INSIGHT
Effective Utility Management
Organizing To "Measure Up" in a Down Economy

Terry Brueck President and CEO

The current business climate presents unprece-dented challenges for utility managers. The recent economic downturn accompanied by other demands, such as environmental concerns, rising customer requirements, and tighter regulatory compliance, emphasize the importance of effective utility management. The good news is that resources are available to help utilities build stronger management strategies.

Resources for Successful Utility Management

As utilities maintain a certain level of flexibility to meet the demands of the day, there are specific facets of the business that remain central to successful management. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) collaborated with six water sector associations* and identified these top five “Keys to Management Success.” These collaborating organizations also provided a list of Ten Attributes of Effectively Managed Water Sector Utilities that can serve as points of focus, which can be integrated to effect change and improvement within your utility.

In this column we have discussed three of the five “Keys to Management Success.” In addition to strong, open, results-driven leadership, strategic business planning can strengthen an organization with a well-defined plan that provides clear direction. Additionally, continuous improvement drives utilities to constantly enhance overall operations and customer satisfaction through a process of periodic assessment and change. These three elements support the final two keys to successful management: measurement and organizational approaches.

Measurement

In today’s economy, it’s more important than ever for utilities to demonstrate value by measuring performance. Measures must be put in place to analyze trends, make more informed decisions, and implement practices that foster improvement.

Often, the challenge is in determining what needs to be measured. The Ten Attributes can serve as a guide in this process, as in the case of the QualServe program. As a voluntary continuous improvement program created for water and wastewater utilities, QualServe helps utilities improve overall operations and enhance customer satisfaction while creating a culture of continuous improvement. Recent updates to the program include the incorporation of new performance measures, which address each of the Ten Attributes to deliver more meaningful measures. Utilities now can track how they are doing in each of the attributes with measures that are relevant to their utility.

Organizational Approaches

While any number of organizational approaches may prove effective in the overall management of your utility, a team-based approach will support the success of your initiatives by establishing a collaborative environment that engages employees. This approach encourages cross-functional participation, often fostering a strong sense of ownership among employees. It is in this environment that team-based measures can be used to successfully implement a strategic plan. Additionally, the Ten Attributes can be referenced to provide direction that supports the continuous improvement efforts of your utility.

These are difficult times for utilities. However, resources are available that promote more informed decision making and help implement meaningful organizational change – change that encourages a culture of continuous improvement and supports the success of your utility. The key is to get started and continue moving forward with the process.

* Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, American Public Works Association, American Water Works Association, National Association of Clean Water Agencies, National Association of Water Companies, Water Environment Federation, and US Environmental Protection Agency

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FORESIGHT
Meaningful Asset Management in Tough times

Frank Godin Practice Group Manager

Everyone’s feeling the economic pinch. Utilities are no exception. And the uncertainty is affecting our bottom line. The credit crunch, increased energy costs, loss and lower demand of large customers, higher transfer payments to cities and regions due to losses in the tax base – all of these issues may result in downsizing or even the deferment or cancellation of planned capital improvement projects.

During tight times, many organizations hold back on asset management plans to reduce short-term costs. If you are thinking about reducing expenditures in your asset management program or delaying further development of your program, you may want to reconsider. Right now, it is more important than ever to optimize asset life to get the most out of your capital investment.

Granted, some CIP projects may be deferred, but projects that do move forward must demonstrate the greatest positive impact on the utility – either through risk reduction or cost savings. A well-structured asset management program serves as a perfect tool to provide you with a rules-based, objective eye toward CIP project selection. This is important because when funds are limited, there often is fierce internal competition for available dollars. The best approach is to create consensus on which projects provide the greatest risk reduction and largest returns on investment.

Asset Management at Niagara Falls Water Board

The Niagara Falls Water Board (Niagara) in Niagara Falls, NY, understands tough economic times. Facing the loss of many large, industrial customers and a declining population, Niagara continues work on a large-scale plant renovation with very limited dollars. Internal competition for funds is intense, as the wastewater plant has more needs than the reinvestment plan can fund. Strong arguments for project funding have been made by different stakeholders in different departments, forcing Niagara to make some tough decisions.

