Water Security is incredibly important to the safety and security of any country, though it’s a topic that rarely pops up when discussing national security. Water, however, in the majority of the world, is a precious commodity and one that is a necessity for the foundations of any society or civilization. As an example, recently in Oldsmar, Florida, a hacker “gained access to the city’s water treatment plant bumping the sodium hydroxide in the water to a "dangerous" level. The caustic substance could have caused major issues for the city’s drinking water supply.” While this didn’t result in a major threat to the city’s populace, it reinforces the threat that hackers pose to the water industry and how susceptible the water industry is to outside influences.
The Sustainable Water Partnership defines water security as being, “the adaptive capacity to safeguard the sustainable availability of, access to, and safe use of an adequate, reliable and resilient quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods, ecosystems and productive economies,” while further describing just how important water is by noting that water is imperative to the survival of humanity, the fueling of agriculture, energy production, [and] transportation ecosystems, and plays a big role in mitigating risk in natural disasters and violent conflict.