New WRF research studies set for RFPs this year

Six new water reuse and desalination research studies are to be put out for proposals by the WateReuse Research Foundation under a US$ 1.35 million investment announced on 24 March 2011.

Requests for proposals for these new projects will be released later this year:

Monitoring for Reliability and Process Control of Potable Reuse Applications – (WateReuse-11-01)
Estimated Budget: $400,000
Objective: Identify, evaluate and validate on-line/real-time water quality sensors, including those from other high-purity water industries, and integrity testing suitable for monitoring unit process performance/variability/reliability, including identification of key parameters that can serve as surrogates to assure proper operation of water reuse processes providing barriers to regulated and unregulated chemical constituents.

Equivalency of Advanced Treatment Trains for Potable Reuse
(WateReuse-11-02)
Estimated Budget: $375,000
Objectives: This project will develop criteria to meet variable levels of treatment which are protective of public health. This project also will create a toolbox of process unit models that can be combined to model an integrated treatment train; the toolbox will consider downstream impacts on the quality of delivered water and allow comparison of water quality changes to those achieved by the physical and chemical action of the environmental buffer in indirect potable reuse projects. At least one alternative treatment train developed with the help of the toolbox will be validated at pilot or near full scale.

Develop Best Management Practices to Control Potential Health Risks and Aesthetic Issues associated with Storage and Distribution of Reclaimed Water – 
(WateReuse-11-03)
Budget: $200,000
Objective: To develop best management practices for storage and distribution of reclaimed water through cataloguing current state-of-practice, creating an interactive website and developing a guidance manual.

Emerging Desalination Technologies for Energy Reduction
(WateReuse-11-04)
Budget: $300,000
Objectives: Accelerate industry adaptation of recently developed commercial products by minimizing the time to widespread application. The project objectives are: (1) research and develop a complete list of commercially viable desalination processes or equipment components that have the potential to reduce the energy associated with desalination and (2) independently test the most promising desalination processes to verify manufacturer claims.

Demonstrating the Benefits of Engineered Direct versus Unintended Indirect Potable Reuse Systems – (WateReuse-11-05)
Budget: $50,000
Objective: To assess the water quality impacts associated with unintentional indirect potable reuse and demonstrate how more fully engineered approaches to direct potable reuse could result in water quality benefits.

Real Time Monitoring for Microbiological Contaminants in Reclaimed Water: State of the Science Assessment – (WateReuse-11-06)
Budget: $25,000
Objective: To examine emerging technologies and methodologies of real time monitoring for microbiological contaminants in reclaimed water.