Water-Supply Planning and Management

Goal: To Ensure Adequate and Reliable Supplies of Clean Water at Reasonable Cost

Main Components in Water-Supply Planning and Management:

Determine the capacity of existing water-supply facilities.

Determine current water withdrawals, uses, and impacts.

Determine potential yields and water quality from surface waters and aquifers under variable climatic conditions.

Construct future water demand scenarios.

Identify and evaluate drought, climate change, and other risks and uncertainties.

Present and compare water-supply and -demand scenarios (with uncertainties and risks).

Evaluate the need for increasing water supply and/or decreasing demand.

Identify and evaluate the risks and costs (including negative impacts) of options for increasing water withdrawals, and/or decreasing demand.

Main Components of Water-Supply Management:

Define acceptable levels of confidence (risk) and costs in providing adequate supplies of clean water over a specified time period.

Select and implement water-supply/water-treatment/water-distribution and/or water-conservation/water-reuse projects.

Evaluate the need for changes to policies, regulations, and management strategies.

Derek Winstanley, Illinois State Water Survey, September 2005