Opportunity Information: Apply for 11 551
Apply for 11 551
- The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Water Sustainability and Climate" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.310 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) 47.041 Engineering Grants 47.050 Geosciences 47.075 Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences.
- This funding opportunity was created on Jun 17, 2011 and posted on Jun 17, 2011.
- Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 19, 2011 Full Proposal Deadline(s) October 19, 2011. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- The funding agency has allocated a total of $31,000,000.00 to eligible and selected applicants.
- Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $5,000,000.00 in funding.
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 26 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).
- Organization Limit Proposals may only be submitted by the following For profit organizations U.S. commercial organizations, especially small businesses with strong capabilities in scientific or engineering research or education. Non profit, non academic organizations Independent museums, observatories, research labs, professional societies and similar organizations in the U.S. associated with educational or research activities. Other Federal Agencies and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) Contact the appropriate program before preparing a proposal for submission. Universities and Colleges Universities and two and four year colleges (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in the US, acting on behalf of their faculty members. Such organizations also are referred to as academic institutions. USDA NIFA only Eligible applicants for the grant program implemented under WSC include (1) State agricultural experiment stations (2) colleges and universities (including junior colleges offering associate degrees or higher) (3) university research foundations (4) other research institutions and organizations (5) Federal agencies, (6) national laboratories (7) private organizations or corporations (8) individuals who are U.S. citizens, nations, or permanent residents and (9) any group consisting of 2 or more entities identified in (1) through (8). Eligible institutions do not include foreign and international organizations.
[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal:
Opportunity Summary:
The Water Sustainability and Climate (WSC) grant opportunity is a joint effort led by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA/NIFA) to address a core global problem: maintaining reliable, safe water supplies as climate variability and long-term climate change collide with growing human demand and ongoing land and infrastructure development. The solicitation is built around the idea that, even though water underpins ecosystems, economies, and public health, there are still major scientific gaps in how water availability, water quality, and overall water-system behavior respond to shifting climate patterns and human actions. The program aims to close those gaps by funding research that improves understanding and prediction of how climate, land use, engineered systems, and ecosystem processes interact within complete water systems.
A defining feature of WSC is its emphasis on place-based research that still produces knowledge and tools that travel. Projects are expected to use observations, models, or a combination of both at specific sites (for example, watersheds, river basins, aquifers, agricultural landscapes, or urban water networks), but they must also show how findings can be extrapolated across space and time to other regions and conditions. The program encourages integrative modeling approaches that connect processes that are often studied separately, with a strong preference for work that advances broader theoretical frameworks and predictive capability rather than producing isolated, purely local results.
The solicitation highlights three major research themes. First, it calls for the development of theoretical frameworks and models that explicitly capture linkages and feedbacks among atmospheric, terrestrial, aquatic, oceanic, and social processes, with the goal of predicting how water systems may respond to climate variability and change, land use change, and other human activities over long time horizons (decades to centuries). The intention is to produce science that supports adaptive management, meaning decision-makers can plan for changing risks and conditions rather than reacting after failures occur. Second, WSC seeks work that quantifies and explains changes in water budgets and water quality, including how inputs and outputs shift under climate and land use pressures, and what those shifts mean for biogeochemical cycles, long-term chemical transport and transformation, ecosystem health (terrestrial, aquatic, and coastal), landscape evolution, and even human settlement patterns and behavior. Third, the opportunity invites research on the reliability, resilience, and sustainability of built water systems and governance systems, focusing on how infrastructure and institutions can better handle competing demands such as water use for energy generation, industry, agriculture, forestry and rangelands, urban needs, potable and non-potable reuse, ecosystem protection, flood control, and stormwater management.
Interdisciplinarity is not optional in this program; it is a screening requirement. Successful proposals are expected to study water systems in their entirety and help establish a new interdisciplinary paradigm for water research. Projects that do not broadly integrate across biological sciences, geosciences, engineering, and social sciences may be returned without review, signaling that narrowly framed projects (for example, only hydrology without governance, or only engineering without ecological and climate linkages) are unlikely to fit the program goals. Applicants may propose establishing new observational sites, but they are also encouraged to leverage existing sites and facilities supported by NSF or other federal and state agencies, including entities such as the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), USDA research and land-management components (ARS/FS), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This reflects an intent to build on national monitoring and research infrastructure while improving integration and synthesis across datasets and disciplines.
