Chemical Agents of Opportunity for Terrorism: TICs & TIMs

Chemical Agents of Opportunity for Terrorism
Training Support Package
Participant Guide
Slide 22
Chemical Agents of Opportunity for Terrorism:
TICs & TIMs
Drinking Water: Terrorism Detection
Detection Scenarios:
• Caught in the act
(cameras, security, or eye witness reports)
• Online/Field detection & monitoring
• Water quality observations (odor, color, …)
• Mass Illnesses (often nonspecific)
– ED/Public Health Surveillance Systems
Module One - Chemical Contamination of Food, Water, and Medication
22
Currently there is no systematic evaluation of drinking water other than routine periodic
testing required by the EPA. As should be clear from this presentation, there is no
analytic test (and certainly no readily available test) to answer all questions about water
quality or potential water contaminants.
Since most water treatment and distribution facilities have some measure of security,
many incidents may be detected by eye witness report, surveillance cameras, or – as
with the potential Seattle case – detected by a perimeter breach. Barring the possibility
of catching a culprit in the act of contaminating the water supply, detection of a terrorist
attack would be dependent on noting obvious abnormalities of the water or an illness
cluster detected by a public health surveillance system.
Increases in over-the-counter sales for anti-diarrheals is one of the many components of
BioSense, a public health surveillance system. Emergency Department or Poison Center
syndrome/diagnosis tracking is another surveillance activity. Although rapid recognition
of disease onset potentially provides early detection of disease clusters, this surveillance
(secondary preventive measure) is obviously not an ideal preventive or mitigation
measure.
December 2008 Version 2.0 Page 278