SERIOUS SECURITY

How Secure Is Your Water Facility?

  Shortly after 9-11, during a national state of high alert, investigators found a door ajar at the Champlin, Minnesota, Water Treatment Facility. Concern over possible terrorist sabotage led to extensive testing and flushing of the system at a cost of $23,000. Because there was no way of telling where or whether an intruder might have gained access to the water supply, the city felt it was wise to spend the money, but they also acted quickly to allot the funds for a monitored security system. Their system now monitors access to offices, water towers, and well heads day and night.
  To traverse the distance from well heads to the control unit, the system uses contacts inside the well covering and wireless transmitters on the exterior of the covering. Wireless transmissions indicate the status and location of each sensor. Security panels also communicate with staff alphanumeric pagers for instant notification of an alarm. During an intrusion, an alarm goes to the central monitoring station and to pagers that read, for example, "Alarm, well head 3."
  Allen Security's security systems communicate with other systems to provide integrated access control, CCTV, fire, enviromental and alarm monitoring.
  In Champlin, contacts, motions, and beams, cover all the key areas, and cameras scan the perimeter. "I'm comfortable now with the system in place," says Champlin Utilites Superintendent Mike Bramwell. "If there's another alarm, we're going to know which areas have been breached and we'll have more data with which to assess a threat." And not having to test or flush the system will mean not having to spend $23,000.