Tip of the Week – August 27, 2026

Hazardous Chemical Security

Water and wastewater utilites utilize and store large amounts of hazardous chemicals for their daily operations. These chemicals remain a potential target of exploitation for violent extremists, criminals, and other malicious actors. Threats to facilities with hazardous chemicals can include physical attacks, theft or diversion of chemicals, cyber attacks, unauthorized drone activity, and exploitation by malicious insiders, among others. According to CISA, the risk of a hazardous chemical incident has three components: the threat of a dangerous chemical being weaponized, the vulnerability of the facility to an attack, and the consequences of an incident if the threat were to occur.

To help secure your hazardous chemicals, WaterISAC encourages water and wastewater utilities to leverage CISA’s ChemLock program, which offers no-cost services and tools to facilities that possess dangerous chemicals to help them better understand the risks they face. The program provides facility risk assessments to help identify specific security risks, resource guides and toolkits, exercises, and free training courses.

Resource(s): CISA’s ChemLock program