Passive defense in water resources

Abstract

Today, both freshwater and wastewater treatment plants are tremendously important for humans and their health. Additionally, water and water systems are sensitive because of their impacts on economic performance. At the same time, economic and population growth, and rising standards of living lead to increased water demand, and freshwater can be scarcely available. The increasing importance of water in modern society has increased the sensitivity and vulnerability of water systems, and the concern about the consequences of any disruption to them, leading to the growing importance of passive defense. Passive defense plays an important role in identifying vulnerability and likely threats, making emergency response plans, and preventing and responding to such threats. Water infrastructures could be physically destroyed, cyber-attacked, or contaminated through the introduction of chemical and biological agents. These threats can have different origins. Some of them may be unintentional and even natural disasters, while others may be due to terrorist attacks, or to regional conflicts and disputes over local water resources. In this chapter, a review of the types of threats pending on water systems is presented, together with a short history of these threats. The vulnerability of water systems is investigated, and approaches to prevent and respond to them is reported.