United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Safe and Sustainable
Water Resources
STRATEGIC RESEARCH ACTION PLAN
2019-2022
tPA 601K20005 March 2020 www.epa.gov/research
Office of Research and Development
Safe and Sustainable V\Mer Resources

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Safe and Sustainable Water Resources
National Research Program
Strategic Research Action Plan, 2019 - 2022
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Table of Contents
List of Acronyms	i
Executive Summary	iii
Introduction	1
Research to Support EPA and ORD Strategic Plans	1
Statutory and Policy Context	2
Partner and Stakeholder Engagement	2
Environmental Problems and Program Objectives	3
Problem Statement	5
Program Vision	5
Program Objectives	5
Research Topics and Research Areas	6
Topic 1: Watersheds	6
Topic 2: Nutrients and Harmful Algal Blooms	13
Topic 3: Water Treatment and Infrastructure	18
Program Design	24
SSWR Program Components	24
Solutions-Driven Research	25
Integration Among Research Programs	26
Conclusion	27
References	28
Appendices	29
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List of Acronyms
A-E
Air and Energy
AMR
Antimicrobial resistance
AOPs
Adverse Outcome Pathways
ASDWA
Association of State Drinking Water Administrators
BCG
Biological condition gradient
CAA
Clean Air Act
CCL
Contaminant Candidate List
CERCLA
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act - "Superfund
CRADA
Cooperative Research and Development Agreement
CSO
Combined Sewer Overflow
CSS
Chemical Safety for Sustainability
CWA
Clean Water Act
DBPs
Disinfection Byproducts
EAR
Enhanced Aquifer Recharge
ECOS
Environmental Council of the States
EPA
Environmental Protection Agency
ERIS
Environmental Research Institute of the States
FIFRA
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
HABs
Harmful Algal Blooms
HERA
Health and Environmental Risk Assessment
HSRP
Homeland Security Research Program
MNP
Micro/Nanoplastics
MS4
Muncipal Separate Storm Sewer System
NTWC
National Tribal Water Council
NARS
National Aquatic Resource Surveys
NEPA
National Environmental Policy Act
NGO
Nongovernmental Organization
NPDES
National Pollution Discharge Elimination System
NPS
Nonpoint Source
NSTC
National Science and Technology Council
OAR
Office of Air and Radiation
OGWDW
Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water
OLEM
Office of Land and Emergency Management
ORD
Office of Research and Development
OST
Office of Science and Technology
OW
Office of Water
OWM
Office of Wastewater Management
PFAS
Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances
RARE
Regional Applied Research Effort
RCRA
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
SDWA
Safe Drinking Water Act
SHC
Sustainable and Healthy Communities
SSWR
Safe and Sustainable Water Resources
STAR
Science to Achieve Results
St RAP
Strategic Research Action Plan
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SWAQ
Subcommittee on Water Availability and Quality
SWMM
Storm Water Management Model
SWC
National Stormwater Calculator
TMDL
Total Maximum Daily Load
UCMR
Unregulated Contaminants Monitoring Rule
WET
Whole Effluent Toxicity
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Executive Summary
The U.S. EPA's Safe and Sustainable Water Resources National Research Program (SSWR) helps ensure
that when people turn on the tap for a glass of water, swim in a lake, use water at their farm, ranch, or
business, or draw upon water in hundreds of other ways, they can count on the water being clean, safe,
and reliable. Inextricably tied with that, SSWR also works to protect and restore the Nation's watersheds
and aquatic ecosystems, now and for future generations.
Although tremendous accomplishments have been made, the challenges remaining are formidable.
Solutions are more difficult to find, costlier to implement, and come with potential tradeoffs. New threats
are emerging—such as per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), accelerated antimicrobial resistance,
and micro/nano plastics in the water—that potentially endanger human health and ecosystems. At the
same time, persistent issues—including lead, disinfection byproducts, pathogens, and other drinking
water contaminants; excess nutrient loading; harmful algal blooms; aging water infrastructure; demand
for water supply; antimicrobial resistance, and contaminants in recreational waters, wastewater, and
biosolids—continue to pose problems for people, wildlife, and the economy.
To meet these challenges, SSWR will produce effective, efficient, and collaborative solutions. SSWR
focuses on robust and innovative research that translates into practical, real-world solutions. Examples of
this work include molecular methods to detect pathogens for safe water reuse and for microbial source
tracking, satellite imagery for early detection of harmful algal blooms, aquatic ecosystem response
trajectories, and non-regulatory, market-based incentives to reduce excess nutrient loading. The resulting
products are data, tools, and capabilities that EPA programs and regions, states, tribes, local communities,
utilities, and others need to protect water resources. SSWR has a long-term commitment to applying its
research results through risk communication, technical support, and ongoing training.
SSWR's activities to ensure clean drinking water and to protect and restore watersheds and aquatic
ecosystems adhere to the Congressional mandates found in the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water
Act, and other legislation. SSWR does this work in partnership with other EPA programs, federal and state
agencies, tribes, academia, nongovernmental agencies, public and private stakeholders, and the global
scientific community. This crosscutting approach maximizes efficiency, transparency, interdisciplinary
insights, and integration of results.
The broad scope of the SSWR research program activities will be guided by four overarching objectives:
• Research Objective 1: Improve Prediction and Early Accurate Detection of Contaminants —
Continue advancements in environmental monitoring, modeling, methods, and other
information, needed to rapidly and reliably inform water quality decision-making at the
national, state, tribal, and local levels.
•	Research Objective 2: Assess Potential Impacts — Improve understanding of exposure
pathways and effects of chemical and microbial contaminants on human health and aquatic
ecosystems.
•	Research Objective 3: Develop and Evaluate Approaches for Prevention and Mitigation —
Expand solutions to prevent and mitigate water quality impairments using innovations in
technology, market-based incentives, and other approaches.

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• Research Objective 4: Translate and Communicate Research - Provide practical solutions to
water resource challenges through application of SSWR data, tools, and models, and
disseminate this information through outreach activities.
The SSWR research portfolio is organized into three interrelated topics: watersheds, nutrients and harmful
algal blooms, and water treatment and infrastructure. Each topic supports the overarching objectives and
carries specific near- and long-term goals designed to yield practical tools and solutions. This SSWR
Strategic Research Action Plan 2019-2022 outlines these topics and the overall SSWR program design. The
StRAP serves as planning guide for ORD's centers to design specific research products that contribute to
the identified outputs. SSWR's scientific results and innovative technologies will support the Clean Water
Act to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters, and the
Safe Drinking Water Act to protect the quality of drinking water throughout the Nation.
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Introduction
Water is the molecule of life. Directly or indirectly, all life depends on it. Although the total amount of
Earth's water is relatively constant, water dynamically moves through the hydrologic cycle, changing
biologically, chemically, and geologically. The quality and availability of water, upon which human and
ecosystem health and a robust economy depend, also change over space and time.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established to protect human health and the
environment, which includes safeguarding the Nation's waters together with states and tribal partners.
To assist the Agency in meeting its goals and objectives, the Safe and Sustainable Water Resources
National Research Program (SSWR), within EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD), developed
this Strategic Research Action Plan (StRAP) for fiscal years 2019-2022 (StRAP FY19-22). This StRAP
outlines a four-year research strategy to advance the goals and cross-Agency priorities identified in the
FY18-FY22 EPA Strategic Plan to provide clean and safe water (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
2018).
The SSWR StRAP is one of six research plans, one for each of EPA's national research programs in ORD.
The six research programs are:
•	Air and Energy (A-E)
•	Chemical Safety for Sustainability (CSS)
•	Homeland Security Research Program (HSRP)
•	Health and Environmental Risk Assessment (HERA)
•	Safe and Sustainable Water Resources (SSWR)
•	Sustainable and Healthy Communities (SHC)
Research to Support EPA and ORD Strategic Plans
Each of ORD's six national research programs has developed a StRAP. Collectively, the StRAPs lay
the foundation for EPA's research programs to provide focused research that meets the Agency's
statutory requirements and the goals outlined in the EPA Strategic Plan and the ORD Strategic Plan.
The StRAPs are designed to guide an ambitious research portfolio that delivers the science and
engineering solutions the Agency needs to meet its goals now and into the future, while also
cultivating an efficient, innovative, and responsive research enterprise. The strategic directions and
outputs identified in each StRAP serve as planning guides for ORD to design specific research
products to address partner and stakeholder needs.
The FY18-FY22 EPA Strategic Plan has three overarching strategic goals with related objectives. The first
goal is the Agency's core mission to provide the Nation with a Cleaner, Healthier Environment. The SSWR
StRAP primarily supports objective 1.2: to provide for clean and safe water. Research under SSWR also
contributes to: 1) objective 1.1: to improve air quality, through its atmospheric nitrogen and phosphorus
work and wildland fires work; 2) objective 1.3: to revitalize land and prevent contamination, through its
biosolids and groundwater work; and 3) objective 1.4: to ensure safety of chemicals in the marketplace,
through its per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other contaminants research.
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The Agency's second strategic goal addresses More Effective Partnerships for enhanced shared
accountability, and increased transparency and public participation. ORD has made great strides in
strengthening its relationship and engagement with states through the Environmental Council of the
States (ECOS) and the Environmental Research Institute of the States (ERIS), and with tribes through the
Tribal Science Council and other tribal organizations. The research priorities represented are primarily
from EPA's Office of Water (OW) and regions; however, SSWR has also worked closely with the states and
tribes to understand their water resource challenges. Their input is reflected in this StRAP and reinforces
the Agency's priorities (Appendix 1). ORD also recently implemented a Memorandum of Understanding
with several health organizations (e.g., National Environmental Health Association, and the Association of
State and Territorial Health Officials) to support states in public health decision-making. SSWR has met
with these groups to discuss its drinking water research for public health protection.