Prioritizing Projects

Niagara’s management team recognized that to best determine where to focus their CIP dollars, they had to better understand several factors: (1) the risks they faced with each process, (2) the primary and secondary impacts of poor operation of each asset in question, and (3) the current condition of the assets.

Using an asset evaluation tool, Niagara held workshops with stakeholders to determine the Business Risk Exposure. Stakeholders included representatives from management, engineering, plant operations, and maintenance staff. The intent was to bring together those who knew the assets best to answer the difficult questions regarding the condition, reliability, and performance of each process.

The Payoff

Niagara’s efforts proved successful. Clear-cut, high-risk exposure processes and assets emerged as “most critical” for reinvestment. While many of these conclusions were anticipated, the workshops also revealed a few surprises. Most important, participating stakeholders better understood the rationale behind Niagara’s investment strategy and why certain projects needed to be deferred.

Regardless of economic climate, asset management remains a critical element in a utility’s business strategy. In good times and in times more challenging, it remains a valuable and powerful tool.

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Q & A INTERVIEW
GIS and its Impact on Utilities

Our economy is making headlines every day. Steeped in a recession, the country faces deep job cuts, frozen credit markets, and a decline in consumer purchasing. Both economists and Washington say things will only get worse before they improve.

Also making news: the massive economic stimulus package that is being proposed by the federal government to help jump-start our economy. If one word sums up its focus, it is infrastructure – widespread, quick-start, “ready to go” infrastructure projects, which, if funded properly and managed correctly, are what many believe will set us back on course.

Representative James L. “Jim” Oberstar of Minnesota, Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, has worked closely with Congress to provide recommendations for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009. EMA recently talked with Congressman Oberstar about the stimulus package and how investing in infrastructure will help us move forward

How will a stimulus package that invests in infrastructure help our economy?

In the last year we have seen a truly historic loss of jobs as our economy has slid into recession. Not since the end of World War II have we seen more than 2.6 million jobs lost in a single year.

This stimulus package is meant to address three immediate issues facing our nation: It will stop the loss of jobs in our economy, create millions of new jobs that pay a living wage, and it will provide relief to states, cities, and local governments to maintain vital public services without having to raise taxes.

Investing in infrastructure is a good way to create living wage jobs in the short term. Construction on roads and bridges generates 34.9 jobs for every million dollars invested. As an example, Minnesota’s share of the proposed $30 billion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will generate over 17,000 jobs within months of the passage of this legislation.

On January 28th, the House of Representatives passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It included many of the recommendations that were made by my committee [Transportation and Infrastructure], including $19 billion for clean water, flood control, and environmental restoration projects; $30 billion for roads and bridges; $7.8 billion to modernize, weatherize, and install new green energy saving technology to federal buildings nationwide; and $12 billion for transit and rail to reduce traffic congestion and gas consumption.

What is defined as “infrastructure”? What types of infrastructure projects are considered a priority right now?

Public infrastructure is made up of the real, physical assets, systems, and institutions that serve the people of our nation. Certainly, highways, bridges, water treatment systems, shipping channels, and public buildings are the most visible examples of public infrastructure; yet, there are other types of infrastructure that are essential to a strong economy. Broadband internet infrastructure is critical to our nation’s ability to compete in the global marketplace. The recovery bill will ensure that we continue to upgrade this critical infrastructure and expand it into rural America.

I would also consider our education system to be a vital piece of public infrastructure. Colleges and universities are critical for the research and development that helps innovate new technology. They also train the best workforce in the world. Higher education cannot function if public schools are not preparing children for college. The best prepared students cannot get the training they need if they cannot afford it. This economic recovery legislation will ensure that hard economic times will not lead to severe cuts in these critical institutions - cuts that will do lasting damage to our economy.

Can you comment on our country’s water and wastewater infrastructure and how it fits into the funding picture?

Since the Reagan Administration, drinking water and wastewater treatment have been considered to be local concerns. This is a flawed approach to a national and even global problem; downstream communities suffer when wastewater is not properly treated at its source.

