PLACERVILLE, Calif.--El Dorado Irrigation District, located in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of Sacramento, is required by the Environmental Protection Agency to complete a vulnerability assessment, but not required to implement any measures to secure its facility and surrounding areas. Even so, Ron Kilburg, security and safety officer for the district, decided it should be more proactive in its security approach.

"We are not only concerned with exterior threats, like terrorists and vandals, but every vulnerability assessment evaluates the insider threat too," he said. "We all want to think all our employees are pure and honest but there is evidence out there that tampering internally is always a possibility."

The district covers more than 200 square miles of woodlands, watershed, lakes and reservoirs. It includes five water treatment facilities, a hydroelectric power generating station, five Alpine lakes, five wastewater treatment facilities and serves nearly 100,000 customers.

To mitigate both internal and external risks, El Dorado now has 50 CCTV cameras set up to monitor its facility 24/7. Buildings and surrounding areas are fenced in and equipped with steel doors. It has also implemented video analytics software from Vidient for perimeter protection.

The main goal, Kilburg said, is "to protect the water system" and prior to this security assessment "we didn't have the detection and response element."

Kilburg said he was interested in adding analytics because it offered a substantial cost savings over posting an after-hours security guard to monitor key points within the facility. The board "thought it was completely acceptable to compare the cost associated with the system and compare it with the cost of a security officer."

Now, "each camera is a security officer. It detects people, vehicle loitering and certain behaviors. But the position of the cameras is critical so anyone who walks through the path can de detected."

Frank Pao, CEO of Vidient, said the company has focused on building its software for challenging environment like El Dorado. "What holds people back is that analytics are considered an unproven technology and people have been burned in the past with video analytics. They are now taking a wait-and-see attitude. But we do work in complex environments and we have minimum false alarms."