EPA awards five grants for research on water reuse and conservation practices

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced five Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grants that will allow the receiving institutions to study the impacts water reuse and conservation practices can have on human and ecological health.

The grants will go to the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Utah State University, the University of Nevada and the University of California-Riverside. The EPA announced the grants as part of the White House Water Summit, which focused on creating awareness of and finding solutions for water issues within the country. The western United States is currently experiencing decreasing water availability due to climate change, drought and growing populations, making projects that reclaim water a vital tool.

“Increasing demand for water resources is putting pressure on the finite supply of drinking water in some areas of the United States,” EPA Science Advisor and Office of Research and Development Deputy Assistant Administrator Thomas A. Burke said. “The research announced today will help us manage and make efficient use of the water supply in the long term.”

The projects will use their funding to study topics like UV and solar-based disinfection systems and the microbial risk associated with indirect and direct potable water reuse systems.