National Public Radio (NPR) Morning Edition (11:00 AM AM ET) Thursday, Oct. 18, 2001 Beefing up security at America's dams and reservoirs BOB EDWARDS, host: This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Bob Edwards. Security is tight at many of the nation's 70,000 reservoirs and dams. There's concern about water contamination from chemical or biological agents, and about possible attempts to breach the dams. NPR's Howard Berkes reports. HOWARD BERKES reporting: All across the country now, guards are on patrol and checkpoints are in place in an attempt to keep terrorists away from dams. Hoover Dam, near Las Vegas, has a major regional highway straddling its crest, but roadblocks as far as 20 miles away hold trucks, buses and big RVs back. And floating patrols behind and below the dam keep boats away. Bob Walsh is spokesman for the US Bureau of Reclamation, which manages Hoover Dam. Mr. BOB WALSH (US Bureau of Reclamation): You don't want large vehicles carrying explosives,! for example, to be allowed across the dam. Gasoline tankers, for example, are prohibited from crossing the dam at this point as well; any type of a hazardous material. BERKES: The September 11th attacks prompted similar security at some of the bureau's 500 other dams in 17 Western states. John Keyes is the commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation. Commissioner JOHN KEYES (US Bureau of Reclamation): There is no specific threat against any of our specific facilities, let me put it that way. But potential for terrorist activity is being provided for. We are at a high level of security at all of our critical facilities, both to protect against damage to the facilities themselves and to the water supplies. BERKES: The risk at these facilities is enormous. And it's not just from flooding downstream if a dam is breached or fails. Sixty-one million people depend on the structures for water, including farmers producing 60 percent of the nation's vegetables. Bureau dams generate ! enough power for six million homes. They're a tempting target for terrorists, says Tim Brown, a senior analyst at globalsecurity.org. Mr. TIM BROWN (Senior Analyst, Globalsecurity.org): The entire economy in the Southwest is dependent upon the electricity and the irrigation that the dams afford. And the loss of any or all of the dams along the Colorado River Basin would cripple the economy of the Southwest for years to come, and could have potentially significant effects on the US economy in the long run. BERKES: That's also true for other regions and hundreds of communities in all parts of the country with critical links to the nation's 70,000 dams. Most were built long before terrorism was considered a strong domestic threat, notes Bill Bingham, a dam designer and engineer. Bingham is also president of the US Society on Dams, a national group focusing on engineering and safety. Mr. BILL BINGHAM (US Society of Dams): Our dams in the past have not been designed for severe! blast incidents like we would see with a truckload of explosives across the top a dam, or an aircraft loaded with fuel crashing into the downstream face of the dam. I don't think that design criteria encompasses those kinds of issues. BERKES: So it's unclear, Bingham says, whether dams can be breached by such attacks. He's calling for a national risk assessment to determine dam vulnerabilities and ways to protect them. Mr. BINGHAM: Making sure that you've got the properties as secure as you can make them; limiting access, and doing regular patrols and those types of things. And having a current emergency action plan in the event that there would be some kind of an attack on one of these facilities. BERKES: John Keyes of the US Bureau of Reclamations says he's already accessing the risk at bureau dams, while also bolstering security. Mr. KEYES: Terrorism is nothing new to the security for our facilities. We've deal with Earth Liberation Front and the ecoterrorism folks f! or several years. We have prepared for contingencies involving contamination of reservoir water. We have emergency preparedness plans for all of our facilities that deal with inundation downstream. We have a comprehensive dam safety program, as well as a general security program for protection of those vital infrastructures. Keyes acknowledges one problem. The bureau has only one armed security force at Hoover Dam. The rest of its dams depend on unarmed guards and voluntary help from state and local police who have limited authority on federal property. Congress is considering legislation to address that. Bill Bingham of the US Society of Dams, worries more about state, local and private structures. Mr. BINGHAM: There are many privately owned or even publicly owned--non-federal publicly owned dams that do not have emergency action plans, or security plans. BERKES: Bingham says some dam owners don't have the money or staff for more security, and he says states have inconsi! stent requirements for emergency action plans. Still, state, local and private dam managers say they're bolstering their security with state and local police. Howard Berkes, NPR News.