Originally published in 2005
Are you noticing a lot of new faces around town lately? If you have, the chances are your community is growing.
It's just that simple.
According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the nation is currently growing at a rate of roughly 3.2 million people a year. While some of this growth comes from people moving to this country in search of the elusive “American Dream,” much of the growth is just living proof that the nation’s fertility rate is at an all time high.
No matter what is causing this growth, the fact remains that each of us will continue to require roughly 74 gallons of water each day.
In light of the fact that a great deal of our water infrastructure dates back to an era before automobiles, there’s no time like the present for decision makers to take a good, hard look at the future and how they will continue to provide safe, affordable drinking water to their customers—new and old.
Even in communities where new faces are still a rarity—it remains important that drinking water systems keep an eye on their future needs.
In this issue we’ll explore some tried-and-true strategic planning methods and discuss ways to prepare for a better tomorrow—before your reservoir runs dry.
Additional Resources
Analyze Today, Prepare for Tomorrow
Planning, financing, and constructing system improvements is an important part of operating your system successfully. Because of the costs involved in making improvements and the potential effect they have on your customer’s monthly water bills, decision makers need to be involved (and informed!) in every step of the process.
One of the best ways to stay on top of the situation is to develop a strategic plan—a guide for the future.
Typically, water system planning comes in three distinct flavors—Short-term (to address immediate needs or specific problems; like the fact that your back-hoe just blew a primary gasket), long-term (over the next two to five years; the fact that your back-hoe is 20 years-old and has just been repaired for the umpteenth time), and strategic (as Star Commander Buzz Lightyear would say “To Infinity and Beyond!”).
It’s important to remember that all strategic plans should be flexible (it’s an interactive and ever changing process), and even long-term and strategic plans need to be reviewed on a regular basis.
Regardless of your plan’s timeline, four questions should always be considered when planning future strategies:
Where are we now?
Where do we want to be?
How do we get there?
How do we measure our progress and success?
To answer these basic questions, your strategic plan should always remember your customer’s needs, create ways to meet those needs, determine what the needs will cost, and most importantly—how to pay for the plan.
Remember the old Chinese saying, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step…” Well, there’s no time like the present to get moving.
Begin by taking a look at the Additional Resources link below to complete a self-assessment of your system’s technical, managerial, and financial capacity. Completing the self-assessment process will give you a better idea of how well your system is currently meeting the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Additional Resources
www.state.sd.us/denr/des/drinking/SELFASS2.pdf [2]
Needs Assessment and Priority Setting
Many small systems tend to ignore problems until there’s a crisis (remember that ailing back-hoe? Imagine if you will, that it blew a gasket the same day that a major water leak was discovered!). Other systems will wait until the well goes dry, equipment wears out, leaks get out of hand, and customers start complaining before any action is taken.
All too often small systems respond to problems based on how loudly they scream for attention, instead of how serious they really are to the overall health of the system. But it doesn’t have to be that way!
It’s important that every water system, regardless of size, develop a Capital Improvement Plan during the strategic planning process to guide them into the future. This plan will serve as a roadmap that will help your system prioritize future needs. As with any comprehensive plan, it is important to encompass personnel and revenue information when developing a comprehensive approach.
The old notion that “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is no longer an acceptable approach to system planning.
A good Capital Improvement Plan should clearly identify any and all facility improvement and expansion needs that your system should consider in the future and the best ways to maintain your current infrastructure.
This becomes especially important if your community is experiencing growth.
A complete, and properly developed Capital Improvement Plan will help your system by:
Creating coordination between capital needs and the operating budget.
Helping to eliminate sudden changes in the system’s debt service requirements.
Identifying the most economical ways to pay for capital projects.
Increasing opportunities for obtaining state and federal aid by looking at long-term needs.
Keeping the public informed about future needs and projects.
Encouraging careful project planning.
Additional Resources
www.nesc.wvu.edu/ndwc/articles/OT/SU04/CapitalWS_SU99.pdf [3]
Looking into the Pool of Resources
The next step in setting the course for your water system, once you’ve defined your system’s future needs, is to identify your existing financial resources so that you can determine what capital needs the system can fund from its own pockets, and what projects must be financed from outside sources.
In order to complete this step you will need to ask yourself:
Do our annual revenues exceed operating expenses? If so, by how much? And can all or part of these surplus funds be used toward capital improvement projects?
What cash reserves does we have?
What other annual revenues including earned interest, special fees or proceeds from sales of equipment are available?
Does the system need to consider a rate increase to finance future projects?
A successful system needs to keep a close eye on its future needs to remain viable over the long run.
“With the exception of the interstate highway system, this is the largest public works infrastructure in this country, the biggest investment we’ve made in the 20th century,” said Michael Charles, a lobbyist for the American Society of Civil Engineers. “And it’s in real trouble. A lot of these aging facilities have outlived their design life and need to be replaced.”
Additional Resources
www.amsa-cleanwater.org/pubs/2003-05WhyNotWater.pdf [4]
Looking Back before you Move Ahead
In many cities and towns, water infrastructure has been in place for many decades. Quite often, particularly in the larger cities, components of these systems (such as the water mains) are more than a century old. The oldest cast iron pipes, dating to the latter 1800s, have an average life expectancy of 100-120 years.
According to a recent study by the American Water Works Association, replacement costs for aging water mains alone nationwide could reach as high as $6,300 per household.
With age and increased demands due to population growth, drinking water infrastructure needs created in the past may have to be addressed before new projects can even be started.
Remember, it’s important to have a clear understanding of your system’s existing design and capabilities before determining what new elements are necessary to meet future growth needs.
Additional Resources
www.win-water.org/win_reports/infrastructure.pdf [5]
www.epa.gov/safewater/smallsys/pdfs/guide_smallsystems_stratplan.pdf [6]
Taking a Look Ahead
In April 2000, the Water Infrastructure Network released a report documenting the significant improvements in water quality and pubic health associated with the nation’s investments in its aging infrastructure.
The report also identified an unprecedented financial problem. Over the next 20 years, according to the report, America’s water and wastewater systems will need to invest $23 billion above current investments to meet the public health priorities set by the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.
According to many estimates, drinking water systems currently operate roughly 800,000 miles of pipes, and sewer lines cover more than 500,000 miles nationwide. In light of the growing concern, many industry lobbyists and organizations are already working to secure additional federal funding to help meet the need.
Just remember, it’s clear that the nation’s aging infrastructure is in need of updating, even if your customer list isn’t growing. So make plans for the future today so that your system will be able to serve your current customers and the next generation.
Additional Resources
www.epa.gov/safewater/smallsys/pdfs/guide_smallsystems_asset_mgmnt.pdf [7]