From an administrative and funding standpoint, WSC is a discretionary research and development opportunity using a cooperative agreement mechanism, with an estimated total funding level of about $31 million and an expected 26 awards. Individual awards could be as large as $5 million, and the opportunity does not require cost sharing or matching. The CFDA listings associated with the solicitation span agriculture and food research (10.310), engineering (47.041), geosciences (47.050), and social, behavioral, and economic sciences (47.075), which mirrors the program requirement for cross-cutting work.
Eligibility is broad across U.S.-based organizations and, under USDA/NIFA rules, certain individuals and groupings, but foreign and international organizations are not eligible. Eligible applicants include U.S. for-profit organizations (including small businesses with strong research or education capabilities), nonprofit non-academic organizations (such as independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, and professional societies), universities and accredited two- and four-year colleges with U.S. campuses, and in some cases other federal agencies and federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs), typically with prior coordination with the relevant program. USDA/NIFA eligibility language further includes state agricultural experiment stations, university research foundations, national laboratories, private organizations or corporations, U.S. citizens/nationals/permanent residents, and consortia of eligible entities.
Overall, the WSC solicitation is designed to fund high-impact, systems-level water research that connects climate science, hydrology, ecology, engineered infrastructure, land management, and human decision-making. Its end goal is to produce predictive understanding and practical insight that can help communities and institutions plan for water sustainability under mounting environmental and societal pressures.
Water Sustainability and Climate (WSC) Grant Opportunity: FAQs
1. What is the Water Sustainability and Climate (WSC) grant opportunity?
The Water Sustainability and Climate (WSC) opportunity is a joint research program led by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA/NIFA). It supports research aimed at maintaining reliable, safe water supplies as climate variability and long-term climate change interact with growing human demand and ongoing land and infrastructure development.
2. What problem is WSC trying to address?
WSC focuses on the scientific gaps that still exist in understanding how water availability, water quality, and overall water-system behavior respond to changing climate patterns and human actions. The program aims to improve understanding and prediction of how climate, land use, engineered systems, and ecosystem processes interact within complete water systems.
3. What types of research does WSC fund?
WSC funds systems-level, interdisciplinary research that integrates observations, modeling, or both to explain and predict water system behavior under climate and human pressures. Projects are expected to connect processes often studied separately and to advance broader theoretical frameworks and predictive capability rather than producing isolated, purely local results.
4. Is WSC focused on specific locations or broader generalizable science?
Both. WSC emphasizes place-based research (for example, specific watersheds, river basins, aquifers, agricultural landscapes, or urban water networks) while requiring that the knowledge, methods, or tools developed can be extrapolated across space and time to other regions and conditions.
5. What are the major research themes in the WSC solicitation?
The solicitation highlights three major themes:
- Theme 1: Theoretical frameworks and models that capture linkages and feedbacks among atmospheric, terrestrial, aquatic, oceanic, and social processes to predict water system responses over long time horizons (decades to centuries), supporting adaptive management.
- Theme 2: Research that quantifies and explains changes in water budgets and water quality under climate and land use pressures, including implications for biogeochemical cycles, chemical transport and transformation, ecosystem health, landscape evolution, and human settlement patterns and behavior.
- Theme 3: Research on the reliability, resilience, and sustainability of built water systems and governance systems, especially how infrastructure and institutions handle competing water demands and management objectives.
6. What does WSC mean by "adaptive management"?
In the context of the solicitation, adaptive management refers to science that helps decision-makers plan for changing risks and conditions over time, rather than reacting only after failures occur. WSC seeks predictive understanding that supports proactive, long-term water management decisions.
7. Does WSC require interdisciplinarity?
Yes. Interdisciplinarity is described as a screening requirement, not an optional feature. Proposals are expected to integrate across biological sciences, geosciences, engineering, and social sciences to study water systems in their entirety and contribute to a new interdisciplinary paradigm for water research.
