Building on The Water Research Foundation’s (WRF) decades-long research on nutrients in America’s waters, WRF and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to increase understanding of how smart partnerships and market-based approaches can be used to reduce excess nutrients in the nation’s waterways. The MOU builds on success achieved through the Nutrient Recycling Challenge, a competition launched in 2016 by EPA with support from WRF and other partners, to develop affordable technologies to recycle nutrients from livestock manure. Through this new partnership, EPA and WRF will collaborate with the water sector and agricultural community to build capacity and awareness of research, innovative technologies, and tools that support watershed approaches to nutrient management.
“Excess nutrients in our waterways continue to be one of the most pressing water quality issues in the US,” said Robert C. Renner, CEO of The Water Research Foundation. “WRF is pleased to work with EPA and take a collaborative, science-based approach to identifying and demonstrating promising solutions.”
To accomplish these goals, the MOU aims to:
Facilitate greater collaboration between the regulated water community, technology developers and providers, and agricultural producers;
Match innovative nutrient management technologies with on-farm testing sites, funders for technology demonstrations, and third-party evaluators;
Enable producer-to-producer information exchange regarding technology performance;
Develop and disseminate information on specific topic areas related to nutrient management and resource recovery and reuse.
EPA’s Office of Water Assistant Administrator, David Ross, said “EPA is pleased to partner with The Water Research Foundation to advance nutrient recovery science and innovation, support on-farm demonstrations and installations, and help make the connections needed across the nutrient value chain to maximize environmental and economic results.”
To learn more about WRF, visit www.waterrf.org
To learn more about what EPA is doing to address nutrients, visit https://www.epa.gov/nutrient-policy-data/what-epa-doing-reduce-nutrient-pollution
About WRF The Water Research Foundation is a 501c3 organization officially formed in January 2018 after the merger of the Water Environment & Reuse Foundation and Water Research Foundation. The merged Foundation is the leading water research organization, funding research, pilot projects, and technology demonstrations that maximize the value of all water, including wastewater, stormwater, drinking water, and recycled water. Learn more at www.werf.org or www.waterrf.org.