The economic recovery bill provides an additional $6 billion to capitalize the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund. Currently, 26 states have $10 billion in approved water projects that are in line to receive funding from this source. The Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund will receive another $2 billion to help pay for $6 billion worth of “ready to go” projects. The Rural Water and Waste Disposal Grant Program will get an additional $1.5 billion to help communities fund drinking water and wastewater treatment systems.

Organizations, such as the US Conference of Mayors, have presented Congress with a list of “ready to go” infrastructure projects. What should “ready to go” mean to those seeking funding?

“Ready to go” projects must obligate half of the funds for the project within 90 days of the distribution of the money under the economic recovery act. Funds that cannot be utilized in that timeframe will be returned to the Treasury so they can be distributed to other projects that are “ready to go.” It is important to have a hard deadline to start the project in the short term and a consequence for not getting to work quickly.

Even though this legislation will not earmark specific projects, I was delighted to see the Mayors step up with their own lists of projects that meet the “ready to go” definition. They will be ready to work with state governments to get important projects rolling as soon as the money becomes available.

How will Congress select projects for funding?

Congress will not select specific projects for inclusion in the economic recovery bill or for direct funding. This legislation will be earmark free. Instead, we will rely on established programs and established distribution formulas to get the funds to the states and local agencies. We are not going to reinvent the wheel. Existing federal funding formulas will be used to distribute these funds. We will avoid the delays caused by creating a new distribution system and minimize political conflict over who gets how much. That is another reason to keep earmarks out of this legislation.

How must organizations justify the projects they’ve submitted for funding?

The purpose of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is to create jobs, keeping our nation from sliding into an even deeper recession. With that in mind, I think it’s important to make funding available for projects that start creating jobs quickly and providing a lasting benefit for taxpayers. To this end, the act will contain unprecedented transparency and reporting requirements to ensure the money is being used properly.

You address the issue of transparency. How will Congress track how project funding is used?

My approach is to learn the lessons from past stimulus packages that were not as effective as they could have been. We are building accountability into this legislation, requiring states to report back to Congress every 30 days, accounting for where the money is being spent and how many jobs are being created. That information will then be made available on the Internet for all to see. I want American taxpayers to know where their dollars are being spent.

What kind of measurable results will be required from organizations as they complete funded projects?

That is the beauty of funding infrastructure projects; the results are tangible. You can see the men and women at work building something real. Their wages are used to pay mortgages, buy groceries, pay bills, and educate children. When the project is complete, there is a real road, bridge, or wastewater treatment plant that will benefit everyone for years.

Congressman James L. Oberstar As a member of the US House of Representatives and Chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Congressman Jim Oberstar is a well-known name in both national and Minnesota politics. Representing Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District, he was first elected to Congress in 1974. Now in his 17th consecutive term, he is the longest serving member of Congress in Minnesota history. During his 34 years in Congress, Representative Oberstar has gained recognition as the body’s leading expert on transportation policy and has served on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee since his first term. From 1989 through 1995, he chaired the Subcommittee on Aviation. In January 2007, he was elected chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, in which capacity he continues to serve today.

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CUSTOMER STORY
District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority
Automation Excellence Through Process Control

Clockwise from upper left: Blue Plains’ biosolids building and liming tank; Blue Plains staff at work in the PCS Control Room; an inside look at biosolids processing; the US Capitol - one of DC’s many national landmarks; new control panels on one of Blue Plains’ 36 primary clarifiers; the facility’s chlorination room; welcome sign upon entering the Blue Plains facility.

In 1996, the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DCWASA) ushered in a new era. Newly separated from the DC government, the Authority recommitted itself to a standard of world-class excellence that has brought significant change to the organization. It is a renaissance that began and continues under the leadership of General Manager Jerry N. Johnson.

“To be world class, an organization must compare itself to the best in the industry,” explained Johnson. “We’re looking to position ourselves so others are looking to us managerially, technically, and physically. Organizations die when they plateau. You cannot think you’ve arrived. You always have some place to go and something else to do.”

Changes at Blue Plains

Nowhere is this seen more clearly than at DCWASA’s Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant (Blue Plains), where Johnson has backed his words with action. During the past 10 years, the world’s largest advanced wastewater treatment plant has undergone massive renovation. The facility also is moving toward plant-wide, central monitoring and automation.

