Environmental Engineering Science Seminar
Friday, February 18, 2005
Lopata 101
Time: 11 am
“Water Supply Systems Security: Developing a Research Agenda”
Dr. Robert M. Clark
Former Director, WRD, USEPA
ABSTRACT OF TALK:
As a result of the events of 9/11, the U.S. EPA created a Water Protection Task Force to develop strategies and polices for the protection of the Nations Water and Wastewater Infrastructure. One of the first tasks given to the task force staff was the requirement by the National Security Council (later the Office of Homeland Security) to create a State-of –the-Art Document” on water supply systems in the United States. The document was created under conditions of strict security and handled as classified material. Another high priority task, which the WPTF handled, was the development of a comprehensive research plan for water systems security in the United States. The issue of drinking water distribution system vulnerability was identified as a primary consideration early in the process. It has continued to be an area of major emphasis for security research. Subsequent to its early efforts EPA has created the National Homeland Security Research Center to expand the water security research agenda. One of the major concerns that surfaced in the development of EPA’s water security research strategy was the issue of secrecy and peer review and the need to share information with the water and wastewater utility industry. To partially deal with this issue the EPA has developed a partnership with the National Academy of Sciences. Nevertheless the issue of peer reviewed science versus national security is still a problem. It has the potential for interfering with progress in water security research as well as in the broader field of water supply science and engineering. These issues and the future for water supply and water security research will be discussed.
Biosketch:
Robert M. Clark received a B.S. Degree in Civil Engineering from Oregon State University (1960), a B.S. Degree in Mathematics from Portland State University (1961), an M.S. in Mathematics from Xavier University (1964), an M.S. in Civil Engineering from Cornell University (1968) and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Cincinnati (1976). Dr. Clark is a registered engineer and has worked as an environmental engineer in the U.S. Public Health Service and the US EPA since 1961. He was Director of the EPA’s Water Supply and Water Resources Division (WSWRD) in the Office of Research and Development’s (ORDs) National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) for fourteen years. In 1999 he was appointed to a Senior Expert Position in EPA with the title Senior Research Engineering Advisor. Dr. Clark was the ORD liaison to EPA’s Water Protection Task Force which is responsible for developing strategies and policies for protecting the Nation’s water and waste water infrastructure. He was also designated as the Water Security “Lead” for research. He led the development of EPA’s Contaminant Candidate List Research Plan (CCLRP) which will define EPA’s future approach to conducting water supply research. Dr. Clark completed a twenty year overview of EPA’s technology related research in water supply. Dr. Clark retired from EPA in August of 2002 and is now an independent consultant. Much of his current work is related to homeland security. His current research activities include: development of kinetic models that describe the inactivation of microorganisms subject to drinking water disinfectants, and; models for predicting water quality changes in drinking water distribution system. Dr Clark is an Adjunct Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Cincinnati and a member of the National Research Council’s Committee on “Public Water Distribution Systems: Assessing and Reducing Risks.”
Dr. Clark is recognized as a national and international expert in the field of environmental engineering and has received numerous awards for his research including:
Dr. Clark has authored or coauthored more than 350 papers and publications and is the author of five books.
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