The third Agency goal, Greater Certainty, Compliance, and Effectiveness, has several objectives including
prioritizing robust science. SSWR is committed to continually providing robust research and scientific
analysis to inform policy and decision-making under the authorities of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)
and Clean Water Act (CWA). The SSWR research aim is to develop and apply innovative, cost-effective
solutions to current, emerging, and future water resource challenges.
Statutory and Policy Context
The objective of the CWA is to "restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the
Nation's waters" 33 USC12519a). The CWA attempts to accomplish this objective in part by authorizing or
otherwise encouraging research in several areas. It should be noted that the CWA focuses on improving
and protecting surface water resources and it does not specifically address contamination of groundwater
resources. Provisions in other statutes, including SDWA, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA), and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA),
address groundwater protection and improvement.
The SDWA directs EPA to set national health-based standards for drinking water to protect against
naturally occurring and anthropogenic contaminants that may be found in drinking water. It also
authorizes other regulatory programs (e.g., Underground Injection Control, Wellhead Protection), as well
as funding and assistance, training, public information, and source water assessment programs, to foster
the protection of many sources of drinking water.
Specific water research activities are either required or authorized under various provisions of these
statutes, in addition to ORD's overarching research mandates (Environmental Research, Development and
Demonstration Act, PL-95-155. 95th Congress, 1977). The Office of Water, which has primary
responsibility for implementing the provisions of the CWA and the SDWA, is a key partner for SSWR. For
more information on EPA responsibilities under these statutes, see the links provided in Appendix 2.
Partner and Stakeholder Engagement
In line with ORD's strategic measure to increase the percentage of research products that meet customer
needs, the SSWR StRAP FY19-22 guides ORD research to address the high-priority needs of the Agency and
its partners and stakeholders. It was developed with considerable input from EPA's OW and other
program and regional offices. These partners identified and prioritized their highest objectives and
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collaborated with SSWR and ORD scientists to develop the research plans needed to support these
objectives. Engagement with Agency leadership and staff occurred throughout multiple meetings,
workshops, webinars, and teleconferences. State and tribal priorities were integrated through
engagement with the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS), the Environmental Research Institute of
the States (ERIS), the National Tribal Science Council, and the National Tribal Water Council, and other
tribal organizations. Input was provided through surveys, in-person meetings, and webinars. SSWR also
considered the states' expertise and data and traditional ecological knowledge that could contribute to
meeting research needs. Federal partners, including the agencies represented on the National Science and
Technology Council's (NSTC) Subcommittee on Water Availability and Quality (SWAQ), also informed the
research planned in this StRAP. The SWAQ advises and assists the White House NSTC on water-related
issues and comprises over a dozen federal agencies that facilitate effective outcomes of coordinated
multi-agency, water-related activities. Engagement with federal agencies also occurred through
established networks and ongoing collaborations. Coordination of international research strategies and
expertise is facilitated by SSWR's participation on the Global Water Research Coalition and through
memoranda of understanding or other mechanisms with Australia, Singapore, China, and other nations.
Additionally, SSWR staff and researchers interact with academia, non-governmental organizations, and
industry. These interactions help SSWR better understand the immediate and long-term, multi-sector
needs for water research, leverage expertise and resources, and identify unique areas to which SSWR can
make the greatest scientific contributions. The collective input from partners, stakeholders, and
colleagues; ORD's horizon scanning for research needs; consideration of unanticipated requests for
research and technical support, changes in scientific advances, and consumer demands; and the
availability of resources were the basis for the research included in the SSWR StRAP FY19-22 and will
inform further prioritization in the event resources become more limited.
Environmental Problems and Program Objectives
Impairment of water quality and diminished water availability are concerns for human and ecosystem
health, economic prosperity, and social well-being. Some of the most pressing challenges include:
• Water infrastructure and treatment—The Nation's water treatment and distribution systems face
increasingly greater challenges for delivering adequate supplies of safe drinking water. Legacy
issues—such as 240,000 water main breaks every year across one million pipe miles that waste six
billion gallons of treated drinking water every day—threaten water safety and availability1. EPA's
6th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment shows $472.6 billion is needed to
maintain and improve the Nation's drinking water infrastructure over the next 20 years2. The
American Society of Civil Engineers estimates the cost to maintain and expand service over the
next 25 years is around $1 trillion3. Lead (Pb) in service lines is another legacy issue, requiring
advances in identifying lead service lines, improvement in lead sampling techniques, and a further
understanding of the complexities of lead release under varying conditions. Balancing residual
1	https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/cat-item/drinking-water/
2	https://www.epa.gov/drinkingwatersrf/epas-6th-drinking-water-infrastructure-needs-survey-and-
assessment
3	https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/cat-item/drinking-water/
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disinfectant levels in distribution systems remains a challenge to control pathogens without
forming unacceptable levels of harmful byproducts from the disinfectants. Emerging issues, such
as the treatment of PFAS in drinking water, are also high priorities. Innovative, cost-effective
approaches are needed to optimize the efficacy and efficiency of water treatment and
distribution, especially for small systems that often face greater technical, financial, and
operational challenges to comply with new and existing standards.
•	Excess nutrients and harmful algal blooms— Excess levels of nutrients and sediment remain the
largest impediment to the Nation's water quality. The rapid growth or bloom of phytoplankton
and cyanobacteria, commonly referred to as harmful algal blooms (HABs), is triggered primarily by
increased nutrient levels, among other factors. In the United States, all 50 states are challenged in
varying degrees by HABs. Impacts may be a nuisance (e.g., odor, aesthetics) or pose health risks to
humans and animals. Economic impacts may include medical and veterinary expenses, increased
cost of drinking water treatment, and decreased recreational revenue and property values. The
capability to predict the timing, location, and type of bloom; to prevent or rapidly treat the
presence of algal toxins in drinking water; and to understand the adverse health outcomes from
exposure to toxins, will advance the protection of human and animal health and minimize
economic impacts.
•	Microbial pathogens in recreational waters—Surface water recreation, such as swimming,
wading, fishing, and boating, is enjoyed by more than 60 percent of the U.S. population (Cordell
2012). Human exposure to pathogens associated with human and animal waste in some surface
waters results in an estimated 90 million illnesses nationwide, costing between $2.2 billion to $3.7
billion annually—not including illnesses related to HABs4. Added to the economic burden, is lost
revenue from beach closures. Although beach water monitoring is improving, rapid low-cost
methods for same-day notifications of the presence of pathogens are needed to close and reopen
beaches more quickly to prevent or minimize human illness and lost revenue. Tools are also
needed to identify the pathogen source(s) and to assess human health and exposure risk.
•	Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in surface water and wastewater— Antibiotic-resistant bacteria
and antibiotic-resistant genes have been detected in wastewater from municipal treatment plants
and hospitals, as well as in drinking water, irrigation water, and recreational waters. The
continued spread of antimicrobial resistance throughout the environment is of public concern,
and traditional water treatment methods vary in effectiveness. An integrated research approach is
needed to evaluate AMR in surface waters, wastewater, and water-reuse treatment systems by
using methods and tools developed for AMR characterization, distribution, and hotspot
identification, and by assessing potential health effects.
•	Stormwater— For many cities, stormwater management remains one of the greatest challenges to
meeting water quality standards. Additional energy and funds are needed to treat stormwater-
related pollutants; however, in some cases treatment is not even possible when surges in
stormwater overwhelm systems that convey combined sewage and stormwater, resulting in direct
discharge of untreated human, commercial, and industrial waste into surface waters. A shift in the
approach to stormwater management to one that controls stormwater-related flooding and
4 DeFlorio-Barker et. al. 2018
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combined sewer overflows, and values stormwater as a resource, could offer multiple benefits. A
better understanding of the potential health risks and cost effectiveness of stormwater reuse is
needed.
•	Diminished water availability—Water shortages are occurring or expected to occur in the next
ten years in 40 U.S. states, and some of the Nation's fastest-growing cities are in the most arid
areas, such as the Southwest. Water reuse and fit-for-purpose treatment could reliably expand
supplies of freshwater for ecosystems and potable and non-potable water for municipalities,
agriculture, and industry. However, uncertainties remain about potential health risks from
exposure to chemical or microbial contaminants in alternative water sources.
•	Wetlands—The Nation's wetlands provide numerous ecosystem benefits, such as water quality
improvement, groundwater recharge, erosion and flooding protection, and habitats for
commercially and recreationally valuable or imperiled species. Resourceful approaches that
preserve wetlands, while also solving other challenges, such as stormwater and nutrient
management, are needed.
These and other water resource challenges that encompass the water cycle guide SSWR's Problem
Statement and Program Vision.
Problem Statement
The interrelated challenges of impaired watersheds and water quality collectively threaten the
Nation's water resources that support human and ecosystem health and a strong economy. These
challenges include persistent and new chemical and microbial contaminants, antimicrobial
resistance, excess nutrients and harmful algal blooms, aging water infrastructure, stormwater
runoff, diminished water availability, knowledge gaps in the value of water quality, and
understanding how changing temperatures patterns and shifting hydrologic regimes will affect
watershed and water quality management.
Program Vision
SSWR's commitment to robust research and scientific analyses will support innovative scientific
and technological solutions that ensure clean water to protect people's health and livelihood,
protect and restore watersheds and aquatic ecosystems, and strengthen the economy.
