Chris Hughes has what he calls an interesting job.

He's an assistant operator at a wastewater treatment plant in Cavendish, Vermont.

So where we're going now is the beginning of the process.

This is where it comes into the sewer plant.

On a recent August afternoon, he gave NPR's Jenna McLaughlin a tour of the plant.

What you see there are rags and things that don't belong, that we have to screen out ourselves. Some places have automated machines that do that. We don't. We have a rake.

Sounds like a fun job. Yeah. Yeah, again, either you love it or you don't. It's nature of the beast.

Hughes does love his work in all its technical, mathematical, chemical, and yes, dirty glory.

But lately Hughes has had to worry about a new hazard, cyber attacks.

I have someone going into the system, they could just turn it off and we can stop producing water.

We'd be dead in the water, I guess.

The threat of someone cutting water off for Americans is real. Chinese hackers recently spent

nearly a year inside a Massachusetts utility company that provides power and water. And last

October, hackers targeted American water, the largest wastewater utility company in the country.

Monday, the water utility said that they discovered a cyber attack last

week and in an effort to protect customers' data and prevent any future harm. Consider this, water

is an appealing target for hackers, and some people are working to make sure a cyber attack doesn't

stop the flow.

From NPR, I'm Ari Shapiro.

It's consider this from NPR.

The Environmental Protection Agency recently sounded the alarm about an increase in malicious cyber attacks targeting water systems,

as hackers from nation states and criminal gangs cause chaos, make money, and even prepare for potential future conflicts with the U.S.

...