The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is investing $5.6 million aimed at improving the technology used to treat unusable waters such as seawater, brackish groundwater and forms of wastewater.
According to a March 8 news release, authorities plan to spread the money among 15 projects, with all the funding coming through Reclamation's Desalination and Water Purification Research Program, which prides itself on taking a critical role in nursing an idea from the lab through to a real-world demonstration.
"There are technologies that show the potential to provide western communities a new source of water," said Acting Commissioner David Palumbo. "Reclamation is supporting the study and development of these new technologies to make more water available for use."
Among the projects that are part of the undertaking, 11 are poised to test submitted ideas in a laboratory, while the other four will test concepts in a real-world environment. Each of the laboratory projects are set to receive an average of $250,000, while so-called pilot-scale projects will receive roughly $700,000 each.
The Desalination and Water Purification Research program recently came out in support of an executive order enacted by President Joe Biden that seeks to tackle the climate crisis across the globe by investing in developing advanced water treatment technologies.
The overall goal of the Desalination and Water Purification Research program is to focus on research that can lead to desalination of otherwise unusable water.
