COORDINATED STRATEGIC PLAN TO 

ADVANCE DESALINATION FOR 

ENHANCED WATER SECURITY 

A Report by the

DESALINATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY TASK FORCE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON WATER AVAILABILITY AND QUALITY

COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT

of the

NATIONAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL

March 2019
About the National Science and Technology Council

The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) is the principal means by which the Executive 

Branch coordinates science and technology policy across the diverse entities that make up the Federal

research and development enterprise. A primary objective of the NSTC is to ensure science and 

technology policy decisions and programs are consistent with the President's stated goals. The NSTC 

prepares research and development strategies that are coordinated across Federal agencies aimed at 

accomplishing multiple national goals. The work of the NSTC is organized under committees that 

oversee subcommittees and working groups focused on different aspects of science and technology. 

More information is available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/nstc.

About the Office of Science and Technology Policy

The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) was established by the National Science and 

Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act of 1976 to provide the President and others within 

the Executive Office of the President with advice on the scientific, engineering, and technological 

aspects of the economy, national security, homeland security, health, foreign relations, the 

environment, and the technological recovery and use of resources, among other topics. OSTP leads 

interagency science and technology policy coordination efforts, assists the Office of Management and 

Budget with an annual review and analysis of Federal research and development in budgets, and serves 

as a source of scientific and technological analysis and judgment for the President with respect to major 

policies, plans, and programs of the Federal Government. More information is available at

http://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp.

About the Desalination Science and Technology Task Force

The Desalination Science and Technology Task Force (DST) was established on August 18, 2017, under 

the Subcommittee on Water Availability and Quality (SWAQ), by the action of the NSTC Committee on 

Environment, Natural Resources, and Sustainability (subsequently renamed the Committee on 

Environment). The purpose of DST was to assist OSTP in the preparation of a strategic plan that 

identifies opportunities and mechanisms for increased coordination and cooperation to support the 

development, access, and application of science and technology for the use of desalination to meet 

water availability needs. The purpose of SWAQ is to advise and assist the NSTC on policies, procedures, 

plans, issues, scientific developments, and research needs related to the availability and quality of 

water resources.

About this Document 

This document addresses the Federal coordination activities required by the Water Infrastructure 

Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act, Pub. L. No. 114-322, 130 Stat. 1628, 3801 (2016). The WIIN Act 

reauthorizes the Water Desalination Act of 1996 and directs OSTP to develop a coordinated strategic 

plan for Federal investments in desalination research and development.

Copyright Information

This document is a work of the United States Government and is in the public domain (see 17 U.S.C. 

§105). It may be distributed and copied with acknowledgment to OSTP. Published in the United States 

of America, 2019.
COORDINATED STRATEGIC PLAN TO ADVANCE DESALINATION FOR ENHANCED WATER SECURITY

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NATIONAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL 

Chair

Kelvin Droegemeier, Director, OSTP

Executive Director

Chloé Kontos, NSTC

COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT

Co-Chairs

Deerin Babb-Brott, OSTP

RDML Timothy Gallaudet, NOAA

Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, EPA

OSTP Liaison 

Stacy Aguilera-Peterson, OSTP 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON WATER AVAILABILITY AND QUALITY

Co-Chairs

Michael Dunlevy, OSTP

Diana Bauer, DOE

Executive Secretary

Adrienne Bartlewitz, USGS

Members

David Babson, USDA

Gerald Bawden, NASA

Benita Best-Wong, EPA

Donald Cline, USGS

Peter Colohan, NOAA

Sandra Connors, EPA

James Dusenbury, TARDEC

Marlen Eve, USDA

Thomas Graziano, NOAA

Stephanie Hooker, NIST

David Lesmes, DOE

Guillermo Mendoza, USACE

Jayne Morrow, NIST

Martin Page, USACE 

Chandra Pathak, USACE

Lina Patino, NSF

James Petro, DOD

David Raff, USBR

Jennifer Saleem Arrigo, USGCRP

Aaron Salzberg, DOS

Thomas Torgersen, NSF

Suzanne Van Drunick, EPA
COORDINATED STRATEGIC PLAN TO ADVANCE DESALINATION FOR ENHANCED WATER SECURITY

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Strategic Plan Writing Team

Paul Armistead, ONR

David Babson, USDA

Robert Bastian, EPA

Diana Bauer, DOE

Benita Best-Wong, EPA (DST Co-Chair)

Gilbert Bindewald III, DOE

Breton Bruce, USGS

Donald Cline, USGS (DST Co-Chair)

Peter Colohan, NOAA

Robyn Colosimo, TARDEC

Andre Defontaine, DOE

Saied Delagah, USBR

Jim Dobrowolski, USDA

Michael Dunlevy, OSTP

James Dusenbury, TARDEC

Erica Folio, DOE

Gerald Geernaert, DOE

Thomas Graziano, NOAA

Karen Grimmer, NOAA

Sally Gutierrez, EPA

David Hardy, DOE

Clayton Hays, DOS 

Douglas Hedberg, TARDEC

Robert Ivester, DOE

William James, USACE

Melissa Klembara, DOE

Christin Kjelland, DOS

David Lesmes, DOE

Robert Lewis, DOE

Myrna Lopez-Ortiz, USACE

Carol MacCurdy, DOS

Marissa K. McInnis, DOD

Elena Melchert, DOE

Guillermo Mendoza, USACE (DST Co-Chair)

Karen Metchis, EPA

Avra Morgan, USBR

Jayne Morrow, NIST

Jennifer Moyer, USACE

Martin Page, USACE 

Cherilyn Plaxco, USACE 

Yuliana Porras-Mendoza, USBR

David Raff, USBR

Karl Rockne, NSF

Aaron Salzberg, DOS

Brandi Schottel, NSF

Tom Torgersen, NSF

Terferi Tsegaye, USDA

Deborah Vacs Renwick, EPA 

Suzanne Van Drunick, EPA
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Table of Contents

Abbreviations and Acronyms.............................................................................................. iv

Executive Summary ........................................................................................................... v

Introduction...................................................................................................................... 1

Goal 1. Reduce Risk and Streamline Local Planning to Support Desalination ............................ 3

Priority 1. Assess water resources and future needs ..................................................................... 3

Priority 2. Develop desalination tools and best practices............................................................. 5

Goal 2. Reduce Technical and Economic Barriers to Enable Desalination Technology Usage....... 8

Priority 3. Encourage early-stage R&D ........................................................................................... 8

Priority 4. Develop small scale modular desalination systems................................................... 11

Priority 5. Advance technologies to reduce ecological impact................................................... 12

Goal 3. Encourage National and International Cooperation to Innovate and Develop Desalination 

Technologies ....................................................................................................................14

Priority 6. Improve Federal agency coordination ........................................................................ 14

Priority 7. Promote public-private partnerships.......................................................................... 15

Priority 8. Cooperate with international partners ....................................................................... 17

Conclusion .......................................................................................................................18
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Abbreviations and Acronyms

DOD Department of Defense

DOE Department of Energy

DOS Department of State

DST Desalination Science and Technology Task Force

EERE DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

EPA Environmental Protection Agency

EW extracted water

MEDRC Middle East Desalination Research Center

MEM Middle East Multilaterals

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NSF National Science Foundation

NSTC National Science and Technology Council

ONR Office of Naval Research

OSTP Office of Science and Technology Policy

PPP public-private partnerships

PW produced water

R&D research and development

TARDEC U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization

U.S. United States

USACE United States Army Corps of Engineers

USBR United States Bureau of Reclamation

USDA United States Department of Agriculture

USGCRP United Stated Global Change Research Program

USGS United States Geological Survey

WIIN Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act
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Executive Summary

Forty out of fifty State water managers expect freshwater shortages to occur in their states in the next 

10 years.

