Throughout its brief history, municipal master planning and construction administration has left an interesting legacy. It has been lauded as a crucial element in successfully plotting growth, but others have labeled it a costly and time-consuming effort resulting in construction of unnecessary relief and interceptor sewers. One thing is certain, planning is a crucial tool needed to remove the element of unpleasant surprise from collection system management.

True, many master plans do fail. But Wade & Associates believes the answer lies not in doing away with them, but in discovering WHY they were unsuccessful. Using reliable flow monitoring data and accurate analysis techniques can mean the difference between a master plan's success or failure.

Ineffective master plans usually result from "desktop" studies that do not consider the wastewater flow characteristics of the existing system. By collecting good data, cities can see an accurate picture of collection system performance and what effect future construction and population growth will have on it as well.

So, with the help of an accurate Hydraulic Model, preparing a master plan can be as easy as entering future land use information and designating the location that future flow will be introduced.

When Blue Springs, Missouri, began receiving complaints about private property damage from surcharges, City officials embarked on a wastewater collection system improvement program. With the master plan Wade & Associates helped create, Blue Springs staff can now project the collection system's capacity to meet the sewer capacity demands of their rapidly growing community.