Funding opportunity offered for 2019 Desalination and Water Purification Research Program

Washington, D.C. — The Bureau of Reclamation is making the 2019 funding opportunity for the Desalination and Water Purification Research (DWPR) Program. The funding opportunity is available for private industry, universities, water utilities and other research sponsors to submit proposals to cost-share laboratory-scale and pilot-scale projects that address DWPR goals and objectives.

To view this funding opportunity, visit www.grants.gov and search for funding opportunity number BOR-DO-19-F001. Applicants for desalination and water purification research projects funding must submit their proposals by 4:00 p.m. MST on Thursday, December 13, 2018.

The goal of the DWPR Program is to increase water supplies by reducing cost, energy consumption and environmental impacts of treating impaired and otherwise unusable waters. Reclamation is interested in research where the benefits are widespread and where research has a national significance — where the issue are of large-scale concern and the benefits accrue to a large sector of the public.

Funding is available, subject to appropriations, in two areas, Laboratory and Pilot Scale projects.

Laboratory scale projects are typically bench scale studies involving small flow rates. They are used to determine the viability of a novel process, new materials or process modifications. Federal funding is limited to no more than $150,000.

Pilot scale projects test a novel process at a sufficiently large scale to determine the technical, practical and economic viability of the process and are generally preceded by laboratory studies that demonstrate they technology works. Federal funding is limited to no more than $400,000 per proposal, up to $200,000 will be available in the first year and up to $200,000 for an optional second year for finalizing testing, justified modifications and evaluation.

Individuals, institutions of higher education, commercial and industrial organizations, private entities, State and local governments, federally funded research and development centers, Tribal governments and organizations, United States-Mexico binational research foundations and inter-university research programs, and non-profit organizations are eligible to apply. For institutions of higher education and for United States-Mexico binational research foundations and inter-university research programs, non-Federal cost share is not required but highly encouraged. All other applicants must provide at least 75 percent non-Federal cost share.

The DWPR program is supporting the Department of the Interior’s priorities, including: creating a conservation stewardship legacy second only to Teddy Roosevelt, utilizing our natural resources, and restoring trust with local communities, among others. To learn more about Reclamation’s Desalination and Water Purification Research Program, visit www.usbr.gov/research/dwpr.