Small Water Systems Vulnerable to Cyber Attacks, Operators and Experts Warn

Cyber attacks increasingly threaten America’s water and wastewater systems, operators and experts told a U.S. Senate panel on Feb. 4. “Cyber incidents” have increased over the past 18 months since the issuance of a United States Government Accountability report in August 2024 that found 14 percent of the nation’s 170,000 water and wastewater systems—nearly 24,000—reported at least one cyber incident during the previous three months, up from 11.5 percent during the same period the year before. These pose a glaring risk to Americans, water utility managers told a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing, especially to those who tap into small water districts that fall below federal cybersecurity compliance standards and don’t have the resources to thwart increasingly sophisticated ransomware and cyber-attacks....