Idaho Rural Water Association

📢 FREE WATER TESTING!📢

Melba area, mark your calendars for September 10th! IRWA and the City of Melba will be conducting free well water testing at the Melba Senior Center!

Idaho Department of Environmental Quality

🚨Cybersecurity Alert!🚨

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, in conjunction with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NSA - National Security Agency, FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation, and U.S. Department of Energy have released this Cybersecurity Advisory to warn owners and operators of industrial control systems (ICSs) of an active cyber threat to Siemens S7 Series PLCs and provide relevant mitigations to protect and defend them.
Threat actors are conducting reconnaissance and capability development against U.S.-based Siemens PLC installations using AI-generated exploitation scripts disguised as legitimate monitoring tools. The actors leverage Internet scanning services to find Internet-exposed PLCs running outdated software or that are otherwise poorly protected.
Owners and operators of operational technology (OT) systems using Siemens S7 Series and other PLC devices to proactively check their systems:
are properly protected with all applicable security patches and updates,
are isolated from the Internet wherever possible,
have strong access controls, and
employ security tooling to monitor ICS environments for anomalous or malicious activity.
These mitigations are particularly important for owners and operators who work with third-party service providers or system integrators who may have remote access to PLCs, as the asset owners may not realize that their systems are exposed and at risk.
These agencies recommend that utility operators review the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) in this cybersecurity advisory and conduct recommended mitigation and preventative actions to reduce the likelihood of an attack.

Defending Against an Active Threat to Siemens S7 Series PLCs | CISA This advisory warns of threat actors targeting Siemens S7 Series programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and includes mitigations to be understood and applied within the broader context of ongoing threats to PLCs and operational technology devices.

Congratulations to Jacob Hyer, Public Works Supervisor for the City of Homedale, on graduating from IRWA’s Class II Wastewater Track in the Apprenticeship Program!

Jacob completed 4,000 hours of on-the-job training and 288 hours of classroom instruction while maintaining a full-time job. His dedication and commitment to protecting Homedale’s wastewater system make this an incredible achievement.

Pictured with Jacob are Mayor Kimberly Murray and IRWA Apprenticeship Specialist Jake Slater. We’re proud to celebrate this milestone and excited to see what Jacob accomplishes next!

Know someone who would make a great water or wastewater professional?

IRWA is excited to announce our new Apprenticeship Referral Program.

Help us strengthen Idaho's water and wastewater workforce while earning a reward for your referral.

For more information, contact:

📞 (208) 900-2224
📧 [email protected]

Please share this post with anyone who may be interested.

Can't beat these weekend plans! IRWA participated in the Genesee Community Days parade with our portable water trailer (which we used for the first time a few years back in this very community!) Thanks for having us back for one of our favorite events, Genesee!

While a large portion of the IRWA team trains at National Rural Water Association (NRWA) In-Service, a smaller force is taking on Association of Idaho Cities conference!

Your IRWA team is in Spokane, WA this week for National Rural Water Association (NRWA) In-Service training! The many training tracks offer new perspectives, essential training, and collaboration with our counterparts across the nation.

Joined by our colleagues at Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, BlueScope, Hilbers Construction, and Congressman Mike Simpson, IRWA broke ground on a new Emergency Services Storage Facility last week. At the groundbreaking, IRWA CEO Shelley Roberts, Congressman Mike Simpson, and DEQ’s Tyler Fortunati all spoke on the importance of safe drinking water and the importance of emergency response for Idaho’s smallest communities to get water back on line as soon as possible after a disaster. The storage facility will house transfer pumps, potable water tanks, generators, and more service equipment to be on standby in the event of a service-interrupting emergency. The facility will also enhance IRWA’s ability to provide critical hands on training for drinking water and wastewater operators. Construction on the facility is scheduled to finish this fall.