Program Objectives
The SSWR StRAP describes a four-year research plan to address the Agency's goals and objectives
identified in the FY2018-22 EPA Strategic Plan and focuses on the highest priorities identified by SSWR's
partners and stakeholders. The SSWR research program's activities will be guided by four overarching
objectives:
• Research Objective 1: Improve Prediction and Early Accurate Detection of Contaminants —
Continue advancements in environmental monitoring, modeling, methods, and other
information needed to rapidly and reliably inform water quality decision-making at the
national, state, tribal, and local levels.
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•	Research Objective 2: Assess Potential Impacts — Improve understanding of exposure
pathways and effects of chemical and microbial contaminants on human health and aquatic
ecosystems.
•	Research Objective 3: Develop and Evaluate Approaches for Prevention and Mitigation —
Expand solutions to prevent and mitigate water quality impairments using innovations in
technology, market-based incentives, and other approaches.
•	Research Objective 4: Translate and Communicate Research - Provide practical solutions to
water resource challenges through application of SSWR data, tools, and models, and
disseminate this information though outreach activities.
Research Topics and Research Areas
The SSWR research portfolio is organized into three interrelated topics: watersheds, nutrients and harmful
algal blooms, and water treatment and infrastructure. Within each topic are specific research areas and
outputs. Collectively, this work supports the four overarching program objectives and carries specific near-
and long-term goals designed to yield practical tools and solutions for ensuring sustainable water
resources.
Topic 1: Watersheds
The Watersheds Topic will advance integrated water quality and watershed management tools to protect
and restore water resources. Research in this topic will provide nationally- and regionally-consistent tools
to assess ecological status and trends, set attainable goals, and monitor progress toward these goals. In
addition, research will refine and develop models, methods, and approaches to improve the management
of water quality, watersheds, and aquifers for both regulatory and non-regulatory programs. Research on
high-priority issues, such as microbial pathogens in recreational waters and chemical contaminants in
surface and groundwater, will strengthen existing approaches for managing ambient water quality to
protect human health and aquatic life. This research will integrate next-generation tools, such as "-omic"
technologies and Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs), for screening mixtures of chemicals and evaluating
antimicrobial resistance in surface waters. Method development for the emerging issue of
micro/nanoplastics (MNP) will support the identification and characterization of MNP in sediment and
surface water. Research will refine and develop models, methods, and approaches to support improved
aquatic resource mapping for both regulatory and non-regulatory purposes.
Research Area 1: Assessment, Monitoring, and Management of Aquatic Resources
Science in this research area will support and advance National Aquatic Resource Surveys
(NARS)monitoring and assessment, and it will extend NARS data and approaches to support priority
setting and management actions. Additionally, ORD will develop, improve, and apply tools, indicators,
methods, and models to help decision-makers at multiple levels proactively and adaptively manage
aquatic resources. Outputs of this research area will help states and tribes manage for healthy watersheds
and to effectively implement CWA 303(d), TMDL, nonpoint source, and stormwater programs and support
the National Estuary Program and Regional Program Offices.
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National Aquatic Resource Surveys
Program, regional, state, and/or tribal needs (for Outputs 1.1 and 1.2). The CWA requires EPA to
periodically report on the condition of the Nation's water resources. The surveys were developed and
implemented as an EPA, state, and tribal partnership specifically to assess the quality of U.S. waters, track
changes over time, and provide critical information for protecting and restoring water quality at national
and regional scales. Continued research and technical expertise are needed to improve and implement
NARS by applying high-quality, innovative science and transferring expertise to EPA's OW and regions,
states, and tribes. Planned work includes: 1) developing national statistical survey designs and specialized
sampling designs for states/other organizations; 2) conducting and improving water resource analyses and
assessments; 3) refining assessment benchmarks; 4) advancing innovations related to water quality
monitoring methods, indicators, assessments, and data standards for issues of national concern, such as
nutrients, algal toxins, habitat alteration, and MNP; 5) developing tools that facilitate the use of NARS and
related outputs by OW, regions, states, tribes, and others; and 6) conducting analyses that extend the use
of NARS data to understand potential causal factors, estimate condition in unmonitored areas, and
support regulatory program needs.
Output 1.1: Science to support NARS survey design, indicator development and assessment benchmarks,
methods development, and data tools. This output will address the ecological condition of the Nation's
waters, changes in condition over time, and the data and tools needed to protect and restore these aquatic
resources. ORD will provide the necessary science and support for designing NARS surveys, improving and
expanding indicators and assessment benchmarks, and harmonizing datasets. ORD will also assist in
developing national reports and will support states and tribes in developing or implementing ecological
assessment programs. The output will include databases for core support (i.e., designs, final indicator data,
population estimates), training and workshops on new indicators (e.g., DNA applications, lake hydrological
alteration indicator) and analytes, data analysis methods, and assessment tools. Data analysis tools will
provide for condition assessments and trend analyses at multiple spatial scales (e.g., national, regional, and
state).
Output Type: The Output will include databases, indicator methods and assessment protocols, training
(webinars and workshops), and a synthesis report.
Output 1.2: Extended applications of NARS data and approaches to support priority setting and
management actions. Continued research and technical expertise are needed to help implement and
improve NARS. This output leverages and extends NARS data through integration with other data sources
(e.g., geospatial data, state bioassessment data, loading and flow information, local data) to develop new
tools and models for condition assessment, extrapolation to unmonitored waters, and stressor-response
linkages.
Output Type: Pilot studies will demonstrate the application and extension of NARS data at scales relevant
to decision-making for important regional ecosystems, such as the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay. A
synthesis document will describe the compilation of tools and models to support priority setting and
management actions.
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Tools to Inform Water Quality Goals
Program, regional, state, and/or tribal needs (for Output 1.3). States, tribes, and local decision-makers
need better tools to promote healthy watershed assessments and support CWA 303(d), Total Maximum
Daily Load (TMDL), and Non-Point Source (NPS) programs. These tools should facilitate setting attainable
biological goals that are linked with quantified indicators of watershed condition, stressors, and stressor
targets to support core regulatory programs, inform aquatic life use designations and criteria
development, and measure progress toward these goals. Research needs include: 1) developing biological
indicators and criteria for water body types that do not have nationally consistent and reliable methods
and approaches; 2) developing biological condition gradient (BCG) approaches at regional and sub-
regional scales; 3) piloting indicators and models for linking biological response to stressors and their
sources at catchment and stream reach scales; 4) exploring applications of BCG or other biological
measures in conjunction with physical, chemical, and landscape indicators and approaches to measure
incremental changes in waters and their watersheds, and developing a menu of indicators of
improvement, stability, and degradation; and 5) developing innovative approaches to merging large
national data sets with local data sets and other information into a screening tool for states and counties
to set goals, determine aquatic life use attainment, prioritize resources, and more efficiently implement
CWA 303d, TMDL, and stormwater programs.
Output 1.3: Tools, indicators, and information to inform water quality goals, assess biological condition,
and support effective management of diverse water bodies. Tools, indicators, and technical information
will be developed to assist state, tribal, and local decision-makers in setting goals and stressor targets, and
in identifying management strategies to protect and restore aquatic resources across diverse water body
types (e.g., low-gradient freshwater and tidal streams, streams with highly variable flow, large river
systems, lakes, estuaries, coral reefs, wetlands). Tools may include innovative monitoring methods,
advanced data interoperability protocols, and analytical approaches to advance integrated watershed
assessments. Tools will help states, tribes, and local decision-makers optimize protection and restoration,
including identifying and maintaining high-quality waters, evaluating recovery potential, assessing impacts
from wildfires and drought on aquatic resources, and developing adaptive management strategies that
recognize social, cultural, and economic contexts. The output will support adaptive management in
characterizing stressor-response relationships, setting realistic biological targets for restoration, and
providing tools to conduct causal analyses to inform development and implementation of management
actions (e.g., TMDLs, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits, NPS reductions, or
habitat restoration). Adaptive management actions will link resource management activities to local,
tribal, and state priorities.
Output Type: The output will include improved models and methods, training (webinars and workshops),
recommendations for partners, case studies, and a synthesis report.
Micro/Nanoplastics
Program, regional, state, and/or tribal needs (for Output 1.4). The proliferation of plastics in marine and
freshwater systems around the world has led to concerns for potential impacts on aquatic life and human
health. Focused research efforts are needed to analyze and characterize the exposure to
micro/nanoplastic pollution in the aquatic environment. Research needs include establishing reliable and
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reproducible methods for microplastics collection, extraction, characterization, and quantification in
sediment and surface water. .
Output 1.4: Methods to identify and quantify micro/nanoplastics in environmental matrices. Research
will address plastic pollution in the aquatic environment by establishing reliable and reproducible methods
for micro/nanoplastics collection, extraction, characterization, and quantification in sediment and surface
water.
Output Type: This output will deliver recommendations for best practices and standardized methodologies
to characterize micro/nanoplastics in sediment and surface water. Publications, presentations, webinars
and website resources will be provided to program offices, regions, states, and tribes.
Water Quality Models for Decision-Makers
Program, regional, state, and/or tribal needs (for Output 1.5). EPA programs and regions, states, tribes,
and local decision-makers need improved modeling tools that enable science-based decisions necessary to
achieve water quality goals. Tool development and support in water quality modeling are needed for
TMDLs, permits, rulemaking, market-based incentives, and strategic foresight to address emerging issues
and disasters, including extreme weather events. Integrated modeling and assessment of water quality
and economics is needed to assess the impacts of water quality decisions. A consistent and transparent
approach is needed for understanding the benefits of water quality improvement. The OW and regional
staff, through the EPA Water Modeling Workgroup, have highlighted tool development and support needs
in water quality modeling. These needs include advancing methods and models for watershed and aquifer
water quality management through regulatory and non-regulatory mechanisms and prioritizing short- and
long-term methods development to incorporate new approaches and improved scientific knowledge into
existing modeling tools.
