For many water utility professionals, the mention of public involvement creates an almost involuntary shudder. They fear their project schedule will be blown, the project
budget will skyrocket, and worse, they will have to talk to, interact with, or
accommodate a lot of community residents with irrational demands. That's not a pretty
picture to anyone in the water industry. Since support from managers and engineers is
one key to a successful public involvement program, is there any way to raise the comfort
level of the "public involvement phobic?" This paper discusses what public
involvement brings to a utility project and shows how a multi-disciplinary project team
can get pipes, pump stations and reservoirs in the ground with public support.
Public involvement is no longer optional once a project has come to the attention of
community residents, elected officials, regulators and the media. There are several
situations that can raise the attention level of these audiences. The paper highlights
the "hot buttons" that can create those situations and describes some techniques that can
help avoid them and put the utility "ahead of the curve."
There are a number of excellent tools that describe public involvement techniques and
discuss how to use them, as well as some research-based recommendations relating to
public involvement timing. Providing this type of information to managers and engineers
helps demonstrate the track record for public involvement programs and lets them know
that there is some research basis for public involvement concepts. Resources such as the
toolbox recently developed by AWWA, the public involvement matrix developed by the
International Association of Public Participation, and various AwwaRF reports are
readily available to utilities. In addition, a customized public involvement approach can
be designed for a utility by a consultant working closely with the utility staff. The paper
describes how to determine the best approach for a particular situation.
Finally, managers and engineers who have included public involvement professionals as
part of a multi-disciplinary team effort have found their projects have more community
support, fewer legal challenges and are constructed on time. Case study examples
show the reluctant manager or engineer how working with the community can benefit
their utility. Includes 2 references.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 1 MB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 34 |
| Published : | 06/01/2007 |
