The Bureau of Reclamation is providing $5.6 million in financial assistance to 15 projects to improve the technology used to treat unusable waters like seawater, brackish groundwater and municipal wastewater.
The projects are funded through Reclamation's Desalination and Water Purification Research Program, which plays a critical role in taking an idea from the lab through to a real-world demonstration that can both attract industry commercialization and provide the water treatment community practical benefits.
"There are technologies that show the potential to provide Western communities a new source of water," said Acting Commissioner David Palumbo. "Reclamation is supporting the study and development of these new technologies to make more water available for use."
The 15 projects that were selected include 11 projects to test submitted ideas in a laboratory and four projects to test concepts in a real-world environment.
Laboratory Projects
- Colorado School of Mines (Colorado) - $249,818
- Kennedy/Jenks Consultants, Inc. (California) - $250,00
- New Jersey Institute of Technology (New Jersey) - $250,000
- New Mexico State University (New Mexico) - $250,000
- Texas Tech University (Texas) - $249,999
- University of Alabama (Alabama) - $250,000
- University of Colorado (Colorado) - $250,000
- University of Michigan (Michigan) - $250,000
- University of Utah (Utah) - $249,989
Pilot-Scale Projects
- Carollo Engineers, Inc. (California) - $641,900
- Colorado School of Mines (Colorado) - $800,000
- Encina Wastewater Authority (California) - $800,000
- Project 7 Water Authority (Colorado) - $612,059
Schools of higher education do not need to provide a non-federal cost-share, though it is encouraged. However, all other projects must provide at least 50-percent cost-share of the total cost of the project. The selected projects match the federal funds with $5.5 million of non-federal funds.
The Desalination and Water Purification Research program support President Biden's Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. The program seeks to invest in developing advanced water treatment technologies to expand access to otherwise unusable water resources.
