Our water infrastructure needs an immediate, federally coordinated threat assessment and a funded security plan. On July 30, the FBI and EPA issued a joint warning that malicious actors have breached water and wastewater systems across at least seven states, including Minnesota, Michigan, South Dakota, and California. Attackers changed passwords and IP addresses, locking operators out of their own systems and causing pressure loss and flooding that can allow untreated water into drinking lines. This is not a hypothetical risk. It is happening now.
The American Water Works Association's 2026 State of the Water Industry report flagged cybersecurity as a rising top-10 concern, and 22 percent of small water systems report little to no ability to implement basic cybersecurity practices. These are systems running decades-old hardware with no IT staff and no budget for a firewall. As Nicholas Santillo Jr., former chair of the Water Sector Coordinating Council, put it: "Utilities clearly recognize the importance of investing in technology and cybersecurity, but many still face real challenges in execution." Knowing the risk exists and being equipped to stop it are two very different things.
Direct your committee to hold hearings, demand a full federal threat assessment, and push emergency funding to the smallest and most vulnerable systems first. Every day without action is an open door.
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