Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Rivers CESU | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Rivers CESU grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number 10HQPA0077) is a US Geological Survey (USGS) cooperative agreement intended to support research that strengthens computerized contaminant transport modeling for stream ecosystems. The work is housed within the USGS National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program, specifically the Mercury in Stream Ecosystems study team, and it focuses on improving how scientists simulate the movement and transformation of mercury in streams and rivers. While mercury is the central contaminant of concern because of its especially complicated behavior in aquatic environments, parts of the modeling approach are also expected to translate to other contaminants transported through watershed and river systems.

At the core of the project is a modeling and evaluation effort aimed at figuring out which processes actually matter most for predicting mercury transport and chemical speciation in real stream ecosystems. Mercury behavior is driven by a large set of interacting physical, chemical, and biological processes (for example, hydrology-driven transport, sediment interactions, redox conditions, and biogeochemical transformations). Modern watershed and water-quality models can represent many of these processes, but that complexity creates a practical problem: with many interconnected mechanisms and parameters, it becomes difficult to know which pieces control model behavior and which parameters are most important to estimate accurately. This opportunity is designed to address that problem by taking complex process-based contaminant transport models and breaking key components into simplified, reduced-form models that can be tested and evaluated more transparently. By evaluating those simpler representations, the research will help identify influential processes and constrain important parameter values for the study watersheds, which then feeds back into better parameter selection and calibration for the larger, more comprehensive models.

A specific example referenced in the announcement is WASP (Water Quality Analysis and Simulation Program), a commonly used framework for simulating water quality and contaminant fate and transport. The project involves analyzing the processes embedded in models like WASP, extracting them into simplified modules or reduced-form versions, and then using those to determine which mechanisms and parameters dominate mercury outcomes under different watershed conditions. The intended product is not just another model run, but a practical toolset and decision support for model development: a structured way to select parameter values and focus effort on the processes that most strongly control mercury fate, transport, and speciation in streams.

The work is collaborative by design. The recipient is expected to interact closely with a team of federal researchers who develop process-based models of watershed hydrology and contaminant transport. The project also ties directly to ongoing mercury cycling studies in South Carolina and New York, using those active study areas as real-world contexts for model evaluation and parameter investigation. Although the initial applications are anchored in these locations, USGS signals that the methods and modeling tools produced should be broadly applicable to other ecosystems, meaning the project is expected to generate transferable approaches rather than a one-off, site-specific exercise.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary funding opportunity using a cooperative agreement, which typically indicates substantial involvement and collaboration with the federal agency during the project rather than a more hands-off grant structure. The opportunity anticipated a single award with an estimated total funding amount of $113,000, and it explicitly stated there was no cost sharing or matching requirement. The CFDA number listed is 15.808 (U.S. Geological Survey Research and Data Collection). The posting date and creation date were June 16, 2010, with an original and current closing date of June 28, 2010, and an archive date of July 28, 2010.

Eligibility is restricted to participants in the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) network, specifically organizations that are official partners of the Great Rivers CESU Program. CESUs are structured partnerships that support research, technical assistance, and education, and this opportunity is issued under that framework. In practical terms, applicants would need to be an eligible CESU partner rather than a general open applicant pool.

For access issues or administrative questions about the announcement, the contact listed was Faith Graves, Contract Specialist, at 703-648-7356.

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