The safety of U.S. water supplies remained in question at press time after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a joint warning recently, that hackers broke into control systems at water and wastewater utilities across the country. In some cases, the cyberattacks disrupted plant operations.

Incidents have hit both ends of the pipeline—drinking water systems like the Clayton County Water Authority near Atlanta, which saw a pressure drop and had to issue a boil-water advisory, and wastewater infrastructure like a lift station in Rapid City, South Dakota, that was also targeted.

According to the agencies, via a July 30 press release, the attackers targeted internet-connected industrial controllers made by Rockwell Automation/Allen-Bradley—specifically the MicroLogix 1100 and 1400 models.

Which utilities use to manage equipment like pumps and valves. Since July 27, utility companies in at least seven states have reported breaches to the FBI, with some incidents degrading water operations.

Once inside, the hackers changed IP addresses (i.e., location addresses for network devices) and passwords, cutting off operators’ ability to monitor and control their own systems, officials said.

The FBI noted it has so far only confirmed this activity with the Rockwell devices but warned that utilities using other brands of equipment should take similar precautions.

At least one affected organization discovered its controller programming had been altered after noticing inconsistencies in the underlying code across multiple sites. Investigators also found that shared network setups installed by outside vendors may make it easier for hackers to replicate their attacks against other customers with similarly vulnerable configurations.

The consequences for affected facilities have included loss of water pressure and flooding, officials said. A drop in pressure can potentially allow untreated groundwater to seep into pipes.

How badly a facility was affected depended on several factors, including whether the compromised controller was used for monitoring or actively controlling equipment, which model was involved, what function the device performed, and whether staff could switch to manual operation.

The FBI and EPA said they are working directly with affected organizations and are issuing recommendations to help other critical infrastructure operators protect themselves.

To defend against the attacks, the FBI and EPA have urged water utilities to take these controllers off the open internet and place them behind secure firewalls, use strong and unique passwords, and restrict system access to only approved, expected devices.

As word of the breaches spread, the reported number of affected states climbed from seven to as many as 12, according to other sources.

In Michigan, the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) confirmed that nine municipal water systems reported activity consistent with the federal warnings.

“All systems continued to operate safely, issues were addressed by local operators, and there are no known impacts that posed a public health concern,” said EGLE spokesman Dale George, adding that the state received “a small number of reports from Michigan communities indicating activity consistent with what federal agencies described.”

Nation of Islam Student Minister Marcus Muhammad of Benton Harbor, who also serves as the city’s mayor, connected the breach to a longer history of water troubles in majority-Black Michigan cities.

He emphasized the strategic importance of water, noting that the Great Lakes region’s economy could be the third largest globally, with 18 million jobs projected in the next 15 years.

Further, he stressed the need for unity, as taught by The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, and His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.

Both Divine Servants teach that unity is our key to survival, particularly during challenging times. In the 1930s, The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad began teaching Black people the importance of unity, that we must depend on Allah (God) and ourselves.

“In unity, we can accomplish much,” He writes on page 61 of “Message To The Blackman In America,” in the chapter titled, “The So-Called Negro Must Do Something For Himself.”

“The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that our unity is more powerful than an atomic or hydrogen bomb. So, our unity is so critically important at this time because as America is imploding … if we do not unite as a people, and when I say unite.

I mean our professionals, our carpenters, our electricians, our engineers, our journalists, our scientists, our educators, our spiritual teachers, our politicians—the alternative is death,” stated Student Minister Marcus Muhammad.

He continued, “I can’t speak or say much about an Iranian hacker,” (referring to unsubstantiated allegations on the source of the recent cyberattacks), “but what I can say is that there have been forces—particularly the state of Michigan—that have been a destructive force to the Benton Harbor water system, Flint and Highland Park,” he stated.

Student Min. Marcus Muhammad argued that the Great Lakes region’s water supply is becoming an increasingly contested economic resource, citing former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s remark that “the new oil in the 21st century is water,” and pointed to the rise of data centers as a growing source of demand.

“Right now, there are water wars being waged globally, and the war is being waged on who will control those resources,” he said.

He told The Final Call that he’s seen more damage and destruction to the water systems of Flint, Benton Harbor, Highland Park, revealing what he argues is a concerted effort to take away water capacity or water filtration plants of municipalities that are majority Black.

Monica Patrick-Lewis, a human rights activist and advocate with the Detroit water-rights group: We the People of Detroit, put the breach in the context of decades of underfunding.

She highlighted Detroit’s critical role in national commerce and the impact of privatization on water access and quality, linking the incident to a broader pattern of water crises in Flint, Jackson, Mississippi, Houston and Oscoda, Michigan, and to systemic issues and environmental degradation.

She told The Final Call that federal investment in water infrastructure has fallen from roughly two-thirds of water-project dollars (67-69%) a half-century ago to somewhere between 7% and 9% today.

“When you have antiquated systems that are sometimes 15, 20, 30 years behind their time, then it makes us even more vulnerable for these kinds of attacks,” said Ms. Patrick-Lewis, arguing that growing privatization of water systems tends to raise costs and lower water quality in already underserved communities.

Beyond the technical fixes urged by the FBI and EPA, Ms. Patrick-Lewis pointed to a community-driven approach already underway in Detroit as one way affected cities might build longer-term resilience.

Through We the People of Detroit, local youth have carried out water quality testing across two rounds of sampling on Detroit’s Eastside and in Southwest Detroit—grassroots data collection meant to give residents an independent picture of what’s actually coming out of their taps, she said.

But that data spans beyond with youth researchers into partnerships with the University of Michigan and Michigan State University to layer an economic feasibility study; and a public health analysis on top of the testing results.

According to Ms. Patrick-Lewis, Stanford and UCLA have joined as research partners on related aspects of the project. The goal, she said, is to turn raw sampling data into something residents can actually use and understand.

That work is set to culminate in a public-facing website, built in part by the youth participants themselves, that will combine GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping, water quality data, and flood mitigation strategies in one place.

Rather than presenting the information as a dry technical report, the site will be layered with community art and culture “so that it’s relatable to our community and our people,” Ms. Patrick-Lewis added.

Chicago-based cyber expert Timothy Muhammad is owner of a technology and computer company. He is also a member of the Chicago team for the Ministry of Information for the Nation of Islam. He argued that the incidents serve as a warning sign residents should take seriously, even though he characterized it as a minor breach rather than a major attack.

“Words matter,” he said, echoing sentiments expressed in previous messages by The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. He pushed back on how the incident has been characterized in the press, telling The Final Call, “this isn’t really an attack—it’s a breach, and there’s a difference.”

He noted that no equipment was damaged or destroyed and the intrusions appear to be the work of opportunistic hackers rather than a sophisticated, state-sponsored operation.

He was skeptical of reports linking the incident to Iran, noting that investigators and government officials have not confirmed that attribution. The breach, he noted, likely spread to multiple states because affected utilities were running the same vulnerable, internet-facing equipment.

“Because they found a flaw in one waterworks, the other waterworks are using the same equipment,” he stated, comparing the situation to someone checking doors around a neighborhood and walking through the one left unlocked, versus someone breaking in to cause damage.

“If it was a real attack … now you have a citywide problem where now people are going to have to cut off or stop using the water in order to protect themselves. … These are really preludes to the things that may happen, and we have to be in a position to save ourselves and our family,” Timothy Muhammad stated.

He recommended that individuals and communities pursue personal, independent water sources, comparing such efforts to the broader push for energy independence.

“We also want constant personal sources of water and other resources, because when these things happen and they become serious, we’re going to need to save ourselves and our community,” he said.