NAWC hosts White House, other experts for Cybersecurity Symposium

May 20, 2022
“Access to safe and reliable water that is affordable cannot be accomplished with water quality assessments and infrastructure investments alone.”

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – As cybersecurity risks and threats continue to grow and become more sophisticated, the National Association of Water Companies (NAWC) brought industry experts, regulators, and federal partners together to discuss best practices and solutions as part of its 2022 Cybersecurity Symposium.

“Access to safe and reliable water that is affordable cannot be accomplished with water quality assessments and infrastructure investments alone,” said Robert F. Powelson, president and CEO of NAWC. “Comprehensive cybersecurity strategies must continue to evolve and support the development of effective policies that encourage more collaboration between the energy, water, and gas sectors through cross-training, grid exercises and information sharing.”

NAWC has represented the companies that 73 million Americans trust to engineer solutions that deliver safe, reliable, and affordable water since 1895. More than 90 percent of NAWC members have a cybersecurity plan in place.

The day included a keynote address by Elke Sobieraj, the director for critical infrastructure cybersecurity at the National Security Council as well as a fireside chat with cybersecurity expert Norma Krayem, the vice president and chair of the cybersecurity and data privacy practice group at Van Scoyoc Associates, hosted by NPR’s Jenna McLaughlin, the national radio network’s cybersecurity correspondent.

NAWC was live tweeting from the event, highlighting the discussions between cybersecurity experts including those from utility regulatory commissions, member companies, the American Water Works Association, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

“It’s only through understanding how the risks and threats continue to grow and become more sophisticated that we can continue to make the proactive changes to address cybersecurity across the entire drinking water sector,” Powelson said. “Now it is our jobs to take the vast amount of information from today and act on it. After all, it is the surest path to a resilient water grid that is able to protect the communities we serve.”

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