Bureau Of Reclamation Awards $3.62M For Desalination And Water Purification Research In 13 States

Washington, D.C (PRWEB) - Bureau of Reclamation Acting Commissioner Alan Mikkelsen announced today that Reclamation will provide $3.62 million to conduct laboratory and pilot-scale desalination and water purification research in 13 states.

Sixteen laboratory projects, four new pilot-scale projects and one continuing pilot-scale project were selected. The $3.62 million in federal funding is being matched by $3.52 million in non-federal funds.

"Desalination and water treatment provide a potential new source of water for communities throughout the West," Mikkelsen said. "The research funding provided today will enable new technologies to be studied to see if they can help improve the treatment of water."

The Desalination and Water Purification Research Program is helping Reclamation and its partners confront widening imbalances between supply and demand in basins throughout the Western United States through testing and development of new advanced water treatment technologies.

The DWPR Program focuses on three main goals: (1) augment the supply of usable water in the United States; (2) understand the environmental impacts of desalination and develop approaches to minimize these impacts relative to other water supply alternatives; (3) develop approaches to lower the financial costs of desalination so that it is an attractive option relative to other alternatives in locations where traditional sources of water are inadequate.

The laboratory projects in the following list are bench-scale studies that are completed within one year. Pilot-scale studies are bigger and are completed within two years. For more complete descriptions of the projects, see https://www.usbr.gov/research/dwpr/.

Laboratory-Scale Projects

California
Orange County Water District; Reclamation Funding: $149,894, non-federal Funding: $539,747

Connecticut
Yale University; Reclamation Funding: $150,000, non-federal Funding: $39,236

University of Connecticut; Reclamation Funding: $149,965, non-federal Funding: $16,560

Florida
University of South Florida; Reclamation Funding: $150,000, non-federal Funding: $0

Kansas
University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc.; Reclamation Funding: $54,802, non-federal Funding: $54,802

Massachusetts
Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Reclamation Funding: $150,000, non-federal Funding: $0

Northeastern University; Reclamation Funding: $150,000, non-federal Funding: $5,000

Nebraska
University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Reclamation Funding: $147,217, non-federal Funding: $0

New Mexico
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology; Reclamation Funding: $148,704, non-federal Funding: $73,242

New York
Research Foundation for the State University of New York; Reclamation Funding: $150,000,
non-federal Funding: $37,503

North Carolina
University of North Carolina; Reclamation Funding: $144,438, non-federal Funding: $0

Oklahoma
University of Tulsa; Reclamation Funding: $144,396, non-federal Funding: $0

Pennsylvania
Saint Francis University; Reclamation Funding: $133,519, non-federal Funding: $0

GreenBlu, LLC; Reclamation Funding: $149,994, non-federal Funding: $149,998

Texas
Texas Tech University; Reclamation Funding: $144,696, non-federal Funding: $0

Wyoming
University of Wyoming; Reclamation Funding: $148,880, non-federal Funding: $0

Pilot-Scale Testing

California
Orange County Water District; Reclamation Funding: $249,966, non-federal Funding: $766,682

Regents of the University of California, Los Angeles; Reclamation Funding: $299,062,
non-federal Funding: $300,000

Massachusetts
Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Reclamation Funding: $199,000;
non-federal Funding: $200,000

New Mexico
Regents of New Mexico State University; Reclamation Funding: $399,292;
non-federal Funding: $399,292

Second- Year Continuing Pilot Scale Project from fiscal year 2016

California
Eastern Municipal Water District; Reclamation Funding: $200,000; non-federal funding: $1,876,688