Cascade is an active member of the Water Supply Forum, a voluntary organization comprised of representatives from public water systems and local governments from King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. Members of the Forum recognize the need for collaborative efforts to address the region's municipal water needs for both the growing population as well as other water uses.
The 2001 Central Puget Sound Water Supply Outlook documented a multi-year effort by the Forum to assess the state of municipal water supply and document available information on aquatic habitat instream flow needs in the three-county region (King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties).
Building off of the success of the 2001 Outlook, the Forum embarked on another multi-year effort to develop the 2009 Regional Water Supply Outlook. The key findings of the 2009 Outlook are:
1. Adequate Existing Water Supply: Existing water supplies in the region are adequate to meet projected water demands through 2050 under all planning scenarios evaluated. In some scenarios, such as the baseline scenario or the low demographic scenario, existing supplies could meet projected water demands through or well beyond 2060. However, localized water shortages may exist due to a lack of infrastructure to move water from places that have more supply than needed through the planning period to locations that would have short-falls during the same period. (This computation does not include the Lake Tapps Project currently under development by the Cascade Water Alliance)
2. Shortages Possible Beyond 2050 Under Certain Conditions: Beyond 2050, there may be shortages in existing water supply if demographic growth projections are significantly greater than baseline demographic forecasts and/or if climate change materializes as forecasted without adaptive management of supply resources. The maximum water supply shortage could be as much as 100 million gallons per day in 2060 if no supply improvements are constructed or no new supplies are brought on-line.
3. Many New Supplies Identified: Over 400 million gallons per day from new water supply and conservation projects have been identified in this 2009 Outlook, more than four times what is needed—even under the warmest climate change scenario. A multi-criteria evaluation method was developed for the 2009 Outlook that can be used by decision-makers in the region to compare the many new supplies using a consistent and transparent approach.
4. Adequate Time Available to Make Decisions: There is adequate time to make decisions on large water supply projects because existing water supplies are sufficient to meet regional needs at least until 2050.
The Forum believes that efforts like the Outlook are important tools for regional water supply planning. The Advisory Committee stakeholders participating in the 2009 Outlook recommendations include:
• Continued involvement of regional stakeholders in future Outlook updates
• Utilize existing analysis and models
• Work with utilities to improve data collection
• Continue to improve understanding of potential climate change impacts
• Review and update the Outlook as necessary
Additional information on the Forum's 2009 Outlook process is available at www.watersupplyforum.org.
