Only recently have cities and the federal government focused on the need to protect local water sources. For example, a Broward County, Florida, city’s wastewater treatment plant now has a new security wall costing nearly $300,000, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported November 22. The director of the city’s utilities and engineering department said in the story that an existing wall did not fit the bill: It would not have withstood hurricane conditions or acts of terrorism. The $287,567 replacement wall now means the plant is in compliance with federal guidelines that were established after 9/11, he said. The new wall adds security to the city’s state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant. “Since we have so many chemicals on the property, we wouldn’t want anyone to have access to them,” he said. The city, which maintains 4 million gallons of ground storage at the plant compound, also has two elevated storage tanks.
