Dams | South Carolina Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity

The Dams Sector maintains infrastructure that provides critical water retention and control services for the entire country. These services include:

Hydroelectric power generation
Municipal water supplies
Agricultural irrigation
Flood control
Industrial waste management

Dams are also inextricably linked with the water, energy, and nuclear sectors. This dependency increases the criticality of protecting the sector. Within South Carolina, there are more than 10,000 dams, 34 of which are federally regulated and more than 2,700 are state regulated.

SC CIC is partnered with the Bureau of Water at the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services (SCDES) and provides ongoing cybersecurity expertise to help facilitate federal regulation changes that affect the Dams Sector in the state. This partnership, along with the services SC CIC provides to participants directly, helps increase the overall security posture of the sector in SC.

Resources for the Dams Sector:

SCDES | Water Utilities Cybersecurity Resources

Responsible for the protection and preservation of all water in South Carolina, the SC Department of Environmental Services (SCDES) is the lead state agency in South Carolina for all matters related to the environment. The Bureau of Water within SCDES maintains this list of resources for water and wastewater facilities along with relevant water-related news from the federal government.

ASDSO & DHS | Resources for Dam Owners and Operators

The Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO) has partnered with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide physical and cyber-related security resources for dam owners. This webpage contains a sub-webpage titled “Dam Security” that details the partnership and its goals.

CISA Dams Sector Webpage

CISA’s Dams Sector webpage contains detailed information on what types of organizations belong to the Commercial Facilities Sector in the U.S. along with federal plans for the sector (Commercial Facilities Sector-Specific Plan) and all critical infrastructure in the country (National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP)). Sector-specific plans address how the NIPP should be utilized while considering each sector’s unique perspective.