Desalination and Water Purification Research and Development (DWPR)

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The U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), is currently requesting applications for projects to be funded by the Desalination and Water Purification Research and Development Program (DWPR). The research program follows the recommendations of the National Research Council’s prepublication copy, Desalination: A National Perspective, April 2008. Through this program, Reclamation is forming partnerships with private industry, universities, water utilities, and others to address a broad range of desalting and water purification needs. Reclamation is particularly interested in research where the benefits are widespread but where no private-sector entities are willing to make the investment and assume the risks. Reclamation is also interested in research that would have a national significance – where the issues are of large-scale concern; they are more than locally, state, or regionally specific; and the benefits accrue to a large swath of the public. The authorizing legislation for this program is the Water Desalination Act of 1996, P.L.104-298, as amended, and the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act of 1992, P.L. 102-575, Title XVI, as amended, Sect. 1605, codified in 43 USC Sec 390h-3). The program has three major 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, and (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.

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