Output 1.5: Water quality models and economic analyses to support science-based water quality
decisions. Research conducted in support of this output will refine and/or develop models, methods, and
approaches to improve water quality and watershed and aquifer management for both regulatory and
non-regulatory needs of stakeholders. ORD will develop open-source versions of water quality, watershed,
and socio-economic models, and provide training and technical support for these models, to enable
stakeholders to make effective, science-based water quality decisions. Research results provided by ORD
and policy application by OW and the Office of Policy/National Center for Environmental Economics, will
expand the capacity of current models to include a variety of water body types (with priorities given to
estuaries, the Great Lakes, and coastal waters), improve water quality-economic linkages by supporting
and incenting collaborations among biophysical and social scientists, explore market-based incentives, and
provide an updated toolkit for use in regulatory and non-regulatory programs.
Output Type: This output will include improved models, updated toolkits, training (webinars and
workshops), a case study demonstrating the integration of water quality models and economic models for
regional or national policy analysis, and a synthesis report.
Animas-San Juan Watershed Water Quality
Program, regional, state, and/or tribal needs (for Output 1.6). The Animas-San Juan Watershed is
impacted by decades of mining contamination, including heavy metals from mine tailings and discharges
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from abandoned mines on the upper Animas River in Colorado. In 2015, toxic wastewater from the Gold
King Mine was accidentally released into the Animas River watershed. In response, the U.S. Congress
authorized appropriations of $4 million per year during 2017-2021 for a long-term water quality
monitoring program for the San Juan watershed (referred to as the San Juan Watershed Program),
established in 2017.
ORD's unique expertise gained from the intensive effort to monitor water quality conditions related to the
Gold King Mine in the Animas-San Juan Watershed is critical to the success of the program. The
development of the fate and transport and biological reports for the Animas and San Juan Rivers following
the Gold King Mine release, completed in the previous StRAP, were instrumental to the EPA in developing
the San Juan Watershed Program in collaboration with states and tribes adjoining the watershed-
Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, the Navajo Nation, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and the Southern
Ute Indian Tribe. Implementing the San Juan Watershed Program requires targeted monitoring to track
and evaluate chemical contamination and potential biological impacts from historical mining and other
pollutants that affect water quality.
Output 1.6: Research support for the San Juan Watershed Program.
The San Juan Watershed has been impacted by acid mine drainage from historic mining within the ore-rich
headwaters of the Animas River and other locations. Acid mine drainage impairs aquatic communities and
can impact the use of the river for other beneficial uses, including drinking water, domestic supplies, and
agricultural and ceremonial uses. The mining area is currently a Superfund cleanup site under the
direction of EPA Region 8. EPA Regions 6, 8, and 9 coordinate a watershed monitoring program funded by
the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act in collaboration with Colorado, New Mexico,
Utah, Arizona, the Navajo Nation, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. This
program evaluates the impacts of mining restoration and other pollutant sources on river water quality.
Tools are needed to further evaluate and translate data collected throughout the watershed into action
plans to protect and restore watershed health.
Output Type: This Output will be delivered directly via technical support and collaborative engagement
with EPA program offices and regions, states, and tribes.
Research Area 2: Improved Aquatic Resource Mapping
This research area will build upon long-standing ORD aquatic resource research and leverage existing
research partnerships with other federal agencies, states, and tribes, to improve mapping of aquatic
resources. In addition to addressing one of OW's primary needs related to the use of aquatic resource
data to inform Clean Water Act jurisdictional determinations, the research will also support other
regulatory and non-regulatory needs, contribute to ongoing or new ORD research, and leverage existing
interagency research partnerships. Long-term goals are to improve methods and maps of verified aquatic
resources with associated uncertainty bounds to support CWA jurisdictional determinations and other
programmatic needs. Short-term accomplishments include three products: 1) a review of existing aquatic
resource mapping methodologies; 2) novel geospatial datasets in select watersheds, and; 3) calibration
and validation datasets. All three products will incorporate outreach to communicate and transfer results
to stakeholders.
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Methods, Tools, and Datasets to Support Aquatic Resource Mapping
Program, regional, state, and/or tribal needs (for Output 2.1). OW and other EPA programs/regions,
states, tribes, and federal agencies need improved mapping of aquatic resources for a variety of
regulatory and non-regulatory purposes. Transferrable methodologies, tools, and datasets are needed to
improve the accuracy and the useful application of geospatial data for the identification of "waters of the
United States." These products can also help states, tribes, local governments, and other federal agencies
with the management of aquatic resources within their respective boundaries. This research supports OW
rulemaking by helping to build state and tribal capacities and capabilities to map waters within their
boundaries. This research will also assist EPA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and state and tribal co-
regulators with day-to-day implementation of CWA programs.
Output 2.1: Improved accuracy and application of geospatially explicit aquatic resource data. For this
output, ORD will partner with OW and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to engage other federal partners,
as well as state and tribal stakeholders, to assess their needs and to help build capacity for aquatic
resource mapping, jurisdictional analysis, and decision support. ORD and partners will evaluate data gaps
and conduct geospatial analyses and data collection in appropriate watersheds to quantify relationships
between watershed attributes and stream or wetland characteristics that may be relevant for determining
CWA jurisdiction consistent with the definition of "waters of the United States." ORD and partners will
evaluate temporal and spatial resolution and accuracy of derived geospatial and modeling products, field-
based methodologies and sampling protocols, and uncertainty for partner and stakeholder decisions. The
results will be used by OW and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to assess needs, build capacity for
aquatic resource mapping, jurisdictional analysis, and decision support.
Output Type: This output will include models, metadata, standardized methodologies, geospatial
products, training (webinars and workshops), and technical guidance.
Research Area 3: Human Health and Aquatic Life Criteria
The goal of this Research Area is to provide OW with the science support they need to assist EPA regions,
states, and tribes with new or revised water quality criteria and their implementation. This work includes
site-specific methodologies and science support to protect human health and aquatic life from pollutants
in surface water. To address this goal, research will focus on: 1) human health protection from microbial
contaminants in surface waters; 2) human health protection from chemical contaminants in surface
waters; and 3) aquatic life protection from chemical contaminants in surface waters. This research area
will provide stakeholders and decision-makers with scientific information and tools to more effectively
assess and manage chemical and microbial contaminants associated with human health and aquatic life
risks in surface waters, including recreational water bodies.
Microbial Contaminants in Surface Water
Program, regional, state, and/or tribal needs (for Output 3.1). Innovative research is needed to provide
new and advanced tools, methods, and information relevant to revising Recreational Water Quality
Criteria and its implementation by states, tribes, and local communities. OW will use this science to
support the consideration of potential new or revised criteria in the next five-year review in 2022.
Output 3.1: Data and innovative tools to advance public health protection from microbial contaminants
in surface water. This output will focus research in priority areas identified in the EPA 2017 Five-Year
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Review of the 2012 Recreational Water Quality Criteria5 developed by OW in collaboration with ORD.
Research will support new and revised criteria and implementation of criteria, including analyses of new
and existing health studies, evaluation of new analytical methods for fecal indicators, and development
and validation of analytical methods for microbial source tracking. ORD will conduct research to further
develop fate and transport modeling with statistical and process models of indicators and pathogens for
remediation and quantitative microbial risk assessment. Additionally, research will advance the
development of approaches to evaluate antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in surface waters and develop
methods and tools for AMR characterization on regional and national scales.
Output Type: Anticipated deliverables include peer-reviewed manuscripts, standardized operating
procedures, software tools, datasets, and stakeholder technical support and training.
Protecting Public Health from Consumption of Chemical Contaminants in Surface Waters and in Aquatic
Organisms
Program, regional, state, and/or tribal needs (for Output 3.2). Screening and prioritizing the
approximately 40,000 chemicals in commerce for human health criteria development remains a challenge.
Additionally, states and other stakeholders want capabilities to explore probabilistic approaches for
human health criteria development as an alternative to the deterministic approach presented in EPA's
2000 Human Health Methodology6. To update several human health criteria, data gaps and modeling
challenges related to developing bioaccumulation factors, particularly for metals, need to be resolved.
Output 3.2: Data and innovative tools to protect public health from consumption of chemical
contaminants in surface waters and aquatic organisms. ORD will conduct research in several areas to
support OW's development of new and revised human health water quality criteria for ingestion and
consumption of chemical contaminants in surface water and in aquatic organisms. The research will
address: development and validation of analytical methods for contaminants of concern in surface waters;
development of bioaccumulation factors for the derivation of metals criteria for human health; innovative
approaches for characterizing contaminant exposure; and development of harmful bioactivity
metrics using approaches such as "-omic" technologies and AOP for screening mixtures of chemicals for
adverse health outcome potential, in coordination the HERA and CSS research programs.
Output Type: This output will include validated methods, bioaccumulation factors, and bioactivity metrics,
which will be delivered directly via technical support, training, and collaborative engagement with EPA
program offices and regions, states, tribes, and others.