1 Many of the states and regions with the most severe declines in water availability are also 

those expected to have the highest population growth in the coming decade.2 In most cases, increased 

water conservation efforts by both utilities and users are the most cost-effective way to reduce demand 

and improve water security (the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate 

quantities of acceptable quality water). Beyond conservation, continued development is needed of

technologies that support access to clean, potable water in order to ensure rural and urban prosperity, 

national and economic security, and health for all Americans. This Coordinated Strategic Plan to 

Advance Desalination for Enhanced Water Security presents the challenges and opportunities posed by 

the use of desalination technologies as a source of water resources for future needs.

This plan responds to Congressional direction outlined in the 2016 Water Infrastructure Improvements 

for the Nation (WIIN) Act (Public Law 114-322, § 9(b)). In accordance with the WIIN Act, a multi-agency 

Desalination Task Force was created to establish desalination priorities, coordinate relevant Federal 

Agencies, strengthen research and development (R&D) cooperation with our international partners, 

and to promote public-private partnerships in the area of desalination technology. This strategy 

identifies three overarching goals to support desalination efforts in the United States. Goals 1 and 2 

highlight five R&D priorities identified by the Task Force to enhance water security. Goal 3 discusses 

three operational priorities to encourage international and private sector collaboration:

Goal 1: Reduce Risk and Streamline Local Planning to Support Desalination

Priority 1: Assess water resources and future needs 

Priority 2: Develop desalination tools and best practices

Goal 2: Reduce Technical and Economic Barriers to enable Desalination Technology Usage

Priority 3: Encourage early-stage R&D

Priority 4: Develop small scale modular desalination systems 

Priority 5: Advance technologies to reduce ecological impact

Goal 3: Encourage National and International Cooperation to Innovate and Develop 

Desalination Technologies

Priority 6: Improve Federal agency coordination

Priority 7: Promote public-private partnerships

Priority 8: Cooperate with international partners

The combination of these three goals provides a framework that could enhance the United States’ 

capacity and capability to use desalination to combat the risk of future water scarcity (the lack of fresh 

water resources to meet water demand) in both communities and industry.

 

1 https://www.gao.gov/assets/670/663343.pdf

2 https://www.brookings.edu/research/in-times-of-drought-nine-economic-facts-about-water-in-the-unitedstates/
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COORDINATED STRATEGIC PLAN TO ADVANCE DESALINATION FOR ENHANCED WATER SECURITY

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Introduction

Access to potable water is of critical importance across the United States. Eighty percent of State water 

managers expect freshwater shortages to occur in their states within the next 10 years — a trend that 

will likely impact American economic growth and social well-being.3 As noted in the United States 

Geological Survey’s (USGS) Professional Paper 1883, Brackish Groundwater in the United States,

4 the 

demand for water may stress supply as the United States’ population and economy grow. 

Severe water shortages are already found all around the world, such as California’s droughtthat started 

in 2011 and has been the driest in its recorded history and may result in agricultural losses up to $1.8 

billion;

5,6 Australia’s devastating millennium drought in the 2000s;7 and Cape Town, South Africa’s need 

for water rationing in 2018.

8 Droughts will continue to stress water supply systems around the world,

and natural disasters, such as hurricanes, can result in temporary water shortages by compromising

source quality or treatment infrastructure. Overall, water scarcity presents a significant economic and 

social vulnerability for the world.

Reductions in available fresh surface and ground water can stress operations of municipal water 

utilities and pose a threat to U.S. water security (for the purposes of this report, the definition of water 

security was adapted from the United Nations and is the capacity of a population to safeguard 

sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water9

). Specifically, in some regions,

groundwater withdrawals exceed the rate of recharge and seawater intrudes into coastal aquifers, both 

of which reduces the availability of potential sources of potable water.

10 Technological solutions along 

with conservation and other water management strategies are needed to increase the reliability of 

water supplies in water scarce regions to meet future demands and alleviate episodic shortages. 

Expanding a community’s water supply portfolio to include desalination can help to enhance water 

security by reducing competition for water with other communities and water demand sectors, such as 

agricultural irrigation or energy generation.

Desalination of seawater, estuary, and brackish groundwater (types of water with varying levels of 

salinity) provides opportunities to enhance water security by converting non-consumable saline water 

into drinkable water in regions where freshwater resources are becoming limited due to droughts or 

increases in demand. Desalination can also be used to provide sources of water for non-potable uses,

such as mineral extraction, reuse in the oil and gas industry, and in manufacturing processes, offsetting 

demand for potable sources.

Water desalination plays an important part in the water security portfolio of the United States. As of

2010, there were 649 active desalination plants in the United States with a capacity to treat 402 million 

 

3 https://www.gao.gov/assets/670/663343.pdf

4 https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1833/pp1833.pdf

5 https://www.drought.gov/drought/states/california

6 http://www.cobank.com/-/media/files/ked/general/california-drought-report---may-2016.pdf

7 https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/topics/river-murray/about-the-river/millennium-drought

8 http://www.capetown.gov.za/Family%20and%20home/Residential-utility-services/Residential-water-andsanitation-services/critical-water-shortages-disaster-plan

9 http://www.unwater.org/publications/water-security-global-water-agenda/

10 https://water.usgs.gov/edu/gwdepletion.html
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gallons of water per day. The majority of domestic municipal water desalination facilities are sourced 

from brackish groundwater;

11 in contrast, the international community primarily uses seawater for 

desalination. Given the diversity of water sources and technologies, greater international R&D 

cooperation should be encouraged to facilitate the sharing of desalination approaches and expand our

Nation’s water source options.

Desalination technologies can and should be adapted to meet different local demand characteristics. 

The specific desalination processes and related water systems that are most cost-effective, reliable, and 

technically viable depend upon the quality of the source water, types of water collection and 

distribution systems, population density, and other local factors. A number of challenges limit the 

adoption of desalination to augment water supplies in the United States, especially in low population 

density areas where desalination is not currently affordable, and in many cases, where centralized 

water systems may be unavailable or not cost effective. Challenges with implementing desalination 

facilities for water supply include: 

• Higher energy requirements than traditional fresh surface water treatment facilities.

• High capital investments and operating costs compared to traditional fresh surface water 

treatment facilities.

• Design requirements, such as operational flexibility to account for changes in freshwater 

production demand, temperature, or salinity concentration; or facility size, siting, and target 

water production.

