AWWA JTMGT61345

Columbus Water Works (CWW) is a combined water and wastewater utility serving more than 186,000 residents in southwestern Georgia. CWW has a history of effectively planning for its future, and has recently completed a comprehensive update of its strategic plan and facility master plans. Efforts tied to the strategic plan update have included a number of important areas such as information technology, asset management, biosolids, and security improvements. A vital aspect was the use of the Scan-Plan-Do framework for strategic planning developed as part of an American Water Works Association Research Foundation (AwwRF) project. The Scan Phase (information gathering) depicted by the framework involved obtaining up-to-date input from a wide range of sources including stakeholders and customers. But rather than just rely on traditional surveys, CWW also wanted to pursue direct contact with residential customers, commercial/industrial customers, and developers as well as stakeholder decision makers and influencers active in the community. The process of obtaining this input, as well as the results, is presented in this paper. Includes reference, figure.