Advancing the Methodology for Deriving Water Quality Criteria to Protect Aquatic Life from Toxic
Chemicals
Program, regional, state, and/or tribal needs (for Output 3.3). Aquatic toxicology and modeling have
significantly evolved since the methodology for deriving aquatic life criteria was published in 1985 (U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, 1985). The 1985 methodology needs to be updated to incorporate the
latest science and leverage the data and analyses conducted under the authority of other statutes,
5	https://www.epa.gov/wqc/five-year-review-2012-recreational-water-quality-criteria
6	https://www.epa.gov/wqc/fact-sheet-methodology-deriving-ambient-water-quality-criteria-protection-
human-health-revised
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particularly the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), to provide appropriate
guidance and science support to EPA regions, states, and tribes.
Output 3.3: Science to advance the methodology for deriving water quality criteria to protect aquatic
life from toxic chemicals. In collaboration with ORD, OW has identified new tools and approaches for
improving risk characterization in aquatic life criteria and for developing criteria for chemicals lacking
robust toxicological data. ORD will further develop some of these tools and approaches for application to
aquatic life criteria, initially focusing on PFAS to support OW goals for PFAS regulation and the Agency's
PFAS Action Plan. Research will emphasize the development and use of inferential and predictive tools to
extrapolate from existing data to support derivation of regulatory values when data are limited. Next-
generation toxicological tools, such as "-omic" technologies and AOP information, will be evaluated in
coordination with the CSS research program. Additional efforts will address PFAS exposure assessment,
bioavailability, and toxicokinetics. Approaches for addressing risks of mixtures will also be evaluated, for
both PFAS and other chemical groups of regulatory concern.
Output Type: The output will be delivered directly via technical support, training, and collaborative
engagement with EPA program offices and regions, states, tribes, and others.
Topic 2: Nutrients and Harmful Algal Blooms
The Nutrients and Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) research topic will comprehensively address nutrient
issues and HABs, one of the primary impacts of excess nutrients in water bodies. The HABs research
(Research Area 4) will focus on detection, toxicity, impacts to humans and biota (e.g., pets, livestock,
crops, aquatic organisms), and the development of tools to mitigate exposure via predictive modeling and
treatment technologies. The nutrients research (Research Area 5) will address ways to determine nutrient-
related impacts in watersheds and water bodies across multiple scales, support water quality
management goals, quantify ecosystem response and recovery rates, and identify those watersheds and
water bodies that are optimally suited for management interventions. Additionally, assessment and
management research (Research Area 6) will provide models and tools to apply best practices for nutrient
management, develop approaches to monitor the effectiveness of those management practices, and
evaluate the efficacy of those actions using an integrated, socio-economic, multi-media approach.
Research Area 4: Assessment and Management of Harmful Algal Blooms
Harmful algal blooms are increasing in frequency, intensity, and geographic range. Potential impacts from
exposure to HABs and associated toxins include health risks to human, pets, livestock, wildlife, and other
biota; restricted recreational activities; damaged ecological systems; increased treatment costs; and
decreased economic revenue. Harmful algal blooms are complex ecological processes that are affected by
various conditions (i.e., physical, chemical, biological, hydrological, and meteorological), and therefore are
difficult to predict. Generally, eutrophication and increased temperatures set the stage for cyanobacteria
dominance in freshwater systems, but there are also other factors (e.g., dissolved organic matter and
iron). Much is unknown regarding the specific alignment of environmental drivers over varied spatial and
temporal scales that result in toxin formation. This research area will provide stakeholders and decision-
makers at all levels - including national (EPA OW), regional (EPA regional offices), state (primacy agencies),
and local (water utility superintendents, beach managers, etc.) - with scientific information and tools to:
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1) more effectively predict and mitigate HAB formation and exposure through ecological and predictive
modeling and treatment techniques, and 2) understand the health risks to humans and other biota. All
outputs will be developed in consultation with stakeholders and will be delivered through technical
support, training, and direct engagement.
Program, regional, state, and/or tribal needs (for Outputs 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3). EPA, states, and tribes need
tools to predict toxic bloom occurrence, characterize bloom development, increase the effectiveness of
cyanotoxin monitoring techniques, and understand the impacts of shifting temperature patterns and
hydrologic regimes on blooms. Economic analyses of HAB/cyanotoxin impacts and source water
protection activities are needed. Research to evaluate management actions in watersheds and within
source water reservoirs is needed to help prevent and mitigate HABs. Additionally, research is needed to
support guidance on treatment technologies for HABs/cyanotoxins. Epidemiological and toxicological
studies are needed on existing and emerging cyanotoxins, including cyanotoxins in biosolids and other
novel exposure pathways lacking data, for both aquatic life and human health. Synthesis of new threshold
information on toxin, toxin mixtures, and novel exposure pathways for humans and domestic and wild
animals can inform guidance to adequately communicate the risks of HABs events. Ambient water
sensors could help determine which practices, in which combinations, and in which locations, are best
suited to reduce nutrient loadings to ambient water and lead to reduced HABs.
Output 4.1: Data and tools to assess human and environmental adverse health outcomes from exposure
to HABs and associated toxins. The toxicity and epidemiology of HABs across exposed biota are not fully
understood. These knowledge gaps complicate risk characterization for HABs in situations that include the
exposure of humans, domestic pets, livestock, wildlife, plants, crops, and aquatic organisms. Impacts of
toxins can range from acute and chronic individual effects to population, community, and system-level
effects. SSWR will assess these impacts using multiple approaches, which may include whole organism
toxicity studies, computational toxicology, pharmacokinetic studies, and epidemiological studies. The
results of this work may be used to inform policy and response actions across multiple scales that include
the formulation of health advisories and water quality criteria (OW, state primacy agencies), response and
risk communication during HAB events (regional offices, state primacy agencies, and municipalities),
design of drinking water treatment processes (local utilities and state primacy agencies), and the
designation of aquatic life and environmental health thresholds (OW and state resource managers).
Output Type: This output will include a synthesis document of key findings from the Products presented for
discussion with decision-makers and will be archived as a webinar.
Output 4.2: Information for preventing, treating, and managing HABs and their impacts in water bodies,
ambient water, and drinking water. Knowledge gaps in the areas of in situ bloom management and
drinking water treatment have the potential to hinder the effective management of HABs risk.
Development and dissemination of best practices to prevent, treat, and manage HABs are fundamental to
reducing the risk of exposure through recreation or ingestion of contaminated drinking water, and
potential ecosystem effects. Through a combination of bench-, pilot-, and potentially field-scale trials,
ORD will investigate a range of strategies to prevent and manage HABs that could include emerging in situ
bloom treatment techniques and the optimization of drinking water treatment process designs and
operational practices. The results of this work may be used to inform management and response actions,
including water body management plans (state primacy and natural resource agencies), design and
purchasing of in situ treatment supplies and equipment (private vendors and natural resource agencies),
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and the design and selection of drinking water treatment processes (consulting engineers, drinking water
utilities, and state primacy agencies). Human, animal, and ecosystem health risk information generated in
Output 4.1 can help inform the application of best practices to prevent, treat, and manage HABs in source
and finished waters.
Output Type: This output will include webinars, tools, documents, and technical support to translate
research results.
Output 4.3: Tools for HAB risk characterization and assessment. Uncertainty in existing HAB assessments
makes it difficult to provide guidance or apply prevention and management strategies. HAB risk
characterization utilizes basic ecological knowledge of how environmental drivers impact the
development of biomass and the occurrence of toxins. Data sources range from fundamental basic
research to high-frequency modern sensors and irregular discrete sampling, and from local sampling to
satellite imagery. The results of this work can be used to characterize the development, intensity, and
spatial extent of HABs in rivers, streams, lakes, and reservoirs. The information from Output 4.1 will help
inform the implementation of tools to characterize HABs risk in source, finished, and recreational waters.
Tools from Output 4.3 can inform the work in Output 4.2 by retrospectively identifying locations that
require mitigation and prospectively evaluating the efficiency of mitigation approaches.
Output Type: This output will include webinars, scientific conferences, technical support efforts, briefings,
and workshops.
Research Area 5: Science to Support Nutrient-Related Water Quality Goals
Nutrient pollution is the most widespread water quality problem facing the United States, with far-ranging
consequences for environmental condition, economic prosperity, and human health and well-being. This
work will advance the science to inform decisions related to nutrient and co-pollutant water quality goals
of EPA program offices and regions, states, and tribes. Outputs in this research area will: 1) provide
information, methods, or approaches to determine nutrient-related impacts in watersheds and water
bodies, which will help determine protective endpoints for aquatic life in different water body types, 2)
relate the condition of watersheds and water bodies to nutrient loading, water quality, and aquatic life;
and 3) link these results in approaches that identify areas that may most effectively respond to restoration
and recovery.
Program, regional, state, and/or tribal needs (for Outputs 5.1, 5.2, and 5.3). OW programs need scientific
support as they develop new tools for states, tribes, and local decision-makers to establish and achieve
water quality goals. This includes monitoring, modeling, and decision-support tools to inform
recommendations to protect different types of waters and different designated uses (e.g., aquatic life,
recreation, and drinking water source protection). OW also needs scientific support for their work to help
regions, states, and tribes to develop their own numeric nutrient criteria. Establishing nutrient-related
water quality management goals requires an understanding of the impacts of excess nutrients on water
bodies and aquatic life, and the processes and rates at which they recover.
Output 5.1: Research for characterizing nutrient-related impacts across multiple spatial scales. This
research will produce scientific information, data, models, and tools to describe the potential for nutrient-
related impacts across water bodies and watersheds. This will help determine protective endpoints for
aquatic life in different water body types, specifically reservoirs, estuaries, turbid waters, and tannin-rich

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waters. In partnership with states and tribes, OW can use this information to develop numeric nutrient
criteria or pursue other nutrient-related water quality management goals.
