AWWA M29:1998 pdf download.Water Utility Capital Financing
One of the most common characteristics used to measure strategic planning achievements is a utility's ability to implement its adopted CIP. A utility develops a schedule for completion of CIP projects based on its goals, and the schedule becomes a fundamental part of the utility's action plan. Figure 1-4 shows a sample CIP schedule of project priorities resulting from a utility's strategic planning process. An adopted CIP has a schedule and budgeted cost based on management estimates, as detailed in later sections of this chapter. The strategic plan provides management with basic guidance for determining when each CIP project will be implemented and how much of the utility's resources can be allocated toward completion of projects at any given time. Success in meeting strategic planning goals can be measured by comparing the budgeted CIP to actual work conducted during a period of time.
Ideally, the CIP will be completed on schedule, demonstrating management's ability to achieve its stated goals. However, there are numerous reasons a CIP schedule might not be met; these causes should be identified and evaluated. If schedule slippage is within management's control, management can take action to correct this problem in the future during strategic planning efforts. If the schedule has slipped because assumptions used in developing the strategic plan have changed, the action plans (usually the utility master plan) may need reevaluation and change. Regardless of the reason for falling behind the CIP schedule, the utility needs to adjust its CIP to reflect its implementation capabilities and changes in its allocation of resources.
A fundamental consideration in determining a utility's future capital requirement (CIP) is the population growth of the area the utility serves. This information is essential to prepare demand estimates for a master plan and a CIP. Because obtaining creditable population forecast numbers can be diffcult, management generally relies on a review of historical service area growth patterns as a guide for planning future capital requirements. Historical billing information for a 5- to 10-year period may be readily accessible and may provide a reasonable basis of growth trends from which to project the number of customers in each class of service. A comparison of census population figures with customer accounts may provide a reasonable correlation from which to equate population with future numbers of customers.AWWA M29 pdf download.