What is an Alternatives Analysis?

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Jul 3, 2014/ 0 Comments / in Permitting Updates, Project Details / by
What is an Alternatives Analysis?

An Alternatives Analysis is a process that defines a series of scenarios or options that could solve an issue. Government and business alike use alternatives analyses to help identify how to best solve a problem.

Most alternatives analysis use stringent evaluation criteria to determine which option (or “alternative”) would best solve the issue. East Valley Water District is using the following criteria to evaluate their alternatives for securing a water supply for the District:

  • Adequacy: The selected alternative must ensure and adequate source of irrigation water to supply the current and future water demands of the District membership.
  • Reliability: The selected alternative must be sufficiently reliable to eliminate unnecessary risk of loss or damage to the District’s water supply.
  • Acceptability: The selected alternative must be acceptable to the District’s membership. Acceptability includes, but is not limited to, perceived health risks, associated water quality of a source, and avoidance of excessive adverse environmental impacts. Without the support of the District membership, an alternative is not viable because it would not be built and another alternative would be selected.
  • Affordability: The selected alternative must be affordable for the District membership in difficult economic times.
  • Permitability: The selected alternative must avoid environmental impacts if possible, minimize impacts where avoidance is not possible, and mitigate any environmental impacts through careful planning and design.

East Valley Water District has investigated, and is still investigating, several alternatives for securing a water supply. During the permitting process, the District is documenting all alternatives and the evaluation process.

As the District moves forward with the alternatives evaluation and analysis, details of each alternative will be posted on this blog.General descriptions of the alternatives analysis can be found here.

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