Reclamation is interested in research where the benefits are widespread but where private-sector entities are not able to make the full investment and assume all the risks.
Reclamation is also interested in research that has a national significance—where the issues are of large-scale concern
and the benefits accrue to a large sector of the public.
The goal of the DWPR program is to address the need to reduce the costs, energy requirements, and environmental impacts of treating impaired and unusable water.
DWPR program activities further support multiple related initiatives related to the Water Subcabinet such as the Water Reuse Action Plan, Water Security Grand Challenge, and the Presidential Memorandum promoting reliable water supplies and deliveries.
Eligible projects are pilot-scale technologies or processes that incorporate or are innovative and disruptive technologies involving flow rates above one gallon per minute and that need to be tested using natural water sources rather than synthetic or laboratory-made feed water.
These projects are typically used to determine the technical, practical, and/or economic ability of a process.
Preliminary costs can be developed for capital and operation and maintenance costs.
The description of the technology or process should identify the uniqueness and the disruptive nature of the technology or process itself and/or the testing of it.