Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2008MI120B

Prospectus for Developing an Innovation Clearinghouse for Next Generation Water and Wastewater Utilities

Institute: Michigan
Year Established: 2008 Start Date: 2008-03-01 End Date: 2009-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $10,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $22,189

Principal Investigators: Janice Beecher, Ruth Kline-Robach, Saichon Seedang

Project Summary: Next generation water utilities may look very different from todays water utilities. Although change in the water sector tends to be incremental, opportunities for innovation also exist. Given the pressing environmental challenges of communities, states, and the nation, the need for innovation is great than ever. For the water sector in particular, todays challenges include infrastructure replacement and improvement, financial sustainability, water resource constraints, energy usage and associated costs, human resource development and retention, and safety and security. This proposal will develop the concept of creating a clearinghouse that will facilitate the sharing of expertise and experience with innovative ideas and practices in the water and wastewater sectors. These include alternative analytical tools, institutional models, and delivery for to the supply, treatment, and distribution of water services. Areas for exploration include, but are not limited to, emerging technologies, scalable solutions, operational performance, cost allocation and pricing, regionalization and organization, energy and climate considerations, spatial analysis, multi-criteria optimization, resource planning, and dispute resolution. The concept of the clearinghouse is to provide a virtual think tank that will facilitate the interdisciplinary discovery and diffusion of innovation