NEWS: Senator Blunt Rochester Advocates for Her Bipartisan Water Infrastructure Legislation

Click here to watch Senator Blunt Rochester's full remarks and exchange with the witnesses.

Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, today participated in a hearing titled, "Identifying and Addressing Cybersecurity Challenges to Protect America's Water Infrastructure."

In January, Senator Blunt Rochester and U.S. Senator John Curtis (R-Utah) introduced the bipartisan Water Infrastructure Resilience and Sustainability Act. This legislation would reauthorize essential water infrastructure resilience programs to help water and wastewater utilities receive funding they desperately need, including for cybersecurity.

Senator Blunt Rochester's full remarks and exchange with the witnesses can be found here. Key excerpts are below:

On Accounting for Extreme Weather Events

Senator Blunt Rochester: "There is a quote that once a hacker gets into a water system, they could potentially turn pumps and motors on and off, alter chemical levels in drinking water to dangerous levels, and even plant software bombs that could disrupt the water system later. That same report went on to say that there are risks associated with poor cyber hygiene, as you mentioned, to states. And also, that cyber attackers come in many forms, from disgruntled former employees to nation-states like China, Iran, [North] Korea, and Russia. So, to be clear, this is the kind of stuff that could keep you up at night. I don't know if it keeps you all up at night. You're all shaking your heads. But one of the things that I thought about when you add on to it, in this moment, is extreme weather…I want to start with you, Dr. Simonton. I come from a state that is urban, suburban, rural, and coastal. And we also have many small towns. I'm curious: do water utilities account for extreme weather events when thinking about cyber-attacks and what additional steps are needed?"

Dr. Simonton: "I think - and thank you for that question, Senator - that we have been blessed in this country with infrastructure that works. And so, people don't give it a whole lot of thought because when they turn their tap on, they get clean water. Whether it is chemical spills, extreme weather events, our infrastructure is fragile. And so, we get these messages on occasion when there are these disruptions. So, I think across the industry, and certainly - I could speak just across civil, environmental engineering in general - we are certainly starting to take extreme weather events into account in design and maintenance, and certainly that's going to apply to cyber systems within these utilities and therefore, cybersecurity becomes an issue."

On the Impact of Senator Blunt Rochester's Bipartisan Legislation

Senator Blunt Rochester: "The Midsize and Large Drinking Water System Infrastructure Program, which is run by EPA, is one of the few federal grant programs that helps water systems reduce cybersecurity threats. Unfortunately, the program has never been funded near its authorized level of $50 million and is set to expire in FY 2026. Last month, my Republican colleague, Senator Curtis, and I introduced the Water Infrastructure Resilience and Sustainability Act to reauthorize this critical program. Mr. Dewhirst, thank you for mentioning our bill in your written testimony. Why is reauthorizing this program so important right now and how do utilities use the program's resources to strengthen cybersecurity protections?"

Mr. Dewhirst: "First of all, thank you for the question and thank you for your sponsorship, and Senator Curtis, of that bill. That bill has such a wide range of uses it could be used for. Cyber is one of them, for sure. It allows a lot of the basic stuff that needs to be done on the cyber front to be done, whether you're doing a simple assessment about where your vulnerabilities are located, employing some software tactics, multifactor authentication, segmenting your network, other things like firewall additions, those sorts of things. It's there for everyone to partake in. I will echo your comments that it has not been funded to the level that it should, even though it's authorized, it's not been appropriated. So, I think any improvement in that front would be appreciated by all of us sitting at this table, I think, here. Because I think it also does touch all systems of all sizes in various ways. We would very much strongly echo your sentiments to fund it appropriately."

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Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester represents Delaware in the United States Senate where she serves on the Committees on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Commerce, Science, and Transportation; Environment and Public Works; and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.