SER* technical BRIEF
BUILDING A SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATION FOR SOUND ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONS
EPA's Water Security Test Bed
INTRODUCTION
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the lead federal agency responsible for
working with water utilities to protect water distribution systems from contamination and to clean
up systems that become contaminated. Intentional and unintentional contamination of
distribution systems can result in large amounts of water and miles of infrastructure that must be
cleaned.
Advancing the science and engineering of decontaminating pipe systems and of safely
disposing of high-volumes of contaminated water are high priorities for EPA. To improve the
protection of systems and the effectiveness of cleanups, EPA's homeland security research
program has developed a full-scale water security test bed (WSTB) (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Water security test bed water storage tank and approximate 445 feet of pipe
BACKGROUND
Homeland Security Presidential Directives 7 (HSPD-7,12/1/2003) and 9 (HSPD-9, 1/1/2004)
tasked EPA with responsibilities for water system security. In accordance with these directives,
the EPA's Homeland Security Research Program (HSRP) has been conducting research to help
utilities prevent damage from contamination incidents and to enable utilities to rapidly detect and
respond to such incidents.
April, 2015
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Early on, HSRP's research was conducted at the laboratory bench or on a pilot scale so that
studies could be carried out under carefully controlled conditions. To fuily understand how
treatment and decontamination methods and other technologies will function during a real
incident, testing must also be conducted at full or near full scale. The WSTB has been
constructed to advance such testing.
THE TEST BED
At the Department of Energy's (DOE) Idaho National
Laboratory, the first phase of the test bed was constructed
replicating a section of a typical municipal drinking water
piping system: roughly 445 feet of pipe laid out in an "L"
shape using 40-year-old, eight-inch cement mortar lined,
ductile iron pipes and with two fire hydrants (Figure 2).
The pipes were excavated after twenty years of use for
water conveyance so that testing can be performed in an
environment that simulates an operating water distribution
system. Researchers built the WSTB above ground for
easy access during experiments, and to facilitate fast leak-
detection.
Figure 2. Cement mortar
lined, ductile iron pipes
The WSTB is equipped with injection
points for the introduction of
contaminant simulants and
decontamination agents, and
sensors to detect contamination.
Removable coupons (excised
samples) are installed within the
piping (Figure 3) and can be
analyzed to determine the adherence
of contaminants to the pipe walls and
to evaluate the efficacy of
decontamination efforts. A lined
lagoon has been constructed to
contain water flushed from the test
bed.	Figure 3. Coupon sampling at the water security test bed pipe.
EXPERIMENTS
Several experiments have already been completed at the WSTB including:
• A dye (tracer) was injected into the WSTB to evaluate travel times and system flows.
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•	Sodium thiosulfate (Na2S203) was injected to determine if the resulting drop in chlorine would
trigger an automated hydrant-based flushing device to remove water from a distribution
system when water quality degrades (due to contamination in this case). The device was
successfully triggered, which demonstrated that water quality sensors can interact with
automated flushing system.
•	Bacillus atrophaeus subsp. globigii (a surrogate for Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of
anthrax) was injected into the WSTB piping and decontamination with chlorine dioxide was
attempted. Chlorine dioxide decontamination in the WSTB was not as effective as would have
been expected based on previous pilot-scale experiments. The chlorine dioxide
decontamination in the WSTB resulted in spores remaining adhered to the cement-mortar
pipe surface. This was likely due to high chlorine dioxide demand from the pipe and inefficient
transport of the disinfectant into dead end spaces.
•	Bacillus spore contaminated water was flushed from the WSTB pipe and was collected in a
lagoon. Treatment of the contaminated water was attempted using a mobile free chlorine
generator. However, chlorine reacts with all organic matter, not just the targeted
contaminants. It was found that chlorine generation could not sufficiently overcome organic
load in the effluent lagoon to inactivate spores.
FUTURE EXPERIMENTS
During 2015 and beyond the following experiments will be conducted in the WSTB:
•	In the experiments described here, Bacillus spores remain attached to the pipe after
decontamination procedures. In future experiments, chemical decontamination will be done
with an increased decontaminant contact time with the pipe wall. Also, the dead-end portion
of the WSTB will be flushed by adding flow ports to the pipe.
•	Biofilm growth in the water pipe will be studied to learn how it influences the survival of
pathogens and the effectiveness of decontamination procedures in the WSTB.
•	The effectiveness of the treatment of effluent (see Figure 3) with additional commercially
available water treatments (such as Cb, UV, forward osmosis, and/or UV+O3) will be
evaluated.
•	A 1" copper service line will be added between the main line and an adjacent building to
conduct experiments on home appliance decontamination and human exposure to
household plumbing contamination.
•	Crude oil contamination simulating a pipeline/transport crude oil accident will be initiated to
assess the persistence of crude oil constituents following decontamination procedures.
•	The threat of cyber-attack on system instrumentation, communications, and computer-based
systems for remote monitoring and control (so-called SCADA or supervisory control and
data acquisition) will be investigated.
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Figure 2. Effluent lagoon.
OUTREACH
EPA is opening up the test bed research capability to additional potential collaborators such as
agencies within the DOE, Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security,
universities, water utilities, and foundations interested in water security research. EPA is also
considering partners' needs as they build out the test bed to include service connections and
other types of pipe commonly found throughout water distribution systems.
CONTACT INFORMATION
For more information, visit the EPA Web site at http://www2.epa.gov/homeland-securitv-
research
Technical Contacts James Goodrich (Goodrich.iames@epa.gov)
Jeff Szabo (Szabo.ieff@epa.gov)
John Hail (hall.iohn@epa.gov)
General Feedback/Questions: Kathv Nickel (nickel.kathv@epa.aov1
If you have difficulty accessing this PDF document, please contact Kathv Nickel
(nickel.kathy@epa.gov) or Amelia McCall (mccall.amelia@epa.gov) for assistance.
U.S. EPA's Homeland Security Research Program (HSRP) develops products based on scientific
research and technology evaluations. Our products and expertise are widely used in preventing,
preparing for, and recovering from public health and environmental emergencies that arise from
terrorist attacks or natural disasters. Our research and products address biological, radiological, or
chemical contaminants that could affect indoor areas, outdoor areas, or water infrastructure. HSRP
provides these products, technical assistance, and expertise to support EPA's roles and responsibilities
under the National Response Framework, statutory requirements, and Homeland Security Presidential
Directives.
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