Long-Term Planning Tools

Most utilities appear to be quite forward thinking, as evidenced by the large number that employ multiple long-term planning tools (see Figure 9).  Overall, this focus on long-term planning coincides with the large number of utilities’ focus on implementing performance measures in the near future (see Section 1.1). About 7 in 10 utilities have local or regional land use planning in place and about 3 in 5 have long-range capital planning in place. In addition, nearly half of utilities have growth management planning, quality and continuous improvement planning, and strategic planning in place to promote water conservation.