At a cost of nearly $1 billion, the ongoing effort is a commitment to the community and the environment. The renovations enable the Authority to maintain its high level of service to more than two million customers. They also help the facility meet the ever-tightening regulations mandated by the US Environmental Protection Agency to improve the quality of effluent released into the Potomac River.

DCWASA’s continued improvements are also an investment in the Blue Plains facility and more specifically, to its people, process, and technology.

Renovation, Automation, Process Control

The newly formed Authority began its present plant renovations and automation planning in 1998. This time, however, the Authority approached the project differently, gathering consensus from key departments before the project began in order to move forward collectively. The action has made the project a success.

“Our success is due to the broad and integrated approach we’ve taken,” said Leonard Benson, Director of Engineering & Technical Services. “We partnered with EMA because of their human approach toward the project and understanding of our need to get that buy-in from the workforce. We have been successful with that from top to bottom. That’s something that we were not able to accomplish previously. The other reason this project has worked so well is the decision early on to do away with local automatic control. There is none.”

Central to all the upgrade work underway is the installation and integration of the Process Control System (PCS) that connects all processes at Blue Plains to a centralized point of control.

Blue Plains partnered with EMA before plant renovations began. The assignment for EMA: the planning, design, engineering, programming, and coordination of the installation of PCS. The responsibility included working closely with the nearly two dozen major upgrade contractors on site and Blue Plains staff to link each process.

Starting on the Right Foot

Early in the project, as Blue Plains considered a contractor to carry out EMA’s PCS design work, EMA recommended, and DCWASA decided, to move away from the more prevalent low-bid selection process and instead use a qualifications based selection process that focused on six key selection criteria: stability, financial, technology, experience, team, and cost. The new method proved an effective way to find the best suited contractor who would be there for the project’s duration. DCWASA awarded the contract to Westinghouse Process Control (now Emerson Process Management), who has been a strong partner with both EMA and Blue Plains throughout the project.

Before work began on PCS, DCWASA also made a significant technical decision concerning its operating system. While UNIX was the more prevalent operating system at the time, DCWASA looked forward and questioned what role UNIX would play long term. It was determined that a Windows-based Ethernet solution would better serve the facility down the road. DCWASA’s decision was validated in 2008 when Emerson announced it would start phasing out the UNIX operating system.

Process Control

Implementation of PCS at Blue Plains is a complex and lengthy undertaking that is dependent upon the completion of the numerous upgrade projects that continue at the facility today. To move Blue Plains to a centralized mode of process control, every piece of processing equipment on the 150-acre site must be linked to PCS, which can only occur as a contractor finishes upgrades in a specific area. Remarkably, the PCS project has progressed without a single delay claim.

Links from the field to PCS are achieved via Ovation’s Interface Termination Cabinet (ITC) units, installed throughout the plant. The work entails hook-up of tens of thousands of Input/Output (I/O) connection points, which must be individually checked. (See “Implementing Process Control,” page 9.)

All links lead back to the heart of PCS – a newly constructed Control Room that serves as an on-site process control headquarters. Monitored around the clock, the room is state-of-the-art, equipped with five 100-inch screens, which provide critical process data and alert and alarm notifications. The Control Room also houses work stations, which serve as office terminals, and video screens that allow for constant surveillance of more than 60 different areas of the plant.

Change in Technology; Change in Culture

Central to the success of the PCS implementation underway at Blue Plains is the “human factors” approach to the project, which addresses those human elements that will promote shared vision, commitment, communication, and involvement by staff.

Knowledge transfer is a critical element of “human factors.” The bottom line is that any technology implementation must be supported by well-trained people and best practices. EMA continues to work with Blue Plains on the transition of knowledge and leadership to ensure that both management and staff are positioned for a seamless transition upon project completion.

Transfer of knowledge is a critical component of the “human approach.”

“It doesn’t matter how much technology we introduce, our people remain our most important asset,” General Manager Johnson said. “And it’s critical that the person who does the job every day should be the one who knows it better than anyone else. That involves training people in the different areas, keeping them up to speed on technology, and getting everyone engaged early in the game.”

