading
about some of the attacks that happened and some of the equipment that was involved.
There was a very specific pathway that was taken.
And we've gone back and done double checking on our end.
We don't have those pathways open.
And so there's very much a sense of comfort with that, but we know that every day the bad actors are getting smarter.
And so we've got to constantly evolve what we're doing in the arena of safety and security on the cyber side.
And with that too, artificial intelligence, that's been another trend this summer that we've heard about in stories where artificial intelligence has been able to hack into things that it shouldn't have had access to.
Is there anything of concern in particular when it comes to that for a water system operator or another infrastructure operator?
Yeah, I think that absolutely is.
The artificial intelligence is getting is getting smarter.
And even though we were told it won't happen, I think the reality is that there will come a day where that is is going to be a very easy path for those that don't take steps.
uh, to, to lock down their systems and make sure that security and protocols are in place.
Um, and, and so just again for us, we've, again, we're very much proactive in this arena and, and not sitting back and waiting, uh, to see what could happen because it could be bad.
You know, it's any, any water system in the U S is, has got to meet certain standards for the EPA.
And within that arena, then, um,
We've got a disinfect and so the the biggest thing we would potentially look at is They turn off the disinfectant and they they can spoof the The analyzers to make it look like there is disinfectant in the system and so you're actually pumping out water that has no disinfectant normally Might not be horrible, but there's always the but right is is the The disinfection happens for a reason
And we're killing pathogens.
And so if there's a pathogen present, and that would more likely be a surface water source than a groundwater, but it could be contaminated groundwater, you could make a lot of people sick.
And depending on that sickness, people can die.
And so you look at a water system 200 years ago, disinfection wasn't a thing.
And so typhoid and dysentery and a lot of those illnesses were waterborne.
and once disinfection started happening 100 years ago or so, and it became known what the benefits were, and that was instituted throughout the U.S., then those waterborne illnesses largely disappeared.
Again, in other countries across the world that don't have some of those systems in place, water...
Uh, the safety of it and drinking it is a concern.
I, you know, if we went south of the border, I've heard it.
I don't know how many times that you don't drink the water.
Um, and that's because the other isn't disinfection.
There isn't, uh, those systems aren't in place.
So looking at the safety side of, of a cyber attack and what could they do, there's, there's one of the big things.
Um, and some of the little things that could happen as far as.
you know, they mess up chemical feed systems and your water balance is then completely out of whack and that has a long-term effect within the pipeline as well.
We're talking with Chad Kuhn, general manager of Waterloo.
Water works about safety and security around water in the wake of cyber attacks in other parts of the country on water systems.
And this isn't a new threat.
I remember a story it's been several years ago and I don't know how precise the
reporting sticks in my mind, but it seemed to suggest that the water operator at a municipal system, I think it may have been in Florida, was sitting there and watching somebody in real time mess around with the levels for the system remotely.
How long has this been something that you've been thinking about that other utility operators have been thinking about?
I think easily 15 years.
that it's it's been a top of mind concern as far as that and seeing again the bad actors get smarter with how they're they're doing that.
And yeah, I don't remember exactly where it happened.
You're right.
But that's how that got caught.
And and a lot of this stuff is, you know, they they didn't just break in today and make something happen.
They broke in and they had their program and they just sat and watched.
And they sat and watched and they sat and watched and they tried to figure stuff out and they waited for an opportunity.
It very easily could have been in their years before they moved forward with taking any action on a system in that hack.
There's someone out there this morning who's having second thoughts about opening up their tap.
So Chad, give us give us some cause for optimism about the situation.
Absolutely.
Uh, so in, in Waterloo and we run a groundwater system and, uh, we're pulling water from different wells throughout the community all, all the time.
Uh, our operators, uh, we're staff 24 seven, first of all.
Uh, and so we've got operators that are, that are watching different disinfectant levels, pumping levels, how many gallons a minute are we putting out?
What's the system pressure?
We don't want to overpressure the system.
And then also.
Every day those operators are on shift and they're stopping into those sites and we're checking the disinfectant levels.
We're checking the different chemicals to make sure that the pumps are pumping or they're off if they need to be off.
And just the overall safety of what we do is very much as a plant operator.
And that's how I came into this whole thing was in my hometown working at the local water plant.
very much know that what we do may be invisible to most, but it is very, very important, right?
Um, safety and security of our drinking water is very important because we have become so accustomed to, Hey, I just opened the tap and I take a drink and it's good to go.
It's not a concern.
Um, and so watching those levels and having a very well trained staff are very important to us.
Well,
Obviously, from what we've talked about over the last 10 minutes, water quality is not just as simple as turning on the faucet.
There's a lot that goes into it.
Just generally, Chad, could you talk about water lose, water quality, where it is, and how it compares?
Sure.
So, again, so we're a groundwater system.
We've got wells that were
we're pulling water out of different aquifers.
And within that, then we're dealing with the constituents that are there.
And for us, we have water that is very hard.
And so water hardness is an issue.
Either have a water softener or you don't.
And you're treating some of that stuff in your own home.
But then we look at some of the constituents we're looking at are fluoride.
That's one of the health wonders of the 20th century was
fluoridation, right?
So we have some that's naturally occurring.
So we have some wells we don't add any.
We've got other wells that it's 0.2.
And so we're adding a little bit to get it up to the EPA's recommended level.
But then we've also got nitrates.
And, you know, nitrates come from fertilizer runoff and such.
Iowa is a farming state.
I don't think that they're going away anytime soon.
And so we have to deal with that.
But we blend
our water and we're looking at what wells are lower in nitrates, what wells are higher in nitrates as they're located throughout Waterloo.
And again, I've seen some of the chatter on the different social media sites that our water is super high in nitrates.
It's not.
We are prohibited from putting a water into the system that is over 10 parts per million.
on nitrates.
And so we've had over in our history, we've had two wells that had high nitrates and they were shut off.
And we would eventually run those to waste until the nitrate levels dropped.
And then we could put them back on the system.
And so today, those wells, I've got one that runs a seven five or so and the other one that's six, five to seven in that neighborhood.
And that's the most.
But we get to see some of the, again, on social media, some of the things that we've got water with 50 parts per million in nitrates.
That's not true.
All of our testing is done through a variety of sources.
We've got testing on site in our wells with certified instruments.
And then we do testing in our pump station.
with lab equipment and then we also send it to a certified lab.
The results that we get from that certified lab are what are reported to the DNR and the EPA.
And so those are the things that we're very much paying attention to.
We're doing our own testing, but we're also using the certified lab for those numbers.
It's not like we went out to Monards and bought a bottle of test strips.
It's very much, we are looking out for the safety of the drinking water.
And someone drinking water over 10 parts per million of nitrate is not good.
That's not healthy.
It causes problems within the bloodstream.
So we're cognizant of that.
And we're not, we're not putting out high nitrate water.
But yeah, just the being a groundwater system is challenges, but it's nothing like if we were pulling it out of the cedar like we were 100 years ago.
Chad, thanks for your insights.
We appreciate your knowledge and willingness to talk about this topic and really several topics when it comes to the quality of water in Waterloo.
Yeah, thanks for having me on.
I appreciate the
opportunity.
Chad Kuhn, General Manager of Waterloo Waterworks, and that is all for today's edition of Iowa This Week.
Thank you for listening.
I'm Tim Harwood.
