A living process - Integrated and adaptive bulk water reconcilation planning

The paper will by way of an example discuss an integrated planning approach, as implemented for various regional bulk water supply systems in South Africa. This approach provides an innovative adaptive management decision-support framework to ensure water security and timeous decisionmaking. This approach can assist in the management of water supply systems in a co-ordinated and environmentally sound fashion, with community consultation being a key component. The development of appropriate scenarios will be discussed, thereby enabling water authorities to effectively achieve the desired strategic planning outcomes and to efficiently adapt their provision of services and their operations to best meet the challenges of an uncertain future. Water Authorities can use the developed scenarios to inform their future planning activities and then utilise these as a basis to conduct a full review of their strategic and infrastructure plans. Scenario planning will ensure that water authorities are best positioned to respond strategically to emerging trends and are able to continue to provide the appropriate level of services to their customers at an affordable cost. The use of the interactive Reconciliation Planning Support Tool to aid the integrated Scenario Planning Process and to meet future water resource analysis needs will be illustrated.