Achieving Balanced Sustainable Benefits in Pipeline Conveyance Projects

Balance is necessary to make pipeline projects successful while addressing important sustainability issues. Equipoise among economic, social, and environmental needs must be achieved to realize optimal Triple Bottom Line benefits. Even with effective efficiency and conservation efforts in place, communities' requirements for sustainable and high quality water supplies continue to grow in response to population growth, climate change, etc. This demand has led to a growing need for conveyance projects. These important projects help to satisfy economic, social, and environmental needs in the communities they serve and to harden their water supplies against drought, climate change, etc. However, these projects must carefully satisfy these needs in the face of other competing interests. This balance is possible through careful and pertinent planning, design, and communication that address resource utilization, conservation, and efficiency; environmental impacts; economic considerations; and social needs while meeting expectations of the vast stakeholder interests that are invested in the areas where pipelines pass and from where they draw their resources. Structured decision-making approaches and tools can optimize these efforts.