The Los Angeles Integrated Resources Plan Implementation Strategy: An Innovative Demonstration of Adaptability and Flexibility

The Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) process applied by the City of Los Angeles (City) offers a vehicle for a public agency to achieve its mission while making the maximum use of limited resources to address water quality and quantity issues in a sustainable, realistic, transparent, public forum. Developing an integrated plan for the wastewater, runoff management and recycled water systems provided opportunities for innovative projects that meet multiple objectives.When fully implemented, the IRP recommendations include over $5 billion in capital projects over the next 20+ years. By developing an implementation strategy based on monitored triggers, priority "Go Projects" were identified (approx $663 million), staged "Go-If-Triggered Projects" were selected (additional $1.2 billion) and "Go Policy Actions" were described that will allow further investigation and progress on the remaining projects. This staging of projects allows the City to focus resources and expenditures on the immediate projects, while continuing to invest in activities that will provide progress on the other innovative program areas.The objective of the IRP implementation strategy was to develop a staged approach for completing the IRP based on monitored triggers. This staging of projects enables the City to target the most critical, immediate needs now, to assure health and environmental protection, while assuring that public monies are conserved for the highest priorities. Including an implementation strategy that is dependent on such monitored triggers fosters flexibility, saving of resources (staff, time and budget), and allows time to for the City to continue to build partnerships and seek funding partners.The City's future depends on its ability to provide critical services, staged to keep pace with evolving population, regulations, economic drivers and environmental needs. This paper focuses on this innovative strategy and the benefits of an adaptive, flexible approach to CIP implementation.