Sentence:  study methods for the recovery and marketing of commercially valuable byproducts resulting from the conversion of saline water ; and undertake economic studies and surveys to determine present and prospective costs of producing water for beneficial consumptive purposes in various parts of the <WSD>United</WSD> States by the leading saline water processes as compared with other standard methods . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean; achieved independence in 1776