• Reliability and durability of components and materials in the desalination process that affect 

operation and maintenance costs.

• Environmental impacts, including concentrated brine discharge and various effects of ocean 

water intakes on marine ecosystems.

• Non-technical barriers such as complex State and Federal regulatory and permitting 

processes, municipal funding, and public acceptance of non-traditional water sources.

R&D can help address several of these challenges, but adoption of desalination technology is ultimately 

a local issue, where decision makers must also consider a portfolio of other alternative water supply 

options, including: diversions (transporting water from other locations), improving efficiencies, water 

conservation and reuse, reallocation of water from other sectors, and improving operations.

 

11 https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1833/pp1833.pdf
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Goal 1. Reduce Risk and Streamline Local Planning to Support Desalination

Water utility infrastructure investments are largely non-Federal and managed by local entities.

However, risk reduction and streamlined local planning should be a shared responsibility across 

communities as well as State and Federal agencies. Local institutions understand their system 

vulnerabilities and redundancies, and Federal agencies can complement local institutes with their 

research capabilities and resources. This section outlines and discusses two priorities for future Federal 

investments that support local assessments and best practices in desalination planning, with the goal 

of promoting American water security.

Priority 1. Assess water resources and future needs

To improve our Nation’s water security, Federal capabilities should be coordinated to better 

understand regions vulnerable to water scarcity. Water scarcity information could then be used to 

better determine situations where desalination would be a viable option to improve water security and 

would help identify technology improvements needed to increase desalination deployment in these 

regions.

Understand future water availability

Understanding water quantity and quality needs across the United States is critical for planning our 

Nation’s long-term water security. Existing Federal and State data should be coordinated and enhanced 

to assess projected imbalances of water supply and demand at local and regional scales. Federal 

agencies usually have the technical resources and missions to support water availability studies, 

particularly at large spatial and long temporal scales. However, water balance studies at the local level

are needed to improve water availability projections that serve the needs of local utilities. This is 

especially relevant with respect to assessing future stresses and finding opportunities to use

desalination technologies to improve water security.

Developing best practices to ensure an accurate understanding of future water availability is enhanced 

by integrating research and sharing data among Federal, State, Tribal, academic, and private sector 

institutions. Improved forecasts can identify changes in water supply due to stressed aquifers, water 

table declines, variability of supply (e.g., snow melt dependent areas), coastal seawater encroachment, 

and competing demands. 

Federal agencies should strive to ensure that data and tools that are developed are discoverable, 

accessible, and usable by relevant stakeholders, including water utilities, investors, and the R&D 

community. These data should also be periodically updated to take into account changes in industrial 

demands as industries grow and change over time. Local communities should then be able to utilize 

these data and tools to develop strategic plans that will improve their ability to assess future water 

needs and improve the resiliency of their community.

Hydrological data and modeling is central to understanding water availability, and a number of Federal 

agencies collect, analyze, and share this information. For example, USGS’s Water Resources Mission 

Area provides an assessment of the status of water resources in the U.S. and identifies long-term trends 

in water availability and quality; the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Sandia National Laboratory has 

developed a Water Report12 of the contiguous 48 States illustrating projections of future water 

 

12 https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1411877
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availability and demand; and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National 

Water Center is used to leverage expertise and investments across Federal agencies and academia to 

improve water prediction and coordinate development of the National Water Model13, which is a 

hydrologic model that simulates observed and forecasted streamflow over the continental United 

States. While the Federal Government is developing multiple data sets to support water availability 

projections, more work is needed to systematically integrate Federal data to support local and State

stakeholder needs and to help them determine whether desalination is an economically viable method 

to improve the water security of their jurisdiction.

Improving forecasts of water availability is also consistent with priorities outlined in Presidential 

Memorandum, Promoting the Reliable Supply and Delivery of Water in the West, issued by Donald J. 

Trump on October 19, 2018. This memorandum highlights the need to facilitate greater use of forecastbased management and use of authorities and capabilities provided by the Weather Research and 

Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017. The memorandum also calls for the development of an action plan 

to improve the information and modeling capabilities related to water availability and water 

infrastructure projects. Overall, the initiatives and future work outlined above will enhance water 

security in America.

Map brackish groundwater systems

According to a 2010 report by USGS14, almost a quarter of total U.S. water withdrawals were from 

groundwater, of which almost 5% were saline. Mapping groundwater systems, especially as salinity 

levels increase or groundwater tables become depleted, is important to prepare communities for 

evolving water security conditions. 

Monitoring and characterizing groundwater flows is expensive and assessments require a systems 

approach because surface-groundwater interactions and their impacts to saline water table gradients 

can be complex. Independent wells present further complications, as they affect groundwater table 

gradients, but are not often monitored. Moreover, lag-times between surface and groundwater 

recharge can range from hours to decades.

The goal of brackish groundwater R&D should be to estimate the size of potential brackish sources, the 

source replenishment rate, the extent and nature of source salinity, and other physical characteristics 

of different source types. These estimations can help decision makers better determine sustainable 

production rates and desalination requirements. Furthermore, such analysis needs to be useful for and 

accessible to water utilities or other local institutions for conducting water security vulnerability 

assessments.

To help improve the understanding of available water resources, the USGS is conducting a national 

assessment of brackish water aquifers. This assessment is designed to identify and characterize 

brackish water availability and assess the national ability to meet both existing and future demands for 

water supply. Further, the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) and USGS are collaborating to 

develop a web-platform where interested entities can find tools to better utilize the brackish water 

aquifer data that USGS has been collecting. This effort is currently ongoing and it will integrate not only 

the data collected in terms of water quantity and quality, but will also provide guidance as to the type 

of water treatment technology that would be useful to treat the specific groundwater in a given 

 

13 http://water.noaa.gov/about/nwm

14 https://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1405/pdf/circ1405.pdf
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location. Once complete, this platform will allow water resource managers to better understand 

whether desalination technology is viable for their community.

Assess local water vulnerabilities

Vulnerability assessments allow water utilities to plan and prepare for future water shortfalls. These 

assessments should be driven at the local level, but Federal agencies can provide data, tools, and 

models that help estimate current and future water availability.

The Federal Government conducts ongoing work focused on assessing water vulnerabilities. For 

example, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s satellite and Earth system models 

provide insight into water basin hydrology, drought extents, and forestry and irrigation consumption 

estimates. The National Water Model has capabilities that can forecast streamflow across the United 

States and helps water resource scientists model different scenarios that allows them to better 

understand and forecast the water availability in regions across the United States. DOE has mapped 

regional water availability and makes annual estimates (through 2030) of appropriated and 

unappropriated water. This data has been integrated into a version of the National Energy Modeling 

System15, which provides a framework for the comprehensive assessment of the impacts of water 

availability on projections of energy generation, and thereby the energy economy.

Public water utilities and local agencies have critical data and information external to Federal activities, 

including local water redundancies, visions for growth, and possible alternative sources of water. 

