OPINION — The recent cyberattacks targeting municipal water systems should serve as a wake-up call. While much of the public attention focused on whether hackers could disrupt drinking water supplies, the larger lesson received far less attention. Water has quietly become one of the most important strategic resources underpinning the American economy, national security and our quality of life.
Most of us think about water only when we turn on the faucet, water the lawn or order a meal at a restaurant where a glass of water appears almost automatically and at no cost. It is so abundant in our daily lives that we rarely stop to consider its value. Water is one of the few resources that remain largely invisible until it is suddenly unavailable.
History teaches us that societies rarely appreciate essential infrastructure until it fails. Electricity commands attention when the lights go out. Roads become important when they are impassable. Water is no different. Droughts, contamination, aging infrastructure, and now cyber threats all remind us that our most essential resource is far more fragile than we assume. Even those examples only scratch the surface of water’s importance.
