AWWA ACE61810

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.