The Department of Energy (DOE) will award $27.5 million in funds to 16 projects that aim to deliver sustainable water sources and low-cost treatment options to various sectors across 13 U.S. states.
The funding effort's objectives include the assessment of potential opportunities for the generation of power from wastewater and the creation of treatment processes that could yield renewable energy, DOE said Monday.
DOE seeks to enhance wastewater treatment processes for livestock and agriculture field predictive process, machine learning and artificial intelligence controls to augment energy resiliency.
The department also intends to address environmental justice and social issues caused by lack of clean water access in native and rural areas through the funding opportunity.
The awardees are based from Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Georgia, Virginia and California.
The funding opportunity is a part of DOE's efforts to support the government's intent to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. DOE noted facility retrofits may increase energy savings up to 50 percent, while wastewater treatments could produce chemical, hydraulic and thermal energies.
