The City of Peoria (Arizona) Utilities Department is developing a master plan to strategically use
the City's reclaimed water resource and to guide expansion of the City's water reclamation and
reuse program. The Reuse Master Plan will provide guidelines for a reclaimed water capital
improvement program and will provide the basis for City policies and procedures for water reuse
within its service area.
The Reuse Master Plan is being prepared using Scenario Planning, which is a non-traditional
approach that provides a framework for master planning. The approach differs from traditional
planning in that it embraces uncertainty rather than forecasting and predicting what might
happen in the future. In traditional planning, there is typically a forecast or prediction of what
the future will look like and then several alternatives are mapped to the future. Using a matrix
that involves economic and non-economic factors, the alternatives are ranked, and the master
plan develops. However, if the original forecast or prediction does not turn out to be true, the
plan must be revised and redeveloped to fit the changing future. Scenario Planning recognizes
that the significant influences of the future typically cannot be controlled nor can they be reliably
predicted, and the process ultimately seeks to identify strategies that will allow flexibility and the
opportunity for success no matter what the future holds.
The process is described in this paper by using a case study from Peoria, Arizona. Although the case study
is specific to an Arizona utility, the approach is easily applied to other organizations in their
reuse planning efforts. Includes tables, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 1.2 MB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 14 |
| Published : | 06/17/2005 |
