A top view of a metropolitan waterworks authority facility featuring multiple circular sedimentation tanks and mechanical systems, circa March 2026. Local water systems are at risk from foreign cyberattacks, write Ginger Matchett and Sydney Sherry. (Shutterstock/AU USAnakul)

Are Local Water Systems Under Threat?

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America’s fragmented, understaffed, and underfunded water infrastructure presents a vulnerable target for US adversaries.

In late July, hackers attacked more than 30 water infrastructure plants across 12 US states, disrupting services for hundreds of thousands of Americans. The hackers, with suspected ties to the Iranian government, halted remote-access capabilities and automated monitoring. Communities faced low water pressure, boil-water warnings, and, in some cases, local states of emergency. Though water supply was restored within hours and drinking water was unaffected, the attack showcases how vulnerable, highly attractive, and poorly protected many critical systems are for malicious actors.

This isn’t a surprise. This week, UK media outlets announced that those same attacks shut down a power plant for the first time in its history. In 2023, a similar group hacked computer systems and industrial controls for water and wastewater across the United States and abroad. In 2013, they accessed the flood control systems of a New York dam.

Local utility providers are now facing a Goliath: authoritarian states targeting critical infrastructure (CI) vulnerabilities amid larger geopolitical conflicts.

The ability to easily and remotely manipulate water and wastewater services is supercharging sabotage, disrupting livelihoods and societal resilience at much lower cost and risk to state and non-state actors. The latest strikes are the tip of the iceberg: hackers could exploit similar digital controls to pollute systems with contaminants, alter chemical treatment levels, or catastrophically damage pipe networks.

There are around 152,000 water systems across the United States, with almost 90 percent serving fewer than 10,000 people and........

© The National Interest