Output Type: This output will include technical support, training, and collaborative engagement with EPA
program offices (mainly OW) and regions, states, tribes, and others.
Output 5.2: Trajectories of aquatic ecosystem responses to and recovery from nutrient pollution. This
research will generate scientific information, data, models, and tools to describe and quantify aquatic
ecosystem responses to nutrient pollution, as well as the processes and time to recover from nutrient
pollution impacts. This information will be provided to OW to help the program provide technical advice
to states and tribes on water body and aquatic life recovery rates from nutrient pollution impacts.
Output Type: This output will include technical support, training, and collaborative engagement with EPA
program offices (mainly OW) and regions, states, tribes, and others.
Output 5.3: Scientific approach for identifying which watersheds and water bodies may most efficiently
attain water quality goals. This work will incorporate information, data, models, and tools developed in
Outputs 5.1 and 5.2 to advance the science needed to inform decisions to prioritize watersheds and
nutrient sources for management options-important elements of EPA's approach for addressing nutrient
pollution. The research supporting this Output will involve the collection and synthesis of data and the
development and application of models and tools to identify watersheds and water bodies that may most
effectively respond to restoration and recovery efforts. This will help EPA program offices (mainly OW)
and regions, and partner agencies identify where specific nutrient management actions, which are
addressed in Research Area 3, would be most effectively targeted to achieve a given policy objective.
Output Type: This output will include technical support, training, and collaborative engagement with EPA
program offices (mainly OW) and regions, states, tribes, and others.
Research Area 6: Nutrient Reduction Strategies and Assessment
While EPA, states, and tribes have made great efforts toward reducing nutrient pollution nationwide, it is
still a challenge to consider the appropriate spatial and temporal context for reductions and best practices
for tracking interventions to meet nutrient reduction goals in a comprehensive manner. To address the
problem, this research area comprises three broad components for nutrient reduction strategies: 1)
application of state-of-the-science; 2) effectiveness monitoring; and 3) whole-system integrated nutrient
science, engineering, economics, and stakeholder engagement.
Program, regional, state, and/or tribal needs (for Outputs 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3). EPA, states, and tribes need
to plan, implement, and track the effectiveness of nutrient reduction strategies at multiple spatial and
temporal scales, including watersheds affected by HABs or other nutrient-related water quality issues.
More generally, once the states and tribes establish a goal related to nutrient reduction, for example from
the efforts in Research Area 2, the tools and techniques developed from this effort could be used to
design and implement nutrient reduction strategies and track the progress toward meeting the goal.
Output 6.1: Tools, technologies, and best practices to predict, monitor, and manage nutrients in surface
water and groundwater (Application of state-of-the-science for nutrient management). In collaboration
with SSWR partners, this output will deliver methods, models, and prediction tools to help stakeholders
design and track nutrient reduction activities at watershed scales. Effective strategies will be assessed for
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both point and nonpoint sources of nutrients, including legacy nutrients, to surface water and
groundwater. SSWR will develop and deliver design evaluations to help determine which source control
practices, in which combinations, and in which locations are best suited to reduce nutrient loading to
ambient water. Lessons learned from successful stakeholder engagement activities will be disseminated.
Synthesis of existing information and defining research gaps will be a significant component. For example,
the information provided in this output could allow a stakeholder to consider the application of
constructed wetlands as a system of practices in a large watershed to reduce nutrient pollution to a
drinking water reservoir.
Output Type: This output will include synthesis documents that contain technical support for the
application of nutrient management.
Output 6.2: Information for assessing the effectiveness of restoration and conservation practices and
systems (Nutrient reduction effectiveness evaluation). In collaboration with partners and stakeholders,
and using case studies, SSWR will design programs to monitor and track the effectiveness of nutrient
reduction strategies. This includes the evaluation of low-cost ambient monitoring technologies for
assessment of nutrient reduction activities, approaches, and strategies (e.g., application of nutrient
sensors to capture real-time nutrient reduction or changes in temporal dynamics). For example,
groundwater-monitoring networks can track changes in nutrient characteristics or evaluate the
effectiveness of EPA's 319 Grant Program for states and territories. Tracking the progress of nutrient
reduction strategies will likely require partnering with land grant universities, soil and water conservation
districts, businesses, non-governmental organizations, and federal and state agencies. A key aspect of this
research area will be information, models, and tools developed under ORD's nutrients solutions-driven
research pilot project to address the problem of nonpoint nutrient pollution using nontraditional
approaches (Box 1).
Output Type: This output includes EPA reports/manuscripts, seminars, webinars, or workshops that
demonstrate the effectiveness of nutrient reduction programs and activities, and information on how to
monitor effectiveness.
Output 6.3: Best practices for integrated nutrient management programs (Whole system integrated
nutrient management science, engineering, economics, and stakeholder engagement). This output will
develop, translate, and deliver research and evaluations of nutrient reduction actions in watersheds at
multiple scales and within source waters for prevention and mitigation of nutrient pollution. SSWR will
conduct economic analyses of nutrient reduction programs (e.g., market-based mechanisms), including
socio-economic aspects of nutrient reduction practices that influence adoption and maintenance, while
evaluating water quality and multimedia modeling. These efforts will include user feedback to inform
adaptive management strategies, and incorporate legacy nutrient issues, temporal lags, and water body
recovery rates into the planning and implementation of nutrient reduction programs. Overall, this work
will provide a means of considering non-traditional participants in nutrient reduction.
Output Type: This output will include a series of fact sheets and accompanying webinars to demonstrate
the processes and procedures needed for integrated nutrient reduction strategies.
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Topic 3: Water Treatment and Infrastructure
The Water Treatment and Infrastructure topic includes research on drinking water, wastewater, water
reuse, and stormwater management. Research will provide innovative methods for assessing and treating
water from source to tap and back to the source. The focus will be on the assessment and control of
opportunistic pathogens and disinfection byproducts (DBPs), analytical methods development,
optimization and application of tools for improving drinking water infrastructure, and augmentation of
reliable water sources through water reuse research and stormwater capture for enhancing water
supplies. High-priority issues, such as characterization, assessment, and mitigation of lead in drinking
water, will be emphasized, while keeping an eye toward future challenges facing water treatment and
infrastructure. This SSWR research will integrate with the SHC (e.g., lead exposure from drinking water
relative to lead exposure from soils) and CSS (e.g., toxicity of chemical contaminant mixtures) research
programs.
SSWR research will continue to apply research results through workshops, webinars, training sessions, and
printed materials. Research results will play a role in statutory/guidance decisions by OW by providing
peer-reviewed, transparent research results in a timely manner. This research will also make every effort
to provide direct support on regional/state-specific issues affecting drinking water through
communications with organizations such as ECOS and the Association of State Drinking Water
Administrators (ASDWA).
Research Area 7: Drinking Water/Distribution Systems
This research area will provide essential results and tools to the program offices, primarily OW's Office of
Ground Water and Drinking Water (OGWDW), states, tribes, and communities to manage existing and
future drinking water needs. Specifically, it focuses on areas of recent concern that require novel
solutions. This includes addressing legacy issues (e.g., removing lead from leaded materials in distribution
systems and identifying cost-effective infrastructure improvements), managing distribution system
operation (e.g., balancing disinfection and DBPs, and controlling opportunistic pathogens in premise
plumbing), and identifying contaminants of emerging concern and treatment processes (e.g., algal toxins).
Specific emphasis will be given to addressing issues for small water systems, or other systems that lack
technical, managerial, and financial capability.
Program, regional, state, and/or tribal needs (for Outputs 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, and 7.4). The EPA, states, tribes,
and utilities need technical support for guidance on the assessment and treatment of contaminants and
management of drinking water and distribution systems. Additionally, the Agency requires research
support for a variety of regulatory actions, including: The Contaminant Candidate List (CCL), Unregulated
Contaminants Monitoring Rule (UCMR), National Primary/Secondary Drinking Water Regulatory process,
Long Term Surface Water Treatment Rules, Disinfection Byproduct Rules, and Revisions to the Lead and
Copper Rule.
Output 7.1: Resources and tools for characterizing and mitigating lead and copper release in drinking
water distribution systems and premise plumbing. This output will provide research on relative source
contributions from lead-containing plumbing materials under varying water quality conditions and scale
properties. This output will also develop improved sampling and detection strategies, including those to
identify lead service lines, and will include corrosion control strategies for minimizing copper pitting and
release in water-delivery systems. This research will be integrated into models that estimate lead
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exposure and into remediation strategies to protect public health. Results from this research will inform
the Federal Lead Strategy and will help states and utilities reduce human exposure to lead.
Output Type: This Output will include sampling protocols/guidance, improved lead exposure models,
guidance on optimizing lead mitigation strategies, and peer-reviewed publications.
Output 7.2: Best practices, tools, and information for assessing and controlling pathogens and
biostability in drinking water systems, managing disinfectant residuals, and minimizing DBPs. This
output involves research on the types and populations of opportunistic and other pathogens (Legionella,
Mycobacterium, Amoeba, viruses) and understanding the impacts of their presence in drinking water
delivery systems. Focus areas include: 1) occurrence, prevalence, and control of Legionella throughout
drinking water systems, 2) DBPs, and 3) human health effects from exposure to pathogens in drinking
water distribution systems. Results will include improved strategies for controlling pathogens and
maintaining disinfectant levels, while controlling DBP formation, with an emphasis on small systems.
Research results will also help utilities optimize disinfection practices and manage water quality in
distribution infrastructure.
