What Is A Master Plan?

A Master Plan is a planning document that provides communities with a roadmap for where they're going and how they will get there. Most Master Plans cover at least a 20 year planning period. It is a "living document" that identifies problems and needs and then reviews and recommends alternatives for correction of the most significant problems.

The three primary areas of water supply covered usually include:

projecting future water demands, comparing these to current capabilities and evaluating how to meet inadequacies;
deciding whether treatment facilities are needed, and planning these so that costs can be minimized to handle future requirements; and
planning distribution system needs, including system expansions, to assure that fire flows can be met and pipe sizes and types are appropriate for adequate pressure and water quality.

Most of the Master Plan should focus on making sure that existing facilities can provide adequate quantities of good water at all times. It should also include methods of minimizing water losses and making sure production is optimized.

Benefits of Developing a Master Plan

As water supply requirements have grown more complex in the last 10 years, so has the need for a "Master Plan" or roadmap that identifies future expenditures and needs.

Some of the primary benefits include:

Reduced losses. Plan will help minimize water losses and optimize production.
Meet future demands. Plan helps assure demand can be met under future peak conditions.
Meet fire flow needs. Plan helps assure provision of adequate fire flow capacity.
Improved water quality. Plan will reduce future water quality problems from dead ends and stagnant areas of the system.
Reduced costs. Plan will minimize long-term treatment and distribution costs.
Improved public health protection. Plan will help reduce public health threats.
Improved regulatory compliance. Plan will help meet increasingly stringent regulations.
Better financial position. Plan provides projections to minimize rate shock and maintain borrowing capacity.

The plan provides a roadmap for communities that can be updated from time to time as conditions change. As a result, there is an increase in public health protection benefits by making sure long-term projects get done when they need to, and not in a crisis. In summary, a Master Plan is a long-term plan to optimize services while minimizing costs.