The engagement that Johnson references has been key to the success of PCS. Involving staff early on through close communication and training has instilled a greater sense of ownership, which has proved critical in light of the changes in culture that have taken place as Blue Plains moves to PCS.

“PCS forces a team concept and communication between areas that include Maintenance, Operations, and Engineering,” said Wayne Raither, Maintenance Director. “It is breaking down the different silos and getting people to work together. That requires a change in mindset as well as a change in skill set.”

Raither is quick to add that PCS means different things to different people at the facility. “From an Operations standpoint, staffing is smaller because they can remotely monitor and control the plant,” he said. “From a Maintenance standpoint, it’s more work because the maintenance of field instruments becomes much more critical. PCS looks at and controls more out in the field, and there are more alarm points than ever before, which generates more maintenance work orders. It certainly raises the bar.”

Benefits of Process Control

One Blue Plains employee explained that “PCS is a tool for us to change the way we do business.” The changes have been significant, providing both tangible and intangible benefits.

Labor. Since PCS implementation began, Blue Plains has realized a significant reduction in labor costs. Much of the savings comes from Operations. Through work shift restructuring, work flow streamlining, and employee training and certification, staff numbers have gone from 160 to 60 operators through attrition and reassignment.

Changes at Blue Plains are also creating a more skilled and flexible workforce to complement the new PCS technology. Training, both in-class and on-the-job, is key to this initiative and includes PCS instruction and cross-training on the different plant processes.

“We used to have staff that only worked in one area of the plant for 30 or 40 years,” said Salil Kharkar, Manager of Process Engineering. “With PCS presenting all the plant processes graphically, operators are able to be trained to run different parts of the plant.”

Training is ongoing, according to Kharkar, who emphasized that the goal is to have all operators fully cross-trained to work anywhere in the plant. This flexibility will reduce overtime, as it eliminates the need to call in specialized operators when special needs arise in specific process areas.

PCS also establishes greater staff accountability, reinforcing the need to follow best practices. “By measuring data, there is a new level of accountability,” said Duncan Mukira, Program Manager, PCS & SCADA. “This is changing SOPs and also enforcing them. So, PCS can help the operator with the amount of data it contains, but also it shows if something did or didn’t get done. You have to look at PCS and respond to it.”

Chemical and energy usage. PCS has enabled Blue Plains to collect data that will help them manage their chemical usage and energy consumption more effectively and significantly reduce chemical and energy costs. Data gathering is ongoing, according to Aklile Tesfaye, Manager of Wastewater Treatment. Once collected, the data will help the facility better understand where cost-saving improvements and adjustments should be made.

“To optimize and control chemical use at the plant, we can establish set points through PCS and will know right away if we are deviating,” Tesfaye said. “We are also monitoring power use and establishing a baseline by process area and by each piece of major equipment. We are getting there.”

Performance Management. Data collection through PCS also supports DCWASA’s recent roll out of its new process improvement and performance management initiative, which focuses on developing both departmental and enterprise performance measures. Data collected through PCS will prove extremely helpful for the initiative, providing historical data for analysis and trending. According to Raither of Maintenance, another goal is to link PCS to DCWASA’s IBM Maximo® work management system to share data and move toward more strategic plant maintenance.



Added benefits. The Blue Plains staff recognizes that PCS will a have far-reaching effect that provides additional benefits - some of which have already been identified and others that have yet to be realized.

Equipped with alerts and alarms that quickly notify staff when a situation arises in the field, PCS technology supports faster response times.

PCS also enables improved troubleshooting when used as a diagnostic tool. “It’s a major tool to piece together issues,” Kharkar of Process Engineering said. “Any time there’s a problem, you can go to PCS, open up the control sheet where we set the sequence, run any process, and trend the different points to find out what happened.”

It is even a tool for engineering design, explained Mukira of Engineering. “I have had someone call me and say, ‘Can you show me a trend for kilowatt usage … just to see the load?’ This is information found in PCS that can help in our design work.”

Next Steps at Blue Plains

As renovation and upgrade projects wrap up at Blue Plains, the PCS work will continue. New projects will begin as well. Namely, a $950 million enhanced nutrient removal system scheduled for completion in 2014. This, too, will be connected to PCS. It is another facet of the ongoing progress and continuous improvement at Blue Plains to become more strategic through best practices, organizational development, and technology that is second to none.