Therefore, effective water vulnerability assessments require combined local and Federal information 

and resources. Federal information needs to be useful, useable, and accessible to local users for 

analysis, while data from local agencies needs to be accessible by Federal agencies for use in National 

models. This integration of local and Federal data is fundamental to conducting water vulnerability 

studies. Local utilities and communities can improve their resiliency by assessing local water supply 

vulnerabilities. Building a culture of preparedness and improving community resilience is a priority 

action for the Administration, as outlined in the 2017 National Security Strategy.

Priority 2. Develop desalination tools and best practices

A culture of preparedness is fostered not only by local vulnerability assessments of future water 

security, but also by community access to state-of-the-art tools and best practices. The development 

of tools based on best practices and past experiences can facilitate the integration of desalination 

infrastructure in local and regional water portfolios. Federal R&D on siting and design could help local, 

State, and Tribal governments identify desalination supply opportunities, comply with environmental 

requirements, evaluate alternative design proposals, and justify resource investments in desalination

technology. Providing education about these resources and how to use them is a critical factor in 

successfully integrating and disseminating resources, data, and tools across Federal, State, and local 

partners. Without education, many benefactors may not have the resources, staff, or technical expertise 

to fully leverage the tools and information presented in this Strategic Plan.

Establish best practices for local desalination facility planning

Best practices and tools created by Federal agencies to support desalination facility planning and 

development need to be relevant and accessible by local communities. These tools should help 

 

15 http://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/nems/overview/index.html
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synthesize information from a variety of sources and communicate uncertainty and potential variability

in different parameters over time. The tools should consider site specific infrastructure requirements, 

social and economic factors, and treated water quality objectives, which are important in the planning 

and design of desalination facilities. Tools developed by Federal agencies should also assist 

communities in determining whether desalination is the most technically and economically viable 

option given future water security and scarcity risks.

Best practices can help private industry as well as State, local, and Tribal governments inform siting 

and design of desalination facilities, particularly regarding location, capacity, technology, storage, and 

delivery. Best practices should allow stakeholders to fully understand the supply chain of water

(acquiring salt water, moving water, pre-treatment, treatment, removing residues, and managing the 

energy requirements) and identify and leverage coupled water-power facility opportunities. Best 

practices that help minimize unintended consequences of desalination is also important, as it requires

a systems level of understanding. Potential consequences that should be considered include: the 

cumulative effects of pumping from groundwater aquifers over time, the effect of the chemical 

composition of desalinated water on pipelines and other water supply infrastructure originally built to 

accommodate traditional sources of water, the energy intensity of the desalination process, and the 

cumulative ecosystem effects of brine discharge from desalination facilities. A comprehensive 

approach that considers these best practices are essential to sustainable and resilient outcomes.

Providing local planners with best practices can be conducted through Federal or State planning 

resources. For example, the USBR offers various grants to State, local, and Tribal governments to 

develop strategies that establish or expand water markets or marketing activities between willing 

participants, in compliance with State and Federal laws.

16 Federal agencies should consider using 

similar types of programs that provide needed supportto help State, local, and Tribal stakeholder’s site 

desalination facilities.

Enhance environmental compliance resources and tools

Compliance with Federal and State environmental regulations is an important consideration when 

investing in desalination strategies, but multijurisdictional requirements can inadvertently create 

barriers to adoption of desalination technology. Federal, State, and local environmental concerns with 

desalination technology include impacts to marine life from seawater intakes, disruption of marine 

ecosystems from concentrate discharge, the energy intensity of the desalination process, and the 

potential degradation of water quality. Furthermore, potential ecosystem impacts depend on sitespecific circumstances and local environmental conditions that may change over time, thereby 

requiring careful monitoring and management.

Efficient environmental compliance helps better manage the environmental risks of desalination 

facility siting, construction, and operations to marine, estuarine, and terrestrial environments. In order 

to make sure these processes are a focus when developing desalination operations, Federal agencies

can recommend guidance to facilitate environmental compliance. For example, NOAA coordinated the 

use of best practices for siting and developing desalination projects with respect to environmental 

impacts and the regulatory process for a site in California.17

 

16 https://www.usbr.gov/watersmart/

17 https://nmsmontereybay.blob.core.windows.net/montereybayprod/media/resourcepro/resmanissues/pdf/050610desal.pdf
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More research into the impacts to marine life from desalination water intake structures and concentrate 

discharge systems is needed. Intake and discharge systems can affect marine organisms directly 

through impingement and entrainment or indirectly through disruption of ocean currents and other 

mechanisms. Quantifying these impacts requires an understanding of the local life cycle of fish, 

invertebrate eggs, and larvae, which vary widely and are influenced by location-specific parameters.

Discharge from desalination facilities is also a concern due to salinity dispersion, effects of chemicals 

used during pretreatment, and leaching of metals from piping. As a result, a monitoring protocol and a 

marine ecosystem health baseline should be integrated into the planning process for desalination 

facilities.

Technical guidance tools can improve understanding of the effectiveness and economic viability of 

various measures to minimize the environmental impacts of desalination systems. For example, USBR 

is developing a concentrate management toolbox18 focused on informing and providing guidance to 

water utilities regarding the technologies available for concentrate management and their levels of 

readiness. USBR partnered with the private sector and two water utilities in California and Texas to 

develop and test the toolbox. However, in order for environmental compliance resources and tools to 

remain effective, they must be constantly updated reflecting new guidance, regulations, and research 

into the environmental impact from desalination technology.

If utilized, these tools will allow communities to evaluate the effectiveness of competing water security 

strategies, as well as help them understand the economic impact and regulatory requirements for 

implementing a desalination strategy. Similarly, it is critical for communities to have the ability to 

compare alternative options for brine management, concentrate disposal, and water recovery 

technologies. Federally developed tools are needed that can evaluate and compare the cost and 

environmental risk of different technological and management approaches for concentrate disposal. 

These tools would help desalination plant designers, owners, and operators select which technology 

fits best with their needs.

 

18 https://www.usbr.gov/research/projects/detail.cfm?id=5239
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Goal 2. Reduce Technical and Economic Barriers to Enable Desalination 

Technology Usage

Early research on desalination technology began during World War II to address the challenges of 

providing reliable fresh water in remote locations under difficult logistical conditions. The Saline 

Conversion Act of 1952 established the Office of Saline Water, which later became USBR’s Office of 

Water Research and Technology. The Federal Government sponsored research conducted by 

companies on different materials for membrane (a semi-permeable material that allows passage of 

water and inhibits passage of salts) developmentto support desalination and by the 1960s, commercial 

use of thin-film reverse osmosis technology was introduced. This cutting-edge research provided 

ancillary benefits, such as technologies for kidney dialysis and flue gas desulfurization to reduce air 

pollution.19 The effective and innovative Federal research of that era ensured that by the early 1970s, 

the United States was the undisputed global leader in desalination technology. During this time, the 

first practical membrane for desalination was developed, and groundbreaking discoveries were made 

on pressure driven membrane technology that could be applied commercially. Despite U.S. investment 

in desalination technologies for the past 65 years, there are still technical and economic barriers to

widespread adoption of desalination technologies.