Output Type: This output will include methods for monitoring microbial contaminants, and improved
sampling protocols/guidance, detection methods, and guidance on optimizing disinfectant residuals. This
output will be communicated through peer-reviewed publications, webinars, training sessions, and
printed materials.
Output 7.3: Analytical methods, occurrence, health effects, and treatment assessments to aid
regulatory decision-making. This output will involve research on the detection and removal of Agency
priority chemicals (e.g., those listed on the 5th CCL) and other emerging contaminants (both chemical and
microbial) to support the evaluation of these contaminants by program offices and to provide tools to
states, tribes, and communities in their efforts to protect public health. Research involving PFAS will be
conducted separately under Research Area 8: Per- and Poly-Fluorinated Alkyl Substances. Research will
also be conducted to fill any health effects data gaps for drinking water contaminants. Research results
will help inform OW's decision-making for unregulated contaminants in accordance with SDWA.
Output Type: This output will include analytical methods for future CCL/UCMR contaminants in drinking
water, and guidance for optimal treatment, as well as technical support for future OW decisions related to
SDWA.
Output 7.4: Resources and tools toward a systems approach for maintaining drinking water
infrastructure performance and integrity. This output will involve research on meeting multiple
competing objectives that are encountered in the operation, maintenance, and renewal of drinking water
systems. This will include developing approaches to protect human health, while minimizing the current
and long-term costs of supplying water to all customers. Research techniques will utilize modeling, data
analytics, and management tools, as well as analytical, geospatial, and commercially available sensor data
to assess system conditions, hydraulics, water quality, and resilience from source water to the consumer's
tap.
Output Type: This output will include improved models (e.g., EPANET) and approaches for optimizing the
efficiency of distribution systems based on the latest scientific data.
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Research Area 8: Per- and Poly-Fluorinated Alkyl Substances (PFAS)
PFAS are a complex class of chemicals, some of which are very persistent in the environment and human
body. Other unknown and undiscovered PFAS likely exist within the environment as impurities or
byproducts of chemical production, or as a result of environmental degradation and transformation
processes. The SSWR PFAS research area will focus on developing analytical methods, treatment, and
remediation of priority PFAS sources.
Program, regional, state, and/or tribal needs (for Outputs 8.1, 8.2, and 8.3). States and utilities need
robust analytical methods for measuring a wide variety of PFAS in environmental samples including water,
soil, sediment, biosolids, and plant and animal tissues. Data are needed on effective treatment strategies
for multiple PFAS compounds in drinking water and wastewater systems. Additionally, PFAS sources, fate,
and transport must be addressed to provide more effective remediation strategies to protect water
resources.
Output 8.1: Analytical methods for PFAS in environmental samples. EPA's ability to address many of the
research questions concerning PFAS in the environment depends on the development of validated
analytical methods. This research will provide EPA program offices and regions, states, tribes, and utilities
with robust analytical methods for analyzing PFAS in water, solid (e.g., biosolids, soils, sediments), and
tissue samples. Method development efforts will be coordinated with OW, OLEM, other federal agencies
(e.g., the Department of Defense, Food and Drug Administration), and states to ensure that analytical
needs are met. This output will also include research on new approaches for PFAS analysis, including non-
targeted analyses, total organic fluorine, and total oxidizable precursors in water samples, and solid
samples that may affect PFAS concentrations in water. The Air and Energy research program will address
sampling and analytical methods for air. Analytical and sampling methods developed in this output will
target use by EPA program and regional offices, states, and commercial laboratories.
Output Type: This output will include a centralized website for accessing analytical methods for PFAS.
Output 8.2: Treatment technologies and processes for removing PFAS from drinking water. This output
will focus on testing and evaluating treatment processes for removing PFAS from drinking water. Bench-,
pilot-, and, where possible, full-scale treatment processes will be tested. Cost information, including
operation and maintenance costs, will be evaluated and presented. Emphasis will be placed on treatment
technologies for small systems and processes (e.g., decentralized and point-of-use/point-of-entry
treatment systems) for addressing PFAS compounds that have been shown to be challenging to remove
from source waters (e.g., shorter chained PFAS, such as the GenX chemical HFPO-DA).
Output Type: This output will include updated information for the OW/ORD Drinking Water Treatability
Database, which provides compound-specific cost and treatment efficacy data for PFAS and other
contaminants; and a centralized website for treatment and pre-treatment recommendations.
Output 8.3: PFAS in wastewater treatment operations: Characterization, prevention, and treatment.
This output will provide research results on the types, concentrations, fate, transport, and transformation
of PFAS in wastewater treatment operations. Research will emphasize treatment and pre-treatment
technologies for 1) removing PFAS at high concentration sources (e.g. textile manufacturing facilities) to
minimize consequences to downstream treatment or disposal operations, and 2) characterizing PFAS in
wastewater, and biosolids to minimize contamination in receiving waters and soils. Based on
20

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characterization data, this research will identify, develop, and optimize prevention strategies,
technologies, and processes for pre-treating sources prior to discharge to publicly owned treatment works
and/or commercial treatment facilities. Pre-treatment strategies will include the assessment and
management of co-occuring contaminants.
Output Type: This output will include a report on characterization and pre-treatment options for PFAS
sources; and webinar series on PFAS in rural and agricultural water supplies.
Research Area 9: Wastewater and Water Reuse
Demand is increasing for sufficient quantities of high-quality water. An integrated water resource
management approach may facilitate meeting this demand by enhancing the availability and quality of
reused water for drinking, agriculture, irrigation and other purposes. This research will support the Agency
in deploying its new Water Reuse Action Plan, in collaboration with other federal agencies, states, tribes
and water sector stakeholders. This research area has three outputs that aim to: 1) develop, evaluate, and
validate new and existing analytical methods for emerging contaminants (e.g., antibiotic resistant
microbes, Legionella, etc.) in wastewater and reused water; 2) develop new methods and further enhance
existing methods for exposure and effects assessment (e.g., enhanced and additional Whole Effluent
Toxicity [WET] methods, quantitative microbial risk assessment); and 3) assess new treatment strategies
for wastewater and fit-for-purpose water reuse for emerging contaminants and endocrine disrupting
compounds. This research area will provide support for guidance on new and existing treatment
technologies, develop analytical methods for emerging contaminants in relevant matrices, and develop
methods to better assess risks posed by individual and groups of contaminants, with the overall goal of
improving the quality and quantity of treated water. The research will provide essential information for
OW's Office of Wastewater Management (OWM), Office of Science and Technology (OST), OGWDW, EPA
regions, and states for meeting statutory requirements under the CWA and SDWA.
Program, regional, state, and/or tribal needs (for Outputs 9.1 and 9.2). Methods and tools are needed to
characterize and assess microbial populations in wastewater treatment processes and for fit-for-purpose
water reuse. New and enhanced methods are needed to assess exposure and effects from chemical
contaminants. Validated analytical methods and strategies are needed to treat chemical and microbial
contaminants in wastewater and fit-for-purpose water reuse. Additionally, OW and utilities need to know
the effectiveness of various treatment steps and disinfection processes in treating AMR bacteria and
associated genes.
Output 9.1: Analytical methods, exposure and effects assessment processes, and tools for wastewater
and fit-for-purpose water reuse. This research will focus on the development and application of analytical
methods for emerging biological, chemical, and other contaminants in wastewater and water reuse
matrices. Researchers will also develop and evaluate new and existing methods and tools to more
accurately determine the risk posed by groups and individual chemicals, pathogens, and other
contaminants in water matrices, including wastewater for discharge and reuse. This research will enhance
WET methods using new, more sensitive species, additional chronic methods (e.g., Daphnia magna and
trout chronic methods), and inclusion of additional endpoints (e.g., modes of action) and bioassays.
Output Type: This output will include a website/clearinghouse for new WET and analytical methods; and a
framework for the application of bioassays for screening water safety.

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Output 9.2: Treatment technologies for wastewater and fit-for-purpose water reuse. This research will
focus on defining, developing, and assessing wastewater treatment technologies, with emphasis on
emerging fit-for-purpose water reuse systems. Research will include: 1) development of risk models that
inform treatment strategies, 2) evaluation of the effectiveness of targeted treatment technologies, and 3)
system level assessment of different treatment scenarios, including integrated water management
approaches.
Output Type: This output will include reports and technical guidance for optimizing wastewater
management and reuse.
Research Area 10: Integrated Stormwater Management
Integrated wet weather and stormwater management research will continue to focus on reducing
combined sewer overflows (CSOs), managing stormwater quality and quantity, and using stormwater for
augmenting water resources. Topics in this research area include water quantity, water quality, capturing
storm and wastewater for reuse, and topics related to cost, cost effectiveness, and related incentives to
ratepayers—all in the context of adaptation and adaptive management. SSWR research will focus on
integrated stormwater management, including aspects of green/gray infrastructure and stormwater flow
control to help states, municipalities, and utilities reduce the number of CSO incidents.
Program, regional, state, and/or tribal needs (for Outputs 10.1 and 10.2). Cost-benefit analysis is an
important input to prioritize actions in times of decreasing financial resources and strained staffing
resources, and it can help to identify cost-effective ways to decrease stormwater-related pollutants,
thereby reducing energy and costs needed to treat and manage water resources. The need for these
analyses spans EPA-OW regulatory requirements, to local government actions, to individual citizens'
decisions. ORD will investigate the applicability of current tools and processes to help communities
manage stormwater. Regulatory drivers include NPDES, Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System, and
TMDL requirements.
