Incorporating Sustainability into Decision Making – Case Studies that Explore Relevance and Effectiveness

As sustainable thinking takes an even deeper root within the water and wastewater industry, everyone is working hard to understand how its principles might apply to their organization, plant operations, and planning for the future water world. Utilities have been attempting to merge the ideal (broad sustainable principles) with reality (day-to-day operation, maintenance, and upgrades) as they incorporate sustainability into their decision-making processes for project selection and implementation. Several utilities throughout the U.S. are implementing sustainable decision-making strategies for both planning as well as design and construction in order to establish a long-term vision for the environment and society. A selection of these utilities are highlighted in this ongoing study to show the direction the industry is heading in terms of sustainable strategies, benchmarks considered and measured, as well as use or in-house development of any decision support tools.