The short answer
AWWA Standards and Manuals
The association publishes standards and manuals of practice that are the water sector references beside the federal rules and the general control standards. For control work the ones that matter are the manual on instrumentation and control, which covers the instruments, control strategies, SCADA, and documentation of a water utility in the sector vocabulary; the risk and resilience management standard, the method most utilities use for the assessment the water infrastructure act requires; the management standards on security practices and on emergency preparedness, which describe what a utility program should contain; the cybersecurity guidance and the assessment tool that maps utility practices to the institute framework and produces a prioritized list; the product standards for meters and for transit-time flowmeters that a specification cites; and the tank standards that set the appurtenances and the level instrument provisions. A utility cites them in specifications, uses the manuals as the training text in the sector language, and uses the assessment tool and the risk standard for the regulatory deliverables.
Key points
- The instrumentation and control manual is the sector textbook; the security and emergency management standards are the program outline.
- The risk and resilience standard is the method behind most water infrastructure act assessments.
- The cybersecurity guidance and tool map utility practices to the institute framework and produce the prioritized list.
- Product standards for meters and flowmeters are what a specification cites for a water meter or a clamp-on meter.
- Tank standards decide the fittings a level instrument needs; ask before the tank is built.
- Association documents are purchased or come with membership; the cybersecurity tool has been free.
The documents
| Document | What it is | When a utility opens it |
|---|---|---|
| Manual of practice on instrumentation and control | The sector manual on instruments, control strategies, SCADA, telemetry, and documentation for water utilities | Training new staff; the basis for a utility control standard; a vocabulary shared with the process engineers |
| Risk and resilience management standard for water and wastewater systems | The standard method for assessing risk from malevolent acts and natural hazards and planning resilience, on which the federal assessment tool is based | The water infrastructure act risk and resilience assessment |
| Security practices for operation and management standard | A management standard describing the elements of a utility security program: policy, roles, assessments, physical and cyber controls, response | Writing or auditing the security program |
| Emergency preparedness practices standard | A management standard for emergency planning, response, and recovery | The emergency response plan the act requires |
| Cybersecurity guidance and assessment tool | Sector guidance for cybersecurity risk management and a tool that asks about the utility technology and practices and produces a prioritized list of controls mapped to the institute framework | The first cybersecurity assessment; the cyber portion of the act assessment; the plan for the year |
| Meter standards | Product standards for cold water meters by type: displacement, turbine, compound, propeller, and electromagnetic and ultrasonic meters | Specifying a customer or a plant meter |
| Transit-time flowmeter standard | The product standard for transit-time ultrasonic meters in full closed conduits | Specifying a clamp-on or wetted ultrasonic meter |
| Storage tank standards | Standards for welded steel, bolted steel, concrete, and composite tanks, with the appurtenances, vents, overflows, and access | Confirming the fittings for a level instrument, an altitude valve, and a mixer before the tank is designed |
| Pipe, valve, and hydrant standards | The product standards for the distribution system | Where an instrument tap or a control valve is specified on a main |
| Water quality and operations manuals | Manuals on disinfection, filtration, corrosion control, distribution operation, and water audits | The process side of the control strategies |
The instrumentation and control manual
The manual is the document that speaks both languages: it describes the instruments and the control strategies of a water utility in the terms the process engineers and operators use, and it describes the SCADA, the telemetry, and the documentation in the terms the control engineers use. A utility writing its own control standard starts from it; a new engineer from another industry reads it to learn why a clearwell level has a compliance meaning; and a specification references it as the practice the integrator is expected to follow. It is revised periodically, and the current edition is the one cited.
Risk, security, and emergency management
The three management documents fit together. The risk and resilience standard gives the method for the assessment: assets, threats, consequences, vulnerabilities, likelihood, and the ranking, in a form that the federal assessment tool implements. The security practices standard says what a program built on the assessment contains, in management terms an auditor recognizes. The emergency preparedness standard describes the plan and its exercise. The water infrastructure act asks for the assessment and the plan; these are the sector methods for producing them, and the cybersecurity guidance supplies the cyber content in a form that maps to the institute framework.
The cybersecurity assessment tool
- 1
Answer the questions
The tool asks which technologies and practices the utility uses: remote access, wireless, cloud services, vendor access, and so on, and what controls exist.
- 2
Read the output
A prioritized list of recommended controls, each mapped to the institute framework and to the sector goals, with the ones rated highest priority first.
- 3
Plan
The list becomes the security program plan for the year, and the cyber section of the act assessment.
- 4
Repeat
Annually, with the answers updated; the shrinking list is the progress measure.
Product standards in specifications
- A meter specification cites the association standard for its type, which sets accuracy, materials, and test requirements, and adds the utility requirements for outputs and communications.
- A transit-time meter specification cites the flowmeter standard and adds the installation requirements, straight run, pipe data, and verification.
- A tank specification cites the tank standard and lists the instrument fittings: the level transmitter nozzle and stilling well, the pressure tap for a hydrostatic transmitter, the hatch for a radar, the conduit and the panel location, and the mixer.
- A control valve on a main cites the valve standard for the body and adds the actuator, positioner, and signal requirements.
Access
Association standards and manuals are purchased individually or accessed through membership subscriptions, which many utilities hold. The cybersecurity guidance and the assessment tool have been offered without charge to the sector. The association also runs the training and the conferences where the practices are taught, and its sections in each state are the community where utility control staff meet their peers.
Frequently asked questions
- Do we need the association standards if we follow the federal rules?
- The rules say what to achieve; the association documents say how the sector does it. The risk standard and the security and emergency standards are the accepted methods for the act deliverables, the instrumentation manual is the sector practice for control design, and the product standards are what a meter or a tank specification cites. A utility without them writes its own methods from scratch.
- Is the association cybersecurity tool the same as the federal assessment?
- They are aligned: both map to the institute framework and the sector goals. The association tool is a self-assessment that produces a prioritized list; the federal agency offers an assessment performed with the utility. Many utilities use the tool annually and the federal assessment once, and reconcile the results.
- Which meter standard applies to a magnetic flowmeter in the plant?
- The association publishes a standard for electromagnetic and ultrasonic meters used as water meters, and a separate one for transit-time flowmeters in closed conduits. A plant process meter is often specified by the manufacturer standard and the utility requirements with the association standard cited for the meter class; check the current standard list.
- Where does the association fit beside the instrument society and the electrical standards?
- The association covers the water side: process practice, water quality, risk, and water products. The instrument society covers instrumentation and control practice across industries, and the electrical standards cover panels and wiring. A water utility control standard cites all three, each for its part.
Related topics
- ISA Standards for ControlsThe International Society of Automation standards a controls practitioner meets: ISA-5.1 symbols and tags, ISA-18.2 alarm management, ISA-101 HMI design, ISA-88 and ISA-95 for batch and enterprise integration, ISA-99 which became IEC 62443, ISA-20 specification forms, and how each is used on a water or wastewater project.
- AWIA RequirementsWhat the 2018 water infrastructure act requires of community water systems: a risk and resilience assessment and an emergency response plan, certified on a schedule by size and repeated every five years, with cybersecurity named in both, and who is covered.
- OT Risk AssessmentRanking what could go wrong in a control system and what it would cost: the consequence-first method for utilities, the assets and scenarios to list, likelihood without pretending to know it, the risk matrix, and turning the ranked list into a work plan.
- Ultrasonic FlowmetersTransit-time and Doppler ultrasonic flow measurement: how each works, which liquids each suits, clamp-on versus wetted transducers, the pipe data the meter needs, the accuracy to expect, and the installation details that decide whether to trust the reading.
- Elevated Tank ControlThe tank on legs that sets the zone pressure: how level equals pressure, the operating band, the altitude valve and its telemetry, turnover for water quality, filling by pumps far away, freeze protection, and what the level signal does when the tank is holding the system together.
- NIST Publications for Control SystemsThe National Institute of Standards and Technology documents a control engineer will meet: the Cybersecurity Framework, the operational technology security guide, the control catalog, the digital identity guideline, and the incident handling guide.
Direct contact
Have a controls question?
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