A number of initiatives to enable the use of desalination technology are in the early-stages of 

development. Specifically, President Donald J. Trump’s Presidential Memorandum, Promoting the 

Reliable Supply and Delivery of Water in the West, highlighted the need to improve the use of technology 

to increase water reliability. The memorandum states, “the Secretary of the Interior shall direct 

appropriate bureaus to promote the expanded use of technology for improving the accuracy and 

reliability of water and power deliveries. This promotion of expanded use should include: investment 

in technology and reduction of regulatory burdens to enable broader scale deployment of desalination 

technology.” While outside of the scope of this Strategic Plan, the Presidential Memorandum also 

highlights the importance of streamlining complex regulatory processes, which would help enable the 

adoption of desalination technology.

On October 25, 2018, the Secretary of Energy announced a Water Security Grand Challenge20 “to 

advance transformational technology and innovation to meet the global need for safe, secure, and 

affordable water.”One of the goals for the Grand Challenge is to “launch desalination technologies that 

deliver cost-competitive clean water.” These initiatives coupled with the priorities outlined in this 

report will help promote efficient and effective desalination technology usage to support sustainable 

water supplies for urban and rural centers, as well as for military, disaster relief, and humanitarian uses.

Priority 3. Encourage early-stage R&D

Federal support of basic research can improve the viability of desalination technology for use in many 

situations. R&D should address broad technological questions, including both treatment and pretreatment technology development requirements. Moreover, it is important to facilitate the transfer of 

promising technologies from lab-to-market, which will ultimately result in further innovations, and is a 

component of the President’s Management Agenda.

21 Further, Federal investment in early-stage applied 

 

19 https://www.nap.edu/catalog/12184/desalination-a-national-perspective

20 https://www.energy.gov/water-security-grand-challenge

21 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Presidents-Management-Agenda.pdf
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research in innovative technologies, enhancing the transfer of technology from lab-to-market, and 

establishing public-private collaborations are R&D priority practices discussed in the FY 2020

Administration Research and Development Budget Priorities memorandum.

22

Support Federal early-stage research

Developing new membrane desalination processes and improving existing membrane technologies will 

reduce energy and other costs associated with membrane based desalination. R&D is needed to 

increase membrane permeability and selectivity, decrease fouling and degradation, minimize 

maintenance, and increase membrane life expectancy for both steady state and intermittent operation. 

In addition to membrane based treatments, non-membrane approaches are being investigated. These 

include both thermal desalination as well as environmentally based approaches that rely on wetlands 

or bacterial based techniques, which could lead to alternative desalination technologies. Under certain 

conditions, these non-membrane systems may be more efficient and cost-effective than traditional 

reverse-osmosis systems. Different parts of the country will require different desalination technologies, 

and the technology choice should be assessed at the local level. Therefore, the development of cost 

effective desalination and treatment technologies need to align with the varying needs of diverse 

communities.

Nearly all approaches to desalination require some sort of pretreatment to remove suspended solids. 

While desalination costs and energy requirements have been reduced with better reverse osmosis 

membranes and energy recovery technologies, the costs of pretreatment remains high. Continued

research into these complementary components of the desalination process is key to reducing

technical and economic barriers to enable the adoption of desalination.

Opportunities also exist to reduce energy costs by co-locating desalination facilities with power plants 

and other energy facilities. Other examples for system integration include the development of energy 

recovery systems, combined energy-water production, landfill gas-to-energy facilities, and other onsite 

sources of renewable energy.

Federal R&D should be flexible so that it can address special desalination technology needs that are 

important to national economic, social, and environmental interests. One area of interest involves 

produced water (PW) [water produced as a byproduct of oil and gas production], as it represents the 

largest volume of waste associated with oil and gas extraction.23 PW contains a wide variety of 

contaminants, including oil and grease, suspended solids, heavy metals, and radionuclides and is

typically not considered appropriate as a source of drinking water. However, after processing, multiple 

industries can reuse PW, which would preserve freshwater resources for other uses. Technological 

advances for the treatment of PW could save the energy industry more than $40 billion annually in 

treatment and disposal costs.

24 Similarly, a significant amount of extracted water (EW) results from 

carbon dioxide injections into deep saline aquifers. Reusing PW and EW provides opportunities to 

improve our Nation’s water security, which is consistent with the 2017 National Security Strategy25 to 

“improve America’s technological edge in energy [through] opportunities at the energy-water nexus.”

 

22 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/M-18-22.pdf

23 https:/www.usbr.gov/research/dwpr/reportpdfs/report157.pdf

24 http://www.spe.org/industry/challenges-in-reusing-produced-water.php

25 https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905-2.pdf
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R&D focused on PW and EW treatment and desalination can contribute to PW and EW becoming a viable 

water source for various industries, which improves the Nation’s water security. Cost-effective 

desalination of these sources could offset water demand from agriculture, mineral extraction and 

processing, oil and gas production, and manufacturing processes. Currently, DOE and USBR26 are 

conducting R&D to reduce the cost of treating PW and EW. These targeted R&D goals would 

complement innovations in desalination technology, which is consistent with a goal from the Water 

Security Grand Challenge to “transform the energy sector’s produced water from a waste to a resource.”

More R&D is needed to identify added value along the desalination supply chain, such as markets for 

sellable byproducts from the concentrated brine, which would help improve the economic viability of 

desalination technologies and reduce potential environmental risks from brine disposal. Investing in 

R&D in these areas could improve the economic case for using desalination technologies, which would

provide the private sector with the confidence needed to invest in these technologies.

In order to effectively leverage existing R&D in desalination technologies, more coordination is needed 

between the Federal Government and other stakeholders. To help improve coordination, grants that 

supportjoint research partnerships with academia, Federal labs, public utilities, and relevant industries 

are necessary to support the diverse regional challenges associated with desalination technology.

Federal agencies do offer grants that support collaboration; specifically, the National Science 

Foundation (NSF) accepts proposals for collaboration between academia and industry on early-stage

technologies through its Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry mechanism. 

Additionally, NSF also funds research centers that involve groups of universities and, when appropriate, 

industry partners, such as the Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Nanotechnology-enabled 

Water Treatment.

In order to improve early-stage research, existing Federal research programs should support 

foundational or high impact advanced technologies, use project diversity to spread risk, target 

nationally important innovations at critical decision points, and contribute to quantifiable energy 

savings. Every agency has unique capabilities that can be leveraged in coordinated R&D to advance 

desalination technology.

Operationalize early-stage technology

One immediate challenge to operationalizing early-stage desalination technology is the significant life‐

cycle gap that exists between initial demonstration of a new technology and its commercial 

implementation at the end of development. Newer technologies are often at lower technical readiness 

levels and require more time, effort, and resources to integrate with existing components. Often, scaling 

up pilot trials to full-scale is exceedingly complex and expensive, especially with new membrane 

technologies. It is important not to underestimate the complexity and challenge of integrating and 

scaling up new technologies. Accordingly, there is a need to use existing facilities for pilot and full-scale 

testing in order to capitalize on R&D investments and maximize commercialization of promising

technologies. Currently, USBR has several facilities27 and the U.S. Navy utilizes the Seawater 

Desalination Test Facility for R&D, testing, evaluation, and training, which can be made available to 

industry and other organizations. These are critical Federal capabilities, given that full-scale testing is 

often the key to successful lab-to-market transitions and private sector adoption. Successfully

 

26 https://www.usbr.gov/research/projects/detail.cfm?id=1601

27 https://www.usbr.gov/research/labs-facilities/index.html
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translating laboratory R&D to the commercial market is an R&D priority practice, as outlined in the 

President’s Management Agenda and the FY 2020 Administration R&D Budget Priorities memorandum.

