Sherwood Boehlert: “Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3178, the Water Infrastructure Security and Research Development Act, or WISARD, as we call it…”

“Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3178, the Water Infrastructure Security and Research Development Act, or WISARD, as we call it, authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency to provide assistance for research and development of anti-terrorism tools for water infrastructure protection. The Committee on Science has worked hard to bring forth to this House a bipartisan broadly supported bill that responds to the growing threats facing our country's drinking water and wastewater systems. Mr. Speaker, fences, guards dogs, and bottled water are not a sustainable approach to water infrastructure security. That is why my colleagues and I, with the help and support of water management agencies, State and local officials, engineering companies, and experts in the scientific community introduced and advanced the legislation before us today. H.R. 3178 is an important first step in ensuring that we have the research and development our country needs to combat biological, chemical, physical, and cyberterrorist threats today, tomorrow, and into the future.”