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Water Distribution Systems (WDSs) are critical infrastructures that may fail to distribute water of adequate quantity and quality. Given their distributed topology and interconnectivity with other infrastructure systems, such as power supply and telecommunication, WDSs are exposed to a variety of risks including terrorist attacks, natural hazards and widespread technical failures that may be caused by cascade effects. The project aims at improving WDS security and resilience based on the three key issues prevention, monitoring and response. The aim of this project is to develop enhanced sensors and secure sensor networks, self-learning monitoring tools, robust simulation models, vulnerability and resilience assessment tools for improving the security and the resilience of water infrastructures against major threats.

The new developments will be investigated and evaluated by means of real-world use cases. The use cases are structured with respect to (1) total system collapse, (2) water quality deterioration and (3) cascade effects by manipulation and accidental failures of IT and/or power supply. The specific threats are defined by the partner water utilities Berliner Wasserbetriebe (Germany), CUS (Strasbourg, France) and VEDIF – Veolia Eau d’Ile de France (France). Additionally, experiments will be conducted at TZW (Dresden, Germany) with test platform facilities and also on the private water network at CEA/DAM (Gramat, France). The R&D work will be accompanied by socio-economic studies ensuring, amongst others, that the privacy and the freedom of the citizens are not compromised.