Priority 4. Develop small scale modular desalination systems

The United States is committed to modernizing rural water utilities to ensure rural communities have 

access to clean water, as noted in the response to Executive Order 13790, Promoting Agriculture and 

Rural Prosperity in America.

28 Lower population densities can result in poor incentives for modernizing

water utilities, despite the potential for higher water scarcity in rural economic sectors (especially west 

of the Mississippi River), due to irrigation, mining, or industry that compete with household water

consumption. As a result, more options to improve access to clean water are needed, such as the 

development of small scale modular desalination systems.

Small scale desalination technologies 

The ability to downscale desalination technologies provides options for rural, island, and Native 

American communities that may face future water scarcity and have limited alternative sources of 

water. For areas where underserved and disadvantaged populations do not have reliable access to high 

quality and affordable drinking water, desalination may be a viable technological solution to help 

address ongoing water security challenges.

Developing and improving small, distributed, and/or portable desalination units have a number of uses 

outside of improving regional water security, such as deployment for emergency response, military, 

agriculture, and treatment of PW and EW from oil and gas extraction. Improvements in engineering 

design and pump efficiency for small scale units would increase desalination system efficiency, reduce 

costs, and enhance water system resilience. Therefore, early-stage R&D in desalination should address

the specific challenges presented by applications in smaller communities. 

R&D for downscaled desalination facilities should enhance reliability, reduce operational complexity,

and prioritize self-sufficiency. In general, military R&D in desalination is very much in line with 

applications for disaster relief and water resiliency in isolated communities. The U.S. Army Tank 

Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, (TARDEC) is currently developing a 3,000 

gallon per hour Tactical Water Purification System for the Army. This system incorporates new energy 

recovery technologies to improve energy efficiency. Although typical military desalination units, 

especially in the Navy, are designed with more expensive anti-corrosive and non-flammable materials

for increased ruggedness, the designs for these units could be adapted for civilian use.

Overall, small, distributed, and/or portable desalination units have a number of potential uses, 

including improving access of rural and remote communities to potable water, deployment during 

emergencies to provide drinkable water, and for the treatment of PW and EW. More R&D is needed to 

reduce costs, evaluate residual brine management options, and improve the efficiency ofthese systems

to make them a viable option for users.

Couple desalination with renewable energy 

When considering adopting desalination technology, remote, rural, and island communities are often 

constrained by access to reliable and low-cost energy. Facilities that couple renewable energy 

production to desalination would provide opportunities for desalination in communities with limited 

 

28 https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/rural-prosperity-report.pdf
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sources of energy, and would also support the development of rugged desalination technologies that 

can handle disruptions in the electrical grid from events such as natural disasters. In isolated island 

communities, technologies that use solar, hydrokinetics, and marine power (the generation of power 

from marine tides, currents, and waves) can be harnessed to reduce the cost of desalination, where

power is a limiting factor to implementation. R&D in coupling renewable energy with desalination

should be geared towards identifying implementable technologies for remote or island communities 

that are cost effective and attractive to investors.

While most desalination plants in the United States utilize reverse osmosis technology powered by 

electricity, there may be opportunities for improved cost-competitive technologies that use solarthermal energy directly. Using solar-thermal energy avoids the efficiency loss resulting from conversion 

of electricity to thermal energy, while also enabling off-grid operation. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency 

and Renewable Energy (EERE) Solar Energy Technologies Office develops novel concentrated solar 

power technologies and concepts that convert solar energy to useful thermal energy primarily for 

electricity generation, but could be used to power desalination as well. Similarly, DOE’s EERE Water 

Power Technologies Office funds early-stage R&D to in the emerging fields of hydrokinetic wave, 

current, and tidal energy technologies. Wave and tidal power technologies can provide locally-sourced 

and reliable energy to coastal communities and ocean industries. Further, wave energy is one of the few 

technologies that can produce clean water without the need to convert energy to electricity, which is 

advantageous in locations where grid-connected electricity is unreliable or costly, such as a remote 

island, during an emergency, or to support military operations. Direct coupling of desalination 

technology with renewable energy resources is still an emerging field of research. More research is 

needed that couple these technologies together in a cost effective manner that would allow for 

expanded use beyond early-stage prototypes.

Priority 5. Advance technologies to reduce ecological impact 

Environmental and public health concerns are often a barrier to desalination adoption. The unintended 

impacts of brine disposal and desalination plant intake and discharge can be detrimental to local 

marine ecosystems and their reliant economies. Monitoring for desalination impacts on marine life is 

frequently limited. Encouraging R&D to assess the ecological impacts of desalination can safeguard our 

natural resources and guide responsible development in the future. Advances in technology can create

more efficient systems to reduce the energy requirements and associated emissions of desalination. 

Mechanisms such as coupling existing electricity generation plants with desalination facilities, or 

linking desalination facilities with renewable sources of energy such as solar, could remedy 

desalination’s high-energy requirements and reduce harmful ecological impacts. Capabilities at the

Department of Defense, Department of the Interior, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), DOE and

NOAA should be coordinated to advance the R&D discussed in this section to help reduce the ecological 

impact of desalination technologies.

Minimize effluent

Early-stage Federal R&D can facilitate industry investments in the desalination process by determining 

innovative ways to manage concentrates or reduce the volume of brine generated from current inland 

desalination treatment processes. For example, USBR has been funding research into concentrate 

management for decades and has been performing full-scale testing of innovative technologies that 

enable zero liquid discharge. The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center is developing 

an energy-efficient system for managing brine from reverse osmosis processes in deployed military 
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settings. This system uses waste heat from electrical generators to rapidly dry brine concentrate

streams while recovering the evaporated water. Several technologies developed by Federal agencies 

have already been adopted by industry, such as use of a novel non-thermal brine concentrator and 

technology that reduces crystal growth during the desalination process. The commercialization of 

these technologies developed from Federal R&D demonstrates the value of these types of projects.

Reduce environmental impact from water intake systems

Open water intake systems may have impacts on the marine environment, including directly through 

impingement and entrainment of aquatic organisms. Effects of intake systems vary due to site-specific 

circumstances and local environmental conditions. R&D is needed to improve technologies to reduce 

environmental impact from desalination water intake systems and to meet standards set by local, 

State, and Federal environmental regulations.

