America Is Not Prepared for a War on Our Water

It sounds like the stuff of a summer thriller.

Using cyber tools, one of our adversaries, maybe Iran, maybe North Korea, or possibly, a criminal enterprise, takes over the operations of a drinking water utility. The amount of purifying chemicals applied by automation is significantly increased or completely stopped. Before the change is caught, a dozen people in the area get sick. It is barely a news story outside of the community. Negligence, not sabotage, is assumed.

Two days later, in another part of the U.S., the same happens at three drinking water utilities. This time, several children are hospitalized. A coincidence, perhaps, but the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the FBI send investigators to the affected communities to quietly ask questions. Again, it is a local story with no one connecting the dots.

But when it happens again two days later at five additional drinking water utilities, including in a midsize city, it becomes national news. A panic ensues. There is a run on bottled water in supermarkets, gas stations, corner stores. There are reports of vending machines pried open for the water bottles.

Bottled water supplies run out nationally. The president addresses the nation, assuring everyone that there is no reason to worry, that nearly all water is safe to drink. Few people accept these explanations. Riots break out.