The United States Department of the Interior (Department), Bureau of Reclamation’s (Reclamation) Desalination and Water Purification Research Program (DWPR) works with Reclamation researchers and partners to develop innovative, cost-effective, and technologically efficient ways to desalinate and treat water.
Donor Name: Bureau of Reclamation
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 06/20/2023
Size of the Grant: $300,000
Grant Duration: 18 months
Details:
DWPR funding plays a critical role in iterating an idea from the lab to a real-world demonstration, yielding products that serve the water treatment community and attract commercialization interest. Reclamation is interested in research where the benefits are widespread but where private-sector entities are not able to make the full investment and assume all the risks. Reclamation is also interested in research that has a national significance—where the issues are of large-scale concern and the benefits accrue to a large sector of the public.
Goal
The goal of the DWPR program is to address the need to reduce the costs, energy requirements, and environmental impacts of treating impaired and unusable water. DWPR program activities further support multiple related initiatives related to the Water Subcabinet such as the Water Reuse Action Plan and Water Security Grand Challenge. The program also aligns with Executive Order 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” by investing in development and application of advanced water treatment technologies that expand access to otherwise unusable water resources, thereby increasing water supply flexibility under the risks of long-term climate change and shorter-term drought.
Purpose and Objectives
This NOFO’s objective are to develop innovative and disruptive new technologies or processes to:
- Reduce the costs, energy requirements, and/or environmental impacts of treating impaired and unusable water to standards necessary for an identified beneficial use.
- Improve efficiency of water treatment processes—either by improvements to pretreatment, post-treatment, monitoring, sensors, or other innovative process/technology.
- Increase effectiveness of reverse osmosis/nanofiltration concentrate management by reducing cost, energy, and/or environmental impacts.
- Treat brackish groundwater in a less energy-intensive way than current processes and technologies.
- Address costs, energy usage, and/or environmental impacts of seawater desalination, including intakes and/or outfalls
- Improve the detection, characterization, monitoring, separation, or destruction of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and other contaminants of concern.
Types of Award
Project awards will be made through cooperative agreements. Under cooperative agreements, the successful applicant should expect Reclamation to have substantial involvement in the project:
- Collaboration and participation with the successful applicant in the management of the project and close oversight of the successful applicant’s activities to ensure that the program objectives are being achieved.
- Oversight may include review, input, and approval at key interim stages of the project.
Funding Information
- Approximately $2,000,000 is available for this NOFO.
- Maximum Award: $300,000
Grant Period
- Anticipated Award Date: 03/29/24
- Anticipated Project Completion Date: September 30, 2025
Eligible Projects
- Eligible projects are innovative pilot-scale technologies or processes tested at flow rates above one gallon per minute using natural water sources (rather than synthetic or laboratory-made feed water). Innovative is defined herein as an approach, process, and/or technology that is not being implemented at full scale in the United States but shows promise for scaled-up implementation in the field of water treatment. This pilot testing is typically used to determine the technical, practical, and/or economic feasibility of a process or technology.
- Proposed projects will be reviewed by the Program Office to determine whether the application is eligible for evaluation.
Eligibility Criteria
- Private institutions of higher education
- County governments
- State governments
- For profit organizations other than small businesses
- Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
- City or township governments
- Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Special district governments
- Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
- Small businesses
- Individuals
- Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
Program Requirements
- The funds provided through this NOFO will be available for selected recipients to design, construct, install, and test a pilot-scale process at an already known location using a real water source. Reclamation’s Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility (BGNDRF) in Alamogordo, New Mexico, and Water Quality Improvement Center (WQIC) in Yuma, Arizona, may be available if a location for testing is needed.
- Applications for projects requiring more time will be considered for funding only under limited circumstances. Reasons for requiring additional time should be included in the application.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