Monitor and minimize negative impacts on aquatic ecosystem health

Quantifying impacts on ecosystem health from desalination facilities requires an understanding of a 

broad range of effects, which vary widely and are affected by a number of location-specific parameters, 

such as the local natural mortality rate of fish, invertebrate eggs, larvae, animal reproductive rates, and 

other biological parameters and ecosystem functions. Future research should characterize, evaluate, 

and minimize the impact of seawater desalination discharge on marine ecosystems, including

modeling salinity discharge and plumes, analyzing local effects of brine disposal at the point of 

discharge, sampling pretreatment chemical discharge, and developing sensing and communication 

tools for controls.
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Goal 3. Encourage National and International Cooperation to Innovate and 

Develop Desalination Technologies

Different parts of the United States and world have been forced to innovate and develop desalination 

technologies to ensure that their livelihoods and ways of life are not threatened by water scarcity. Every 

region that has developed a substantial desalination portfolio has unique experiences that contribute

to a playbook of lessons that can be shared with others. Similarly, each U.S. Federal and State agency, 

local water utility, industry provider, non-profit organization, and research institution have unique 

missions, capabilities, experiences, and requirements that can be further coordinated for a more 

efficient R&D process. More effective collaboration is needed across national and international 

communities to share these experiences, best practices, and lessons learned, to further workforce 

readiness and the development and innovation of desalination technologies to promote global water 

security.

Priority 6. Improve Federal agency coordination

Experience has shown that strong coordinating frameworks between Federal agencies and other 

stakeholders involved in desalination result in effective and applicable R&D. Each agency has unique 

capabilities, resources, and networks that should be coordinated in support of utilizing desalination to

enhance water security.

Federal agencies can use new or existing agreements to support coordinated cross-agency desalination 

R&D. There are several Federal agency working groups that are particularly relevant to desalination 

technology development, including the Water Treatment Working Group, which is coordinated by USBR 

and TARDEC and provides an existing framework for interagency coordination, networking, technical 

development, and technology transfer for water treatment and desalination related research; the 

National Nanotechnology Coordinating Office, which launched a Nanotechnology Signature Initiative 

on Water Sustainability;

29 and the National Science Technology Council, Committee on Environment, 

which provides a valuable venue for coordinating and aligning cross-agency efforts with U.S. science 

and technology policy. In addition to working groups, there are several short term interagency R&D 

agreements that have provided a successful mechanism for coordination, such as the Expeditionary 

Water Unit Purification Program framework that supported Navy research in desalination. In all 

research efforts, Federal agency coordination should be coupled with U.S. science and technology

policy.

While interagency agreements are important to coordinate R&D on the national level, it is important to

also coordinate with State, regional, local, and Tribal governments, and non-profit organizations, as 

the bulk of water infrastructure investment occurs at the local level. By partnering with the Federal 

Government, these groups can best organize the testing and implementation of innovative water 

technologies across multiple regions, as well as understand potential funding opportunities.

Streamlining investments and implementation require various avenues of coordination among 

Federal, non-Federal (public and private), and international partners. Desalination R&D efforts should 

encourage collaboration with agreed upon outcomes that support at least one of the priorities listed in

this document, and the Federal Government should make federally funded desalination research 

results more accessible and useable by both private and public entities.

 

29 http://www.nano.gov/nsiwater
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Priority 7. Promote public-private partnerships

Public-private partnerships (PPP) can help the Federal Government enhance water security to create a 

streamlined, accountable, and more efficient government that works for the American people. PPPs 

play a critical role in meeting all of the R&D priorities outlined in this report. There are many different 

levels of public or private sector engagement in PPP contracts. For example, Federal agencies could 

engage the private sector to expedite siting and determine the most acceptable location for a new 

facility. The private sector could support the design of desalination facilities, such as devising the best 

mechanisms for operating and managing a newly created membrane in a water treatment plant.

Federal agencies can leverage financial tools to stimulate private investment and further support local 

decision making to determine if desalination facilities are appropriate for their community.

Engaging the private sector 

The Federal Government should establish more public-private R&D partnerships to engage the private 

sector, consistent with direction outlined in the President’s Management Agenda and the FY 2020 

Administration R&D Budget Priorities memorandum. DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office provides 

good examples of successful public-private R&D Consortia, as it leverages scientific and technical

expertise from national labs, universities, and private industry on high impact problems. In addition to 

partnerships, the private sector can be engaged through Federal prize and challenge competitions,

such as those authorized by the America COMPETES Act.

30

Competitions may produce technological, operational, policy, or commercial innovations by engaging 

a broad set of cross-disciplinary actors and driving new R&D partnerships. Prize competitions typically 

present little financial risk to the Federal Government because prize money is paid out only for 

successful outcomes. Continued conversations between experts and local decision makers beyond a 

grant or program can ensure long-term advancements and implementation success of desalination 

technologies, such as the work under the Water Security Grand Challenge.

One model to establish PPP and enhance research collaboration is through Cooperative Research and 

Development Agreements,

31 in which a Federal research lab and a non-Federal partner share 

knowledge, personnel, facilities, and equipment in a joint research project. If applicable, Federal 

agencies should consider participating in the Small Business Innovation Research program, a 

competitive avenue for seed funding to develop and mature technologies of interest. This program has 

previously aided the Navy in the development of desalination energy recovery pumps and pretreatment 

process improvements. The program also enables small businesses to explore their technical potential 

and provides extra incentives for commercializing new technologies.

Competitive funding mechanisms can also be used to encourage collaboration between domestic and 

international researchers. Specifically, the USBR can use the authorities of the Water Desalination Act 

of 1996 to provide grants under the Desalination and Water Purification Research Program, which 

allows non-Federal entities to fund innovative desalination technologies from early-stage development

through full scale testing under operational conditions. USBR has also offered ‘Pitch to Pilot’ funding 

opportunity announcements to encourage entrepreneurs to compete for grants in a compressed 

timeline by forgoing extensive written technical proposals. This program was used to support an 

 

30 https://www.congress.gov/110/plaws/publ69/PLAW-110publ69.pdf

31 https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-100/pdf/STATUTE-100-Pg1785.pdf
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operational water treatment facility in Alamogordo, New Mexico. To further stimulate the adoption of 

desalination technology, Federal agencies should consider offering similar programs in the future.

PPPs are important for transforming early-stage technology into deployable projects. An illustrative

example is the Affordable Desalination Collaboration, which operated for 4 years and connected local, 

State, Federal, and private sector, including agencies such as the San Diego Water Authority, the 

Metropolitan Water District, the California Department of Water Resources, USBR and the U.S. Navy. 

This collaboration demonstrated the energy consumption of seawater desalination at various fluxes

and recoveries and helped determine the optimal operating conditions for a large-scale seawater 

desalination plant. The study found that the energy cost for desalination was at or lower than the cost 

of pumping water from the Colorado River, furthering public acceptance of the project.

As noted above, PPPs provide unique opportunities to streamline and develop innovative desalination 

technologies, and Federal agencies should strive to develop more partnerships with industry, 

academia, and the international community.

Encourage data and information sharing

Data and information sharing mechanisms among water resource managers, regulators, engineers, and 

stakeholders can facilitate public and private investment, innovation, and help facilitate 

implementation of desalination technologies. However, within the water technology research 

community, desalination data is not always consistent and is often proprietary or lacks information 

regarding the underlying assumptions, which makes it difficult for researchers to aggregate and 

compare information across various sources. Using common platforms and data standards can help 

local and regional water management and planning bodies compare water supply alternatives and 

assess technical requirements, energy consumption, and costs of various desalination technologies. 

