U.S. Department of Energy Awards $5 Million Towards Desalination Pilot Program to Advance Water Security

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in partnership with the National Alliance for Water Innovation (NAWI) hub, today announced eleven pilot projects across five states that have been selected for negotiation to develop pilot systems that will design, build, operate, and test desalination and water reuse treatment systems that produce clean water from non-traditional water sources, such as brackish water, seawater, produced and extracted water, and wastewater. 

The technologies developed from these projects will significantly reduce the cost of water for small-scale desalination systems and will help the U.S. to diversify its water supplies, thereby improving its resilience to the effects of climate change, moving, and improving environmental justice outcomes for disadvantaged communities.

The research topics of these selected projects further support the technology-related goals established in the NAWI Master Roadmap, published in the summer of 2021.

Read the full list of selected projects.

NAWI is a public-private partnership that brings together a world-class team of industry and academic partners to examine the critical technical barriers and research needed to radically lower the cost and energy of desalination. NAWI is led by DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in collaboration with National Energy Technology Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and is funded by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)’s Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office.