8. What happens if a proposal is too narrow or not sufficiently interdisciplinary?
The solicitation indicates that projects that do not broadly integrate across the relevant disciplines may be returned without review. Examples of potentially misaligned projects include work focused only on hydrology without governance, or only on engineering without ecological and climate linkages.
9. What kinds of water systems or settings can be studied under WSC?
Projects may focus on specific sites such as watersheds, river basins, aquifers, agricultural landscapes, coastal systems, or urban water networks, as long as the work is systems-oriented and designed to produce transferable findings and predictive tools.
10. Are modeling approaches encouraged in WSC?
Yes. The program encourages integrative modeling approaches that connect processes that are often studied separately, and it emphasizes advancing theoretical frameworks and predictive capability.
11. Can projects rely on observations, models, or both?
Yes. Projects are expected to use observations, models, or a combination of both at specific sites, while also demonstrating how results can be extrapolated to other regions and conditions.
12. Does WSC support establishing new observational sites?
Applicants may propose establishing new observational sites, but they are also encouraged to leverage existing sites and facilities supported by NSF or other federal and state agencies.
13. What existing sites or agencies does WSC encourage applicants to leverage?
The solicitation encourages leveraging monitoring and research infrastructure supported by NSF and other federal and state agencies, including entities such as the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), USDA research and land-management components (ARS/FS), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
14. What kinds of "human dimensions" are relevant to WSC?
WSC explicitly includes social processes, governance systems, institutions, and human decision-making as part of complete water systems. It also references connections to human settlement patterns and behavior as part of understanding water budget and water quality changes.
15. What kinds of competing water demands are within scope?
The solicitation lists competing demands and objectives such as water use for energy generation, industry, agriculture, forestry and rangelands, urban needs, potable and non-potable reuse, ecosystem protection, flood control, and stormwater management.
16. What is the funding mechanism for WSC?
WSC is described as a discretionary research and development opportunity using a cooperative agreement mechanism.
17. How much total funding is expected under WSC?
The estimated total funding level is about $31 million.
18. How many awards are expected?
The solicitation anticipates approximately 26 awards.
19. What is the maximum size of an individual award?
Individual awards could be as large as $5 million.
20. Is cost sharing or matching required?
No. The opportunity does not require cost sharing or matching.
21. What CFDA listings are associated with the WSC solicitation?
The CFDA listings associated with the solicitation span agriculture and food research (10.310), engineering (47.041), geosciences (47.050), and social, behavioral, and economic sciences (47.075), reflecting the program's cross-cutting requirements.
22. Who is eligible to apply?
Eligibility is broad across U.S.-based organizations and, under USDA/NIFA rules, certain individuals and groupings. Eligible applicants include U.S. for-profit organizations (including small businesses with strong research or education capabilities), nonprofit non-academic organizations (such as independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, and professional societies), universities and accredited two- and four-year colleges with U.S. campuses, and in some cases other federal agencies and federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs), typically with prior coordination with the relevant program.
23. Are foreign or international organizations eligible?
No. Foreign and international organizations are not eligible under this opportunity.
24. Does USDA/NIFA list any additional eligible applicant categories?
Yes. USDA/NIFA eligibility language further includes state agricultural experiment stations, university research foundations, national laboratories, private organizations or corporations, U.S. citizens/nationals/permanent residents, and consortia of eligible entities.
25. Can consortia apply?
Yes. The solicitation notes that consortia of eligible entities are included under USDA/NIFA eligibility language.
26. What is the overall goal of the WSC program?
The end goal is to fund high-impact, interdisciplinary, systems-level water research that connects climate science, hydrology, ecology, engineered infrastructure, land management, and human decision-making to produce predictive understanding and practical insight for water sustainability under increasing environmental and societal pressures.
