Aqua Publica Europea and Aguas de Gaia, the public water operator from Vila Nova de Gaia (Portugal) are organising our next WATER ERASMUS Technical Workshop on Water Security. 

Join us on 7 April to discuss perspectives and approaches to protect water infrastructure against malicious external threats! 

*Please note that this is an invitation-only event. If you are a member, please before registering log in to your personal account. If you are not a member but you would like to attend, please contact the Secretariat at info@aquapublica.eu).

Ensuring water security represents a key responsibility and emerging concern for water operators. When addressing potential security threats to water infrastructure (i.e. threats originated from hostile human actions), risk managers in water utilities need to consider several aspects: how these risks should be managed; how the monitoring of supply systems can be carried out in order to timely detect any harmful events (which, initially in some cases, may be difficult to identify whether they are within the scope of safety or security); how to respond in case of a suspicious event or hostile attack. 

The session will look at the protection of critical water infrastructure from hostile attacks against both the physical and the IT infrastructure while maintaining transparency towards the public. The topic will be explored from different angles thanks to the contributions of experts in the domain and from APE members.

Agenda

10:00  - 10:10 Opening – Aguas de Gaia 

Setting the scene

10:10 – 10:20 European Commission proposal for a Directive on the resilience of critical entities – Miriam Hofbauerova, Policy Officer at the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, Unit D.2 Counter-Terrorism, European Commission
10:20 – 10:50 The security intelligence approach to risk management in drinking water supply systems – Manuel Gonçalves, Security Intelligence Analyst, Portuguese Internal Intelligence Service

10:50 – 11:00 Discussion and Q&A
11:00 – 11:10 Break

Concrete strategies for the water sector to stand prepared

11:10 – 11:30 Elements of a Water Security Plan – Rui Teixeira, Head of Water Division at Barreiro Municipality and member of the Thematic Group on Chemical and Biological (CB) Risks to Drinking Water of the European Commission’s Reference Network for Critical Infrastructure Protection

11:30 – 12:15 Examples of approaches to water security

• Société Wallonne des Eaux - Benjamin Blampain 
• Eau de Paris – Richard Horaist 
• Discussion and additional contribution from participants 

12:15 – 12:30 Conclusions and final remarks – Aqua Publica Europea / Aguas de Gaia
 

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Aqua Publica Europea’s WATER ERASMUS initiative fosters a dynamic network of water professional to promote mutual learning through a suite of activities tailored to the needs of APE operators. WATER ERASMUS Technical Workshops address a common water management challenge by relying on members’ and external expertise. Find out more: https://www.aquapublica.eu/ape/exchange