Series:

Water Research Foundation Report

2 total works

Cover of Decision Support System for Sustainable Water Supply Planning
The main objective of this project was to develop a computerized decision support system (DSS) tool that will allow utility strategic planners to effectively evaluate options for managing and developing reliable, adequate, and sustainable water supplies for their customers over the next 50 to 100 years. This tool will allow for the evaluation of multiple future water management scenarios that include integrated social, financial, and economic analyses that are requisite to sustainable, long-term water supply planning. This effort was distinguished from traditional water utility planning efforts in its focus on sustainability and a longer planning horizon. As such, a wider array of management objectives and opportunities were brought into consideration, requiring a tool that extends beyond sequencing potential supply enhancements in response to unrelenting, unmanaged increases in demand. The longer planning horizon allowed for consideration of a wide range of alternatives on both the supply development and demand management sides.

Cover of Regional Solutions to Water Supply Provision
Public water supplies traditionally have been drawn from local surface or groundwater sources, and treated and distributed by localized water supply utilities (e.g., owned and operated as part of the local municipal government, local developer, homeowners association). Decades of population and economic growth, emerging regulatory demands, and other pressures have led many water professionals to note that regional approaches might provide opportunities where utilities might pool their efforts with neighboring systems to develop more reliable water supplies, facilitate compliance, or gain appreciable efficiencies.


The purpose of this report was to examine the ways in which "regional solutions" may provide viable and advantageous approaches to addressing several of the challenges facing the water supply community. The researchers planned to provide a discussion of what "regional solutions" means, identify some of the key challenges facing water suppliers that regional approaches may help address, and describe how regional approaches may help utilities meet their sustainability objectives. There are many different ways in which regional approaches might be developed and implemented.



This research used literature reviews, professional experiences, and case studies to develop a report that focuses on (1) describing the various options available for regional solutions, (2) providing information so that water agencies and other interested parties can better understand the pros and cons of the various alternatives available for their consideration, and (3) offering tools and lessons learned so that interested parties can chart a pathway to regional agreements, if they are deemed suitable.