Browse more opportunities from the same category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development
Next opportunity: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Talent Expansion Program
Previous opportunity: Spatial Uncertainty Data, Modeling, and Communication (R03)
USGrants.org Applicant Portal:
Are you interested in learning about about how to apply for this government funding opportunity? You can create a free applicant account and receive instant access to our applicant portal that many business owners like you have benefited from.
Apply for 11 551
[Watch] how do funding administrators access proposals?
Applicants also applied for:
Applicants who have applied for this opportunity (11 551) also looked into and applied for these:
| Funding Opportunity |
|---|
| Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Talent Expansion Program Apply for 11 550 Funding Number: 11 550 Agency: National Science Foundation Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| NRL WIDE BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT BAA N00173 02 Apply for BAA N00173 02 Funding Number: BAA N00173 02 Agency: Naval Research Laboratory Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Plains CESU Apply for G11AS20052 Funding Number: G11AS20052 Agency: Geological Survey Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, North and West Alaska CESU Apply for G11AS20051 Funding Number: G11AS20051 Agency: Geological Survey Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Rocky Mountain CESU Apply for G11AS20050 Funding Number: G11AS20050 Agency: Geological Survey Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Gulf Coast CESU Apply for G11AS20049 Funding Number: G11AS20049 Agency: Geological Survey Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Chesapeak Watershed CESU Apply for G11AS20048 Funding Number: G11AS20048 Agency: Geological Survey Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Rivers CESU Apply for G11AS20046 Funding Number: G11AS20046 Agency: Geological Survey Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Rivers Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit Apply for G11AS20047 Funding Number: G11AS20047 Agency: Geological Survey Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Removal of Rainbow Trout Using Electrofishing between the Paria River Apply for G11AS20015 Funding Number: G11AS20015 Agency: Geological Survey Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Natal Origins of Rainbow Trout in Marble Canyon/LCR Confluence Area Apply for G11AS20008 Funding Number: G11AS20008 Agency: Geological Survey Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| ROSES 2011 Satellite Calibration Interconsistency Studies Apply for NNH11ZDA001N SCIS Funding Number: NNH11ZDA001N SCIS Agency: NASA Headquarters Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Science Applications Desert Southwest CooperativeEcosystem Study Unit Apply for SCID R2 20110 01 Funding Number: SCID R2 20110 01 Agency: Fish and Wildlife Service Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: $10,000 |
| U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Funding Opportunity Announcement, Minority Serving Institutions Program. Apply for SBCR FN 0511 MSIP02 Funding Number: SBCR FN 0511 MSIP02 Agency: Nuclear Regulatory Commission Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: $400,000 |
| Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology Apply for 11 499 Funding Number: 11 499 Agency: National Science Foundation Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: $189,000 |
| Centers for Chemical Innovation Apply for 11 552 Funding Number: 11 552 Agency: National Science Foundation Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Documenting Endangered Languages Apply for 11 554 Funding Number: 11 554 Agency: National Science Foundation Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: $450,000 |
| ROSES 2011 Heliophysics Guest Investigators Apply for NNH11ZDA001N HGI Funding Number: NNH11ZDA001N HGI Agency: NASA Headquarters Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| General Age Related Disabilities Engineering (GARDE) Apply for PD 12 5342 Funding Number: PD 12 5342 Agency: National Science Foundation Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Particle and Nuclear Astrophysics Apply for PD 11 1643 Funding Number: PD 11 1643 Agency: National Science Foundation Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development Funding Amount: $2,000,000 |
Grant application guides and resources
It is always free to apply for government grants. However the process may be very complex depending on the funding opportunity you are applying for. Let us help you!
Apply for Grants
Premium leads for funding administrators, grant writers, and loan issuers
Thousands of people visit our website for their funding needs every day. When a user creates a grant proposal and files for submission, we pass the information on to funding administrators, grant writers, and government loan issuers.
If you manage government grant programs, provide grant writing services, or issue personal or government loans, we can help you reach your audience.
Subscribe to Leads
Request more information:
Would you like to learn more about this funding opportunity, similar opportunities to "11 551", eligibility, application service, and/or application tips? Submit an inquiry below:
Don't forget to subscribe to our grant alerts mailing list to receive weekly alerts on new and updated grant funding opportunities like this one in your email.