Comprehensive Approach to Facility Planning in San Diego County

The San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) Water Resources Department has undertaken a number of planning studies involving the SDCWA system pipelines and facilities to further define priority projects for their Capital Improvement Program. The objective of the studies is to assure that specific project goals can be fulfilled by evaluating alternatives in a comprehensive manner at the feasibility level. The planning effort entails creating realistic conceptual level layouts, cost estimates, and schedules for development within the next phases of the project. Internal stakeholders are included in the process in order to address the interests of various SDCWA departments. The first planning study that utilized the comprehensive alternatives approach was the Lake Murray Control Valve (LMCV) study, a project that determined the preferred location and configuration for a new flow control facility. Using the comprehensive approach, it was found that environmental and permitting schedule impacts, coupled with operational hydraulic transient issues, controlled the selection of a recommended alternative.