Output 10.1: Planning, implementing, and monitoring stormwater management practices. This research
involves synthesizing existing models, methods, assessment data, and approaches (e.g., flow control) to
aid communities in stormwater management planning, including evaluation of costs and benefits,
operation, and maintenance issues. This research will integrate and account for system hydraulics and
interactions with other hydrologic processes in the stormwater/wastewater collection, conveyance, and
combined/septic sewer overflow-outfall system. This research will help communities build stormwater
management capacity by using both existing gray infrastructure and appropriate forms of green
infrastructure. These results will be applied to site selection and implementation, and results will reveal
the types and extent of ecosystem services and other ancillary benefits over baseline (i.e., gray only)
conditions. The output will demonstrate implementation of monitoring strategies for effectively managing
stormwater at multiple scales.
Output Type: This output will include a centralized website for accessing research results and resources
for optimizing stormwater management.
Output 10.2: Stormwater management as a resource for enhanced recharge, capture, and use. The
main objective of this output is to help establish best practices for decentralized stormwater reuse
and enhanced aquifer recharge (EAR, i.e., any engineered system designed to introduce and store

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water in an aquifer). Senate Report 114-281 urges EPA to coordinate closely with USGS on developing
best practices for EAR. It involves research on the use of stormwater for augmenting safe water
sources (e.g., through fit-for-purpose reuse). Rainfall, irrigation, and snowmelt all redistribute water
and may mobilize potential pollutants (e.g., chemicals, pathogens, excess nutrients, etc.) through
infiltration or runoff. The physical, chemical, and biological aspects of stormwater will be assessed for
potential increased integration with water supplies. This integration can result in identifying fit-for-
purpose uses, re-establishing recharge, and optimizing other productive entry points into the larger
sewershed/watershed hydrologic cycles. The result will be a better understanding of the
interrelationships between existing water resources and stormwater influents, and the beneficial uses
of stormwater. Research will focus on evaluating water quality in varying stormwater capture
scenarios (e.g., direct capture through cisterns, runoff, infiltration through green infrastructure) and
conducting risk assessments for reuse recommendations. Contaminant mobilization (or sequestration)
from stormwater will also be assessed.
Output Type: This output will include recommendations on stormwater characterization, capture,
treatment and fit-for-purpose reuse; and a website and report for assessing potential water quality
impacts to groundwater.
Research Area 11: Technical Support
This research area comprises three components: 1) site-specific technical support, 2) modeling support,
and 3) education and outreach. The site-specific technical support research component of this output will
bridge the gap between emergency response, under the purview of the EPA regions and ORD's Center for
Environmental Solutions & Emergency Response, and longer-term ORD research studies with EPA's
program offices and regions, states, and tribes. The estimated time frame of extramural technical support
is two to four weeks. In the past, ORD has been asked for assistance during events involving high priority
drinking water contaminants. Examples include the Toledo, Ohio cyanobacterial drinking water crisis in
2014, where samples were transported to ORD labs to both assess the extent of cyanotoxin contamination
throughout the drinking water system and to provide recommendations on modifying treatment
processes to effectively treat for cyanotoxins. A more recent example is ORD's support to the Michigan
Department of Environmental Quality during the Flint, Michigan water crisis, where EPA engineers
provided onsite technical support and analytical lab support. To provide timely ORD scientific support,
contracts accessible to ORD, OW and the regions are needed to expedite ORD's ability to respond, while
minimizing the impact to researchers engaged in ongoing research.
This research area will support periodic modeling training and the maintenance of a website where official
versions of widely used EPA models [e.g., EPANET, the Stormwater Management Model (SWMM), the
National Storm Water Calculator (SWC), and other EPA software] are available to the public.
Additionally, resources will be provided for SSWR's outreach and education activities. Specifically, the
Annual EPA Drinking Water Workshop and the Monthly Small Systems Webinar Series provide in-depth
information and training on various solutions and strategies for handling small system challenges. The
workshop and webinar series are primarily designed for state personnel responsible for drinking water
regulatory compliance and permitting of treatment technologies. However, others may also benefit,
including system owners and operators; state, local, and tribal governments; academics; design engineers;
technical assistance providers; and consultants. Support is also provided for the 551/1//? Water Research
Webinar Series, which translates current research results on a broad range of SSWR activities for various
partners and stakeholders.
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Program, regional, state, and/or tribal needs (for Output 11.1). EPA's program offices and regions,
states, tribes and communities need: 1) site-specific, applied research to rapidly respond to emerging
issues in the water sector, 2) modeling support and training, and 3) opportunities to learn about and
receive training on advances in water-related science and technology.
Output 11.1: Technical support for water treatment, analytical methods, and risk assessments.
Output type: This output will include site-specific applied research support for challenges in drinking
water, wastewater, stormwater, and water reuse areas; a publicly accessible database listing technical
support efforts and case studies that might have wider application across the United States; a central
website for current versions of SWMM, SWC, and EPANET and associated training materials; and an
annual EPA Drinking Water Workshop and webinars.
Program Design
SSWR Program Components
Through its StRAP 2019-22, SSWR will continue developing innovative, cost-effective solutions to meet
current, emerging, and long-term water resource challenges for complex chemical and biological
contaminants. The research areas and outputs were developed based on the research needs prioritized by
EPA's OW and regions, as well as other EPA program offices, states, and tribes. While most of the research
in the StRAP 2019-22 is targeted at immediate needs, capacity is built in for emergency response science,
technical support, and research that is exploratory and anticipatory in nature and will lead to future
capabilities.
In the StRAP 2019-22, there is a greater emphasis on integrated nutrient management programs, including
aquatic ecosystem response trajectories, non-regulatory market-based incentive approaches, and socio-
economic aspects of nutrient management practices that influence their adoption and maintenance.
Other areas of focus include PFAS, lead in drinking water, water reuse, rapid detection of pathogens in
recreational waters, antimicrobial resistance, biosolids, and micro/nanoplastics. The stormwater
management research will have a more integrated approach—continuing support to communities to
prevent CSOs and exploring beneficial uses of stormwater (e.g., capture and reuse) and other adaptive
management approaches.
In addition to the research outlined in this StRAP, SSWR engages EPA regions in collaborative research
with ORD experts through the Agency's Regional Applied Research Effort (RARE). Each region proposes
priority issues that are typically nearer-term challenges and may be unique to the originating region.
Extramural research, funded through EPA's Science to Achieve Results (STAR) and the National Priorities
grant programs, complements and expands the intramural SSWR research program
by providing invaluable engagement between the Agency and the Nation's leading scientists and
engineers. The SSWR research program also utilizes the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)
program, Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADA), open-source innovation
challenges and prizes, and public-private partnerships to support solutions to pressing water quality
problems.
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Solutions-Driven Research
ORD is adopting a three-pronged strategy for advancing holistic, solutions-driven research to provide the
science needed to inform policy and non-regulatory decisions:
1)	Apply principles of solutions-driven research broadly across ORD's six national research programs
2)	Conduct pilot solutions-driven research projects that apply and evaluate methods of solutions-
driven research to planning, conducting, applying, and evaluating integrated research that
addresses a well-defined and unmet need of partners and stakeholders
3)	Conduct case studies of previous and current research activities that embody the principles of
solutions-driven research, which will help inform a list of best practices
Risk communication is a central factor in solutions-driven research, allowing people to understand their
risks and adopt protective behaviors, as well as informing risk management decisions. ORD will apply
advances in the science of risk communication, as well as best practices for communicating risk to
different audiences across the six national research programs.
The SSWR program will apply the principles of solutions-driven research by beginning with a pilot project
on reducing nonpoint sources of nutrients (Box 1). Based on lessons learned from the pilot project,
additional projects will be developed for other water-related issues.
Box 1. Nutrients Solutions-Driven Research Pilot
Solutions-Driven Research Pilot: Reducing Nonpoint Sources of Nutrients via Non-Traditional
Approaches
In many parts of the country, septic systems and land management practices have contributed to
elevated nutrient levels in surface water and groundwater, resulting in environmental and public
health concerns and impacts. Although traditional public sewer systems are effective at reducing
nutrient pollution from households, their installation often is neither practical nor economically
feasible, so communities are seeking innovative and cost-effective approaches for tackling this
problem in ways that improve environmental and societal conditions.
The SSWR research program is addressing this need through a solutions-driven research pilot in Cape
Cod, MA. This pilot will provide partners in Cape Cod, MA with watershed-based solutions for
nonpoint source nutrient loading. These solutions can also be used to support other states and
communities with similar challenges.
This solution-driven research pilot will explore watershed-based solutions to expeditiously and cost-
effectively reduce nitrogen loadings to the Three Bays system on Cape Cod to help achieve the Total
Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) goals. Objectives include: 1) solving the nutrient problem in Three Bays in
a public health- and environmentally-protective and affordable manner; 2) becoming a nationally-
recognized model for addressing nonpoint source nutrient management; and 3) serving as a center for
education and outreach to support other communities as they address similar issues of nonpoint
source nutrient management.
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Integration Among Research Programs
EPA's six research programs work together to identify and address science challenges. Coordination
efforts range from formal integration across the programs, to collaboration among EPA scientists working
on related issues. There are many opportunities for integration among the programs, and the research
programs will continue working together to identify additional opportunities. The SSWR research program
is coordinating with other research programs in several areas (Appendix 3). These include the following:
Nutrients: The cross-ORD nutrient research effort is focused on reducing excess nutrient loadings that can
cause adverse environmental and human health effects. Using an integrated approach that spans across
media (water, land, and air), across types of surface water bodies and groundwater resources, and across
temporal and spatial scales, this effort develops and applies scientific information and tