It may be an old adage, but it is sound advice: plan the work, work the plan.

Planning helps us prepare for the future, anticipate challenges and set goals to guide our efforts. This is true for businesses, not-for-profit organizations and individuals. It is no less true for rural and regional water systems. Planning is just good practice. Water systems need to plan in order to understand the issues facing their systems.

Planning in this context can include several distinct activities: strategic planning, short range development planning and long range development planning.

Strategic planning for many systems includes upfront research followed by a management retreat to hash out the details. Many systems employ the services of a facilitator or consultant to guide them through the process. This can make the process move more quickly and smoothly than working without a professional. Although there are lots of variations, strategic planning typically begins with a SWOT analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the system. Strengths and weaknesses are internal. Systems identify internal strengths and weaknesses to understand what they are doing well and what might need improvement moving forward. Opportunities and threats are external. It is important to identify not only what may be beneficial to the system, but what could harm it as well.

At the most basic level, strategic planning results in a vision statement, which lays out an ideal state the system is to achieve. A mission statement provides high level details to support the vision. A systems vision statement, for example, might be to create and maintain the means to provide safe, affordable drinking water to its customers. Its mission statement might go on to state that the system will do whatever is necessary to evaluate and maintain the system cost-effectively to be in compliance with all appropriate federal and state regulations.

The next step in the process is to identify goals, objectives, strategies and tactics needed to achieve the mission. This is where the proverbial rubber meets the road. Based on the vision and mission statements, plus the detailed SWOT analysis, measurable goals and objectives are put in place, strategized, and specific tactics or action steps planned to achieve those goals and objectives. Ideally, responsible parties are assigned to each tactic and firm deadlines are established.

Development planning, whether long or short range, is designed to identify needs and project resources into the future. Long range planning typically looks at a 10-20 year horizon, while short range planning is more immediate. The first step in preparing a development plan of any kind is to make predictions or assumptions on where and how much growth will occur within the system.  Once growth projections have been established, then the three major components (supply, storage, and distribution) of the systems infrastructure can be assessed to determine any deficiencies caused by the growth.  For example, a system may have plans to construct an 8-inch line in a certain area to serve a new subdivision.  However, due to projected growth areas around this subdivision that were identified in the development plan, the system decides to plan for and construct a 12-inch line.                

 Thoughtful planning helps systems with financial planning, capital improvement program development, and rate adjustments. For example, some systems use their long range plan to prepare for projected growth needs by utilizing rate adjustments to set aside funds for future improvements. Planning can also help a system structure its debt, deciding whether convention structure with its consistent payments is preferable to a balloon payment financing, where future growth funds needed improvements.

Savvy systems plan for the future.