Multiple Funding Options
The Water Research Foundation’s comprehensive One Water research approach includes five research programs designed to provide flexible funding and partnership opportunities. Learn more about these programs.
Respond to an RFP
Each Request for Proposal (RFP) outlines specific application requirements; submit your proposal following the guidance included in the RFP. Be sure to note deadlines as proposals submitted after the deadline will not be accepted.
Note: you will receive a confirmation email after you submit your proposal. Check your spam folder if it is not received. Retain that confirmation email as it contains a link back to your proposal.
Respond to a Call for Pre-proposals
Two of our research programs follow a two-stage process beginning with a call for pre-proposals.
The Tailored Collaboration Program call for pre-proposals is now open for submission.
The next Unsolicited Research Program call for pre-proposals will open in 2026.
Open RFPs
5287
Method Refinement and Standardization for Microplastics Sample Collection and Analysis
Deadline
11/14/2024 – 3:00 pm
Mountain
Project Objectives
- Identify rigorously evaluated sample collection and analysis methodology, including QA/QC protocols, for source water, finished water, wastewater, and solids matrices that supports reliability and consistency of collected data and allows for meaningful data interpretation and policy implementation.
- Evaluate the suitability of surrogate methods to provide more rapid and cost-effective measures of microplastic occurrence.
5292
Pipeline Infrastructure Replacement Costs Guide
Deadline
11/14/2024 – 3:00 pm
Mountain
Project Objectives
- To provide the water community with reliable cost data that can be used to evaluate different technologies, different project alternatives, and set initial project budgets.
- To present the information in a readily understood format that can be adjusted for regional cost differences and inflation.
5297
Implementing a Smart Sewer System to Optimize Capacity to Reduce Surface Flooding and Sewer Overflows
Deadline
11/14/2024 – 3:00 pm
Mountain
Project Objectives
- Establish a methodology to assess and optimize the use of existing storage and conveyance elements within the system.
- Provide a utility-facing guidance on:
a. Best practices for identifying problem areas in the system.
b. Recommendations on the location and type of sensors required, data communication strategies, and physical infrastructure/assets based on drainage area.
c. Recommendations on the type of data and information collected (e.g., depth, velocity, rain gauge, weather radar).
d. Identifying the areas where the flow can be diverted to in a gravity-fed system and where to avoid.
e. Controlling Infiltration and Inflow (I/I) into systems through alternative stormwater management practices and discharges/contributions to sanitary sewer.
f. Determining the minimum requirements when selecting a Real-Time Control (RTC) logic and SCADA integration for stormwater and wastewater management.
5299
Assessment of Corrosion Control Treatment (CCT) Pipe Rig Study Data Compared to Distribution System Lead Levels
Deadline
11/14/2024 – 3:00 pm
Mountain
Project Objectives
- Assess the degree to which data generated from pipe rig studies represent full-scale distribution system conditions.
- Identify potential variables contributing and not contributing to significant disparities between pipe rig and system results compared to systems where pipe rig and full-scale results are similar.
- Provide guidance on interpreting and applying pipe rig study results to full-scale system implementation, considering their implications for costly and potentially permanent corrosion control treatment (CCT) decisions.
- Provide context for management, regulator, and public expectations of the results for recommended changes in treatment.
5302
Understanding the Practices, Policies and Impacts of System Development Fees and Upgrade Requirements
Deadline
11/14/2024 – 3:00 pm
Mountain
Project Objectives
- Conduct a representative sample of system development fees under different utility ownership and governance structures (i.e. municipal utility vs. private utility, water vs. sanitary vs. storm).
- Outline which states have state-enabling legislation that dictates what they can do with system development fees.
- Investigate the different system development fee methodologies utilized by utilities and their impact on their existing ratepayers and new customer base.
- Evaluate the pros/cons of different methods of collecting funds from developers.
- Evaluate the differences in pay-as-you-go approaches vs. depreciation accounting and ratemaking practices (terminology differences, tax implications, etc.) and how this impacts the magnitude of development fees collected and practices used in the community to validate that the funds collected are used for growth related assets.
5308
Assessing Changing Salinity in Water Sources
Deadline
11/14/2024 – 3:00 pm
Mountain
Project Objectives
- Conduct a regional assessment of salinity impacts to drinking water sources, treatment processes (e.g., high versus low pressure membranes), and water reuse applications to produce a One Water categorical overview of risk types.
- Provide a review of current real-time measurement parameters, research, and assessments by national and international organizations (e.g., United States Geological Survey (USGS)) as well as river commissions and regional working groups (e.g., Delaware River Basin Commission, South Platte Salinity Stakeholder Group, Southern California Salinity Coalition, Adirondack Road Salt Reduction Task Force, etc.) based on the risk types identified in the objective above, including utility-specific case studies and investigations.
- Understand the sources of salinity and their relative contributions to drinking water sources via case study investigations or modeling.
- Develop communication materials for use by the water sector to educate the public—including customers, staff, and other community stakeholders—about the risks of increased salinity and efforts recommended to reduce the problem.
5288
Tradeoffs Between Process Optimization, Greenhouse Gas Mitigation, and Energy Efficiency
Deadline
11/14/2024 – 3:00 pm
Mountain
Project Objectives
- Develop a framework for integrated evaluation of the benefits (e.g., reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and enhancement of energy efficiency) and costs (e.g., capital expenditure (CAPEX), operating expenditure (OPEX), social cost of GHG emissions, and operational complexity) that wastewater and water utilities can apply at a unit operations and systems level.
- Provide a harmonized benchmarking framework to assess the value of existing treatment systems within the current regulatory construct and framework. This objective recognizes that the future frameworks for evaluation may be different, due primarily to non-stationarity in the systems from climate impacts.
- Offer recommendations for reducing GHG emissions through the utilization of energy-efficient technologies, process optimization, and/or implementation of new treatment processes.
5295
Balancing Human and Natural Assets in a One-Water, Integrated Water Resource Management Framework
Deadline
11/14/2024 – 3:00 pm
Mountain
Project Objectives
- Review and develop watershed condition metrics and assessment protocols for human and natural asset structures and functions that best describe watershed health and benefits in a social-ecological system context.
- Evaluate the potential for landscape conservation, recovery, and mitigation management strategies to maintain and improve watershed condition and achieve aquatic ecosystem health targets along a disturbance gradient.
- Build an Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) and Natural and Nature-Based (NNB) decision-support framework for setting watershed condition goals and targets along a gradient that are consistent with user-defined designated use and ecosystem health goals that support desired social-ecological outcomes.
- Apply and test the decision-support framework or associated non-monetary social-ecological models to quantitatively connect watershed condition management actions to desired water quality targets and aquatic ecosystem health outcomes.
- Use case studies or hypothetical management application scenarios to scope watershed landscape conservation and recovery practices with consideration of both riparian buffers and upland watershed areas assessment and management potential to meet WRF user-defined objectives with consideration of changing landscape and climate drivers.
5298
Benchmarking Microbial and Chemical Contamination in Source Water Using Hyperspectral Microscopy
Deadline
11/14/2024 – 3:00 pm
Mountain
Project Objectives
- Develop a state of the science for hyperspectral imaging and highlight its applicability to the municipal One Water sector.
- Assess the sensitivity and accuracy of hyperspectral microscopy to detect microbial pathogens in a variety of impacted source water types (i.e., water, wastewater, reclaimed water, and stormwater) and water quality types (e.g., ranges of hardness, TOC, and alkalinity), and assess the minimum required quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) needed to use the data for monitoring purposes. Pathogens should include but are not limited to Cryptosporidium, Giardia, and E. coli.
- Assess data cleaning, noise reduction, unmixing, and anomaly detection practices needed to refine the database produced.
- Assess the applicability of machine learning to predict microbial species based on hyperspectral imaging.
- Investigate if hyperspectral microscopy can detect chemicals and/or particles (i.e., microplastics, nanoplastics, and nanoparticles) in source water.
5301
Integrating Requirements, Drivers, and Technologies for Enhanced Distribution System Water Quality Monitoring
Deadline
11/14/2024 – 3:00 pm
Mountain
Project Objectives
- Evaluate existing distribution system water quality monitoring programs designed for different purposes to identify opportunities for integration for future improvements in efficiency and effectiveness.
- Develop comprehensive guidance for designing, implementing, maintaining and using advanced and optimized approaches to manage and monitor water quality in distribution systems.
- Provide actionable recommendations for water utilities and regulators to enhance distribution system water quality monitoring programs and practices in a more integrated manner.
5305
Operationalizing the Benefits of Nature-based Solutions to Inform Decisions in a Changing Climate
Deadline
11/14/2024 – 3:00 pm
Mountain
Project Objectives
- To assemble quantitative metrics and synthesize or correlate these with existing qualitative metrics used across disciplines to link the benefits of Nature-based Solution (NbS) to design criteria and implementation.
- To compare a variety of innovative NbS applications with conventional approaches according to performance, construction costs, operational costs, and multiple benefits.
- To assist decision-makers with more accurately valuing the benefits and tradeoffs of NbS as part of their holistic water management strategy.
5310
Head-to-Head GHG Measurement Comparisons: Evaluating Plant-wide and Process-specific Quantification Methods
Deadline
11/14/2024 – 3:00 pm
Mountain
Project Objectives
- To perform greenhouse gas (GHG) measurements using multiple techniques at the same time at two or more water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) to inform the industry of the advantages and disadvantages of each technique.