Accordingly, the Federal Government should work with stakeholders to help develop common data 

standards and platforms to improve data discoverability, accessibility, and usability.

In addition to sharing technical desalination data, more community outreach is needed to discuss the 

benefits of desalination technology and to address public concerns about desalination water systems. 

Federal agencies should support outreach through the development of educational resources and 

ongoing coordination with stakeholders to share information about desalination processes and their 

environmental and public health impacts. This would allow communities to make informed decisions 

whether desalination is the right technology for their community to address their water security needs.

Federal agencies should consider working with professional societies, standards bodies, non-profit 

organizations, or similar groups to effectively share data, information, and educational resources.

However, Federal agencies should ensure that data and results of federally-funded research are made 

available to the public when access to these groups is restricted via membership requirements.

Stimulate investments

Financial risk is one factor that inhibits private sector investment in desalination R&D. To incentivize 

non-Federal R&D investments, the Federal Government should drive domestic desalination R&D 

through several different mechanisms. Federal agencies should provide private sector investors and

water utilities easy access to reliable information about innovative financing opportunities and 

programs offered for desalination infrastructure investments.

Many different Federal agencies have programs designed to stimulate investments in water treatment 

technologies, including state-of-the-art desalination technologies. For example, the EPA Clean Water
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and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds provide communities with a source of low-cost financing for 

resilient and sustainable water quality infrastructure projects. EPA’s Water Infrastructure Resilience 

Finance Center32 helps communities identify financing options for resilient and sustainable 

infrastructure projects. The Water Infrastructure Financing Innovation Act33 program is a Federal credit 

mechanism administered by the EPA to accelerate investment in water and wastewater infrastructure, 

including desalination applications, by providing long-term, low-cost supplemental credit assistance 

under customized terms to creditworthy projects of national and regional significance. In addition, the 

United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Utilities Service administers grants and loans

for rural community utility infrastructure and improvements, which include developing reliable and 

affordable rural water supply systems.

34 These programs have been effective in promoting water 

treatment technologies, including desalination, and should be maintained.

Priority 8. Cooperate with international partners

Federalresearchers routinely collaborate with international partners to advance research into scientific 

topics of shared interest. For example, the Office of Naval Research’s Naval International Cooperative 

Opportunities Program funds collaborative basic research grants between an international and U.S. 

principal investigator; the NSF has collaboration agreements with international partners, including the 

U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation35 on research cooperation; and USDA has funded 

desalination-related R&D through the U.S.-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development 

Fund.36 Federal agencies can also engage with international research centers through existing 

agreements with U.S. universities or through participation in international research networks. The 

International Center for Integrated Water Resources Management, a U.S. Government-funded, United 

Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) center housed at the USACE 

Institute of Water Resources, provides a mechanism for international networking and cooperation 

between U.S. agencies and universities and counterpart UNESCO water centers around the world to

support research into best practices for integrated water resource management. U.S. institutions may

also establish a memorandum of understanding with other countries’ institutions to promote the 

exchange of scientific and technical knowledge and capabilities related to desalination, such as the NSF 

and USDA’s solicitation for Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems. International 

technology challenges and prize competitions can provide another venue for technical innovation 

through international cooperation. Accordingly, DOE recently partnered with Israel’s Ministry of 

National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Resources37 to encourage the design and development of a 

novel integrated energy and desalination system.

Although domestic technical agencies do collaborate with foreign counterparts on desalination R&D, 

the State Department can further strengthen R&D cooperation with international partners and play a 

central role in facilitating U.S. researcher access to foreign facilities, expertise, and data. Accordingly, 

the State Department has regular bilateral science meetings and exchange programs with international 

 

32 https://www.epa.gov/waterfinancecenter

33 https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2015-title33/pdf/USCODE-2015-title33-chap52.pdf

34 https://www.rd.usda.gov/about-rd/agencies/rural-utilities-service

35 http://www.bsf.org.il/BSFPublic/Default.aspx

36 http://www.bard-isus.com/

37 https://energy.gov/policy/downloads/us-israel-integrated-energy-and-desalination-design-challenge-lab-call
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partners. Greater collaboration with these partners would foster improved understanding that boosts

American technical capability and knowledge in desalination technologies.

In addition to improving R&D, examination of the ecological and environmental quality consequences 

of various types of seawater intake and brine disposal methods from desalination in places like 

Australia, South Africa, Spain, and Iraq could prove instructive in reducing environmental harm in the 

United States. Morocco and the United Arab Emirates are also developing technologies to desalinate 

seawater powered entirely from renewable energy. Lessons learned from these experiences could 

contribute to enhanced U.S. energy and water security.

Current U.S. State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development desalination 

cooperation efforts strengthen the capacity of our international partners to secure reliable and 

sustainable access to water. This in turn supports American foreign policy objectives and enhances 

economic and regional stability and security. While these programs are not designed to directly 

enhance American technical capabilities, desalination cooperation has been an abiding element of the 

American pursuit of comprehensive Middle East peace. A key component of U.S. engagement has been 

the strengthening of Arab-Israeli relations. The Middle East Multilaterals (MEM) program was 

established after the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference as part of the multilateral track of the peace 

process. This program fosters peaceful engagement among Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, and 

neighboring Arab States. Funding via MEM provides financing and technical expertise for cooperative 

projects that support important aspects of a comprehensive peace, such as joint water management, 

sustainable environmental management, and coordination on infectious diseases.

The U.S. State Department manages a portion of the Economic Support and Development Funds, which 

constitute the bulk of the MEM program budget. The Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs has used these funds 

to support training programs and projects, principally through the Middle East Desalination Research 

Center (MEDRC) to advance a regional approach to sustainable development in a water-scarce region. 

The MEDRC conducts regional workshops on water management and desalination to facilitate regional 

cooperation with an important goal of creating the conditions to facilitate direct negotiations between 

Israel and Palestine. In addition to promoting information exchange, this program is one of the only

non-security channels bringing Israeli and Palestinian stakeholders together for constructive problemsolving on a variety of topics, including desalination. The United States also provides expertise to the 

MEDRC by supplying technical experts to support meetings, and by helping initiatives such as the

recently launched MEDRC Prize Competition on small hand-held desalination systems.38

Through partnerships, programs, and cooperation with our national and international partners, the 

United States will be better aligned to optimize R&D efforts to yield the highest possible return on 

investment in desalination technologies.

Conclusion

Desalination is an important part of a comprehensive approach to improve water availability,resiliency, 

and security in the U.S. This National Strategy outlines three overarching goals and eight underlying 

priority areas that will support the advancement of desalination technologies to enhance our Nation’s 

water security. This report also responds to Congressional direction outlined in the WIIN Act to identify 

desalination priorities, coordinate relevant Federal Agencies, strengthen R&D cooperation with our 

international partners, and to promote public-private partnership.

 

38 http://www.medrc.org/medrc-launch-700-000-challenge-prize/

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