A Decision Support System for Water Supply Costing

by Pegeen Hanrahan-Sterling, Univ of Florida, Gainesville, United States,
James P. Heaney, Univ of Florida, Gainesville, United States,
Kenneth Watson, Univ of Florida, Gainesville, United States,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Water Resources Planning and Management and Urban Water Resources

Abstract:

Accurate cost estimates for water supply system expansions are an important component of the planning process. A spreadsheet-based cost estimating model called SWFCOST was developed as part of the water supply planning effort of the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD). SWFCOST was designed to permit the user to evaluate and adjust the underlying assumptions used in the costing procedure. Using the output from SWFCOST, a methodology was developed to enable the user to compare the model results with other sources of cost information. A weighted least squares curve fitting procedure is combined with user-controlled techniques in order to obtain the 'best' cost estimate on a case by case basis. The result of this analysis is a decision support system (DSS) that permits the user to evaluate the model and a supporting database in any level of detail. Example applications are included.

Subject Headings: Water supply systems | Benefit cost ratios | Water supply | Water management | Decision support systems | Computer programming | Computer models | Florida | United States

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