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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): NSF Water Sustainability and Climate (WSC) - NSF 10-524

What is the main goal of the NSF Water Sustainability and Climate (WSC) program?

The WSC program is focused on improving scientific understanding and prediction of how water systems respond as human demands increase and as climate variability and climate change reshape the water cycle. NSF describes this as an urgent challenge because important gaps remain in basic knowledge about water availability, water quality, and water-system dynamics, especially when climate pressures and human activities interact. The program aims to produce insights that can support long-term water management.

What core problem is this grant opportunity trying to address?

The core problem is how to secure reliable, high-quality water supplies in a future where climate and human activity increasingly influence water availability, water quality, and the functioning of coupled water systems.

What does NSF mean by "place-based" research in this solicitation?

"Place-based" research means projects should be anchored in real-world observational settings such as watersheds, aquifers, river basins, coastal systems, or urban water networks. NSF is looking for research grounded in field observations and real system behavior rather than purely abstract or laboratory-only work.

Why does the program pair place-based research with integrative modeling?

NSF is encouraging teams to connect observations to theory and predictive tools. The intent is to learn from specific sites and then build models that can scale findings beyond a single location, extrapolate across space and time, and capture interacting processes within the full water system.

What kinds of water systems or study settings are appropriate for WSC projects?

The solicitation explicitly points to settings such as watersheds, aquifers, river basins, coastal systems, and urban water networks. Projects may also incorporate coastal and ocean-influenced zones where relevant.

What does it mean to study water systems "in their entirety" under this program?

It means projects are expected to integrate multiple interacting components of water systems, including atmospheric processes, land processes, rivers and groundwater, coastal/ocean influences where relevant, ecosystem processes, built infrastructure, and human systems such as water use, policy, and institutional decision-making.

What are the major topic areas highlighted in the WSC solicitation?

The solicitation emphasizes: (1) water budgets and how they shift under climate variability and climate change while accounting for human activities, (2) theoretical frameworks and predictive models that capture linkages and feedbacks across natural and social components of water systems over long time horizons, and (3) the performance of built water systems and governance under stress, with a focus on reliability, resilience, and sustainability.

What does the program mean by "water budgets" and why are they important?

Water budgets involve determining inputs and outputs and how the balance may shift among precipitation, evapotranspiration, runoff, recharge, and storage. NSF is interested in how these budgets change under climate variability and long-term climate change, and how human activities like withdrawals, irrigation, reservoir operations, and land development alter those balances.

How does water budget research connect to water quality and biogeochemical cycles in this program?

NSF is explicitly interested in how changes in water budgets ripple into biogeochemical cycles and water quality, including long-term chemical transport and transformation. The solicitation also points to downstream ecosystem impacts (terrestrial, aquatic, and coastal), longer-run landscape evolution, and implications for human settlements and behavior.

What kinds of predictive modeling does WSC prioritize?

The program calls for theoretical frameworks and predictive models that incorporate atmospheric, terrestrial, aquatic, oceanic, and social processes, including linkages and feedbacks across these components. NSF also highlights the ability to explore decadal to centennial timescales.

Why does the solicitation emphasize decadal to centennial timescales?

The long time horizons reflect the program's interest in building a scientific basis for adaptive management. NSF is encouraging research that supports strategies that can adjust as conditions evolve, rather than relying on fixed assumptions about stationarity in climate and hydrology.

What does the program mean by adaptive management in the context of water sustainability?

Within this solicitation, adaptive management refers to approaches that can adjust over time as climate, hydrology, and human systems change, informed by improved understanding and prediction rather than assuming the future will resemble the past.

Does WSC include research on built infrastructure and governance, or is it only about natural hydrology?

WSC explicitly includes research on built water systems and governance. The solicitation calls for work on how infrastructure and the institutions that manage water can become more reliable, resilient, and sustainable while balancing competing objectives.

What kinds of infrastructure- and governance-related outcomes does NSF mention?

Examples in the solicitation include reducing water consumption tied to energy generation, industrial activity, agriculture, and urban development; increasing effective reuse for potable and non-potable needs; protecting ecosystems; and improving flood control, stormwater management, and hazard resilience.

Can projects create new observational sites, or must they use existing ones?

Proposals may create new observational sites or leverage existing sites and facilities. The solicitation notes that existing sites may be supported by NSF or other agencies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) or the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

How important is interdisciplinarity for this program?

Interdisciplinarity is not optional. NSF states that proposals that do not broadly integrate biological sciences, engineering, geosciences, and social sciences may be returned without review. The program is designed to push toward a coupled-systems paradigm rather than siloed approaches.

What NSF disciplinary areas does this program span?

The solicitation spans multiple NSF areas, including engineering, geosciences, biological sciences, social and economic sciences, computing, and others. This breadth reflects the expectation that teams will cross traditional boundaries to improve predictive understanding and produce more usable knowledge for water sustainability challenges.

What is the Funding Opportunity Number for this program?

The Funding Opportunity Number is NSF 10-524.

What type of funding instrument is used for this opportunity?

This is a discretionary research and development program using a Cooperative Agreement funding instrument.

How many awards and how much total funding did NSF anticipate?

NSF anticipated about 14 awards with an estimated total funding level of $16,000,000.

Is cost sharing or matching required?

No. The solicitation states there is no cost-sharing or matching requirement.

What were the key submission dates included in the original posting?

The original posting listed a required Letter of Intent due March 15, 2010, and full proposals due April 15, 2010.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is limited to U.S.-based nonprofit, non-academic research organizations (such as museums, observatories, and research labs associated with education or research activities) and accredited U.S. colleges and universities applying on behalf of their faculty.

Who is not eligible to apply?

Proposals from individuals, for-profit organizations, federal agencies, or foreign organizations are not accepted under this solicitation.

Does the program allow proposals from foreign organizations or non-U.S. entities?

No. The solicitation states foreign organizations are not accepted.

Can an individual apply directly (as an unaffiliated applicant)?

No. The solicitation states proposals from individuals are not accepted.

Is this program mainly about generating local data, or does it require broader impacts in terms of prediction and scaling?

NSF is not seeking local measurements alone. The program emphasizes connecting observations to theory and building predictive tools that can extrapolate across space and time, linking multiple interacting processes to improve understanding and prediction of coupled water system behavior.

What kinds of human activities does NSF expect projects to account for?

The solicitation highlights human activities such as withdrawals, irrigation, reservoir operations, and land development. It also emphasizes the role of policy, infrastructure decisions, and institutions that shape water allocation and protection.

How does NSF describe the overall intent or "big picture" of WSC?

WSC is positioned as an NSF push to fund deeply integrated, observation-driven, model-enabled research that can explain and anticipate how climate and society jointly shape water availability, water quality, ecosystem outcomes, and the reliability of water services over coming decades and beyond.