This Week in Critical Infrastructure we look at the water crisis facing Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria, an upcoming conference on Smart Infrastructure for cities, and a piece from a former DHS official arguing for continued efforts to modernize the security of federal networks to address persistent cyber threats.
An Awful Test for Puerto Rico’s Water Infrastructure
In this article from City Lab, Nathalie Baptiste describes the hazardous conditions facing Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria, which has left around 1.5 million people without access to basic infrastructure, including clean water. With power outages expect to last for months, FEMA and local authorities have been struggling to keep pace with the needs of the displaced population, and prolonged outages threaten to create long-term infrastructure issues, including contamination of drinking water due to sewage failures.
Smart Cities Week 2017 Brings Connected Infrastructure into Focus
Juliet Van Wagenen writes for State Tech on the upcoming Smart Cities Week in Washington, DC,
where city leaders will come together to discuss Smart Infrastructure projects that provide the back-end support for new technologies like self-driving cars and Internet of Things capabilities in municipal utilities.
Cybersecurity Threats Demand Modernizing Federal Technology
In this opinion piece from The Hill, Christian Marrone highlights recent efforts to update obsolete and antiquated technology that makes federal agencies vulnerable and argues that these efforts need to continue and grow in response to incessant threats against federal systems that house sensitive data and support vital government functions.