Terrorists could tap Web to poison drinking water.

• Position: SECURITY BEAT

* Militants could use the Internet to learn how to poison the water distribution system, experts said.

Terrorists could easily read chemical companies' open access websites to view information on the toxicity level of everything from herbicides to industrial substances, said Dan Kroll, chief scientist at Hach Homeland Security Technologies.

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Information on what chemicals to use, how much and how to inject them into the water supply is "all pretty much there [on the Web]," Kroll said at the GovSec conference in Washington, D.C.

Adding to the danger is that some high level al-Qaida operatives have degrees in chemistry, he noted. Several videos captured in Afghanistan also showed terrorists conducting experiments using cyanide on dogs. "It seemed like they knew what they were doing," he said.

Luckily, water sources such as reservoirs are safe, as most harmful chemicals would be removed or deactivated during the treatment process, he said. "It...