One of the major consequences of the events of September 11 is a heightened concern among citizens in the United States over the security of their drinking water. The nation's water infrastructure consists of approximately 16,000 publicly owned wastewater treatment plants, 100,000 major pumping stations, 600,000 miles of sanitary sewers and another 200,000 miles of storm sewers. Water systems are one of America's most valuable resources, with treatment and collection systems valued at more than $2 trillion.

The increasing cost of scrap metal worldwide has added another dimension to the need for secure manhole covers. Manhole covers routinely find their way to the scrap yards across the nation leaving the manholes wide open.

Taken together, the sanitary and storm sewers form an extensive network that runs near or beneath key buildings and roads, and is contiguous to many communication and transportation networks. Significant damage to the nation's wastewater facilities or collection systems would result in:

v Loss of life
v Contamination of drinking water
v Long term public health impacts
v Catastrophic environmental damage to rivers, lakes and wetlands
v Destruction of fish and shellfish production
v Disruption to commerce, the economy and our normal way of life

STABILOC helps water companies to:

v Limit access to the important pipes and metering pits
v Protect from unauthorized use of all pits, manholes, pipes etc.
v Make it impossible for thieves to steal manhole covers
v Added protection from terrorism, reducing our own vulnerability