Water Supply Planning Within the Region

Water System Plans

In addition to the regional water supply planning included in the 2009 Regional Water Supply Outlook, individual utilities are required to develop comprehensive water system plans for their water systems. The plans, commonly called Comprehensive Water Plans or Water System Plans are required to address a 20-year planning period, with emphasis on the initial 6-year period. The Washington State Department of Health Drinking Water Program has established the planning requirements. Links to water system plans within the region that are available online are below.

City of Everett - 2007 Comprehensive Water Plan

City of Seattle - 2007 Water System Plan

City of Tacoma - 2007 Comprehensive Water Plan

Cascade Water Alliance - Water Supply Planning

Coordinated Water System Plans

Another level of planning established in Washington law is Coordinated Water System Planning under the Water System Coordination Act, (Act) RCW 70.116. The Act was enacted to:

To provide for the establishment of critical water supply service areas related to water utility planning and development;
To provide for the development of minimum planning and design standards for critical water supply service areas to insure that water systems developed in these areas are consistent with regional needs;
To assist in the orderly and efficient administration of state financial assistance programs for public water systems; and
To assist public water systems to meet reasonable standards of quality, quantity and pressure.

Several Coordinated Water System Plans have been developed in the Water Supply Forum planning area. The following plans are available for download.

East King County Coordinated Water System Plan - 1989 Volume 1

East King County Coordinated Water System Plan - 1989 Volume 2

East King County Coordinated Water System Plan - 1996

South King County Coordinated Water System Plan - 1989

Skyway Coordinated Water System Plan - 1988

Skyway Coordinated Water System Plan - 1999

Vashon Coordinated Water System Plan - 1990

Pierce County Coordinated Water System Plan - 2001

Consolidated Report on Water Supply in King County

The Consolidated Report on Water Supply in King County was prepared for Seattle Public Utilities in 2002 to summarize the municipal water needs in King County. The report was a based on the needs reported by individual water systems, consequently the forecasting techniques used were not uniform across King County.

Although the Consolidated Report has been superseded by the 2009 Regional Water Supply Outlook; it is available for download.