Desalination and Water Purification Research Program: Research Projects FY25

The funds provided through this NOFO will be available for selected recipients to conduct water treatment related research. 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. This DWPR Research NOFO invites applicants to address any of the following objectives: Develop or improve process or approaches to reduce the cost, energy consumption, feasibility, and/or environmental impacts of treating impaired water to standards necessary for an identified beneficial useImprove existing membrane technologies, including reverse osmosis, electrodialysis, nanofiltration, membrane filtration, and pretreatment processesCarry out basic and applied research on next-generation desalination technologies, including improved energy recovery systems and renewable energy-powered desalination systemsDevelop cost-effective approaches for concentrate management that address feasibility, cost, and/or environmental impactsDevelop technologies or processes for the selective removal of nutrients and other target contaminantsStudy methods for the recovery of byproducts resulting from desalination to offset the costs of treatment and to reduce environmental impacts from those byproductsDevelop improved intake/outfall methods at coastal facilities to minimize marine environment impacts such as impingement of larger organisms, entrainment of smaller ones, and impacts to benthic communitiesDevelop a better understanding of pathogen removal efficiencies and the variability of performance in various unit processes in reuse scenariosIdentify better indicators and surrogates to monitor process performance in desalination and reuse scenarios and develop online real-time or near real-time analytical monitoring techniques for their measurementDevelop a better understanding of the formation of hazardous and other transformation products during water treatment for reuse and ways to minimize or remove themImprove the detection, characterization, monitoring, and separation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and other contaminants of concernDevelop new technologies or processes for the destruction of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and other contaminants of concern