Nov. 6, 2003 -- The Water Environment Research Foundation will release five new requests for proposals (RFPs) on November 17 that will provide $925,000 in funding for essential water quality research.
A cooperative research grant from the U.S. EPA's Office of Water will provide funding for two of the research projects, which will help to protect and ensure the continuing safety of the nation's wastewater infrastructure. Proposals will be due January 16 for these two projects in order to expedite the availability of research results that are of critical need.
Three other projects will address environmental and sustainability issues, including projects on stormwater, multiple stressors, and water reuse. Proposals will be due February 6.
The five projects are:
* Security Measures for Computerized and Automated Systems (03-CTS-3S): Will provide guidance to utilities on securing and protecting automated systems. Will document currently available technology to sense and correct security breaches.
* Software Guidance for Assessing Vulnerability of Wastewater Infrastructure Systems (03-CTS-6S): Will provide a valuable software tool for utilities to better plan for, manage, and control risk associated with system vulnerability.
* Long-Term Study on Landscape Irrigation Using Household Graywater (03-CTS-18CO): Will provide quantitative evidence concerning the safety of graywater reuse for household landscape irrigation. Will support product use and disposal recommendations in graywater reuse systems.
* Risk Assessment of Separate Stormwater Microorganisms (03-SW-2): Will develop risk assessment guidance to enable more accurate evaluations of the actual problems associated with pathogens in stormwater. Will collect and evaluate existing microorganism guidance, will quantify stormwater microorganisms in typical discharges, and will describe associated health risks.
* Workshop on Multiple Stressors: Approaches, Information Gaps, and Tools (03-ECO-1): Will bring together leading researchers and managers to synthesize what is known about multiple stressors and to provide an assessment of gaps and recommendations for further study and evaluation.
WERF research is awarded through a competitive process and coordinated under contract through a staff-assigned project manager. WERF encourages submission of proposals from all qualified entities, including consulting firms, wastewater utilities, industrial firms, wastewater equipment manufacturers, universities, and non-profit organizations performing research in the water quality field.
The RFPs will be available on the WERF website at www.werf.org. To sign up to receive notification of availability, go to http://www.werf.org/community/email_signup.cfm.
The Water Environment Research Foundation is a not-for-profit organization addressesing water quality issues with a commitment to environmental protection, economic conservancy, and enhanced quality of life. WERF subscribers consist of wastewater and stormwater utilities representing more than 60 percent of the U.S. sewered population and other organizations sharing concerns for water quality issues.
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