Implementing Process Control: One Point at a Time One of the numerous Interface Termination Units (ITCs) on site at Blue Plains linking processes to PCS. Connecting every piece of treatment processing equipment at Blue Plains to PCS is no small task. In total, the project will include more than 40,000 Input/Output (I/O) connection points – every one of which requires a loop-check test to ensure proper linkage to PCS. The Loop Check Process The loop check process presents special challenges at Blue Plains. In addition to the significant number of I/O points to be tested, there is the huge task of coordination between the nearly two dozen renovation contractors, EMA’s PCS team, and DCWASA’s Operations, Engineering, and Maintenance departments. For a loop to work all the way from the field to the Control Room, everyone must work together to ensure each element is compatible. EMA worked with Blue Plains and construction managers to implement a testing and approval protocol called the Witness Combined Loop Test. Loop tests are held once a process is ready to be connected to PCS. During a loop test, all parties (Blue Plains staff, EMA, and the construction contractor who performed the upgrade work) meet to test and witness a loop in operation. Loop tests vary greatly and depend on the complexity of the area being linked. And the work is not complete until all loops involved are working, and everyone has signed off. Verification from field device to graphics screen ensures everything is in working order.

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e-FLUENT
Information technology
Keeping Our Control Systems Cyber Secure

Candace Chan-Sands Program Manager

Advanced technology can be a double-edged sword. For water and wastewater facilities, the same control equipment and electronic communications capabilities that bring greater efficiency and productivity can also leave utilities vulnerable. This is especially true with automated systems, where a compromise in security can lead to a loss of confidence as well as a serious risk not only to the environment, but to the economy and public well-being.

Finding the Right Level of Security

Real-time access to data is a must for today’s utilities, and much of the data utilities have come to rely on is found in process control and SCADA systems. This makes it critically important for utilities to ensure their automated systems are secure from unwanted intrusions. However, while trying to secure these systems, some utilities have actually cut off access to valuable data that is required for sound decision making.

So how do utilities strike a balance between buttoning down security and still having the freedom and ability to function? A new cyber security assessment tool may hold the answer.

The Cyber Security Self Assessment Tool

The Control System Cyber Security Self-Assessment Tool (CS²SAT) provides users with a systematic and repeatable approach for assessing the cyber security posture of their industrial control system networks. The CS2SAT was developed under the direction of the Department of Homeland Security Control Systems Security Program by cyber security experts from national laboratories, experts from various infrastructure sectors, and with assistance from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. For the water and wastewater sector, input and cooperation in developing the tool was provided through a collaborative research effort between the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) and the Water Research Foundation (formerly AwwaRF, now WRF), which was led by EMA.

Four Steps to Increased Security

The CS²SAT tool simplifies the security assessment process, providing four steps that utilities can follow to reduce their security exposure.

Step 1: Analyze Consequences. To begin, users must provide information to establish a baseline for their utility. This information includes regulatory compliance data as well as details on what the impact would be (environmental, health, etc.) if a cyber attack occurred against your facility. The goal is to establish your Security Assurance Level (SAL) or the necessary degree of security your utility needs to maintain based on the consequences of a cyber attack.

Step 2: Identify Network Components. In Step 2, users provide information about their network components as they relate to cyber security. The end result is a diagram that closely matches your control system network topology.

Step 3: Determine Security Gaps. In this phase, a customized requirements questionnaire is generated based on your SAL (Step 1) and your control system configuration (Step 2). Answers provided on the questionnaire help identify security gaps that may exist between your network and the practices you use to attain certain performance standards.

Step 4: Prioritize Recommendations. Considering the information provided in Steps 1 through 3, CS2SAT produces a list of customized recommendations to help you reduce risk in your facility. Security recommendations are ranked in order of priority, indicating which recommendations will offer the greatest reduction in risk against a cyber attack.

Idaho National Labs has licensed WERF to distribute the tool to its subscribers and WRF members. For more information on how to get a free copy of the CS2SAT or about control systems, contact Candace Sands at csands@ema-inc.com.

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