Water district to assess vulnerability to terrorists

Wednesday, July 3, 2002 | 9:48 a.m.

The Las Vegas Valley Water District will do another assessment -- its third -- of its drinking water system's vulnerability to terrorist attack.

The Clark County Commission, acting as the district board, approved $250,000 for the assessment. District General Manager Pat Mulroy said the district could get $115,000 of that money back from the federal Environmental Protection Agency as a grant.

The assessment was mandated by President Bush in a bill signed June 12. The district has until March 31 next year to complete the assessment.

Mulroy told the commissioners that two earlier assessments were done after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but the new security check will be "an in-depth look from an engineer's perspective."

The earlier assessments found no glaring vulnerabilities in the local water system, although the district joined other water systems nationwide in beefing up security, Water District spokeswoman Amy Kremenek said.

Parsons Infrastructure and Technology Group, an engineering multinational, was selected to conduct the assessment, Mulroy said.

She said the company, which has worked extensively in the engineering development of the Water District and the district's sister agency, the Southern Nevada Water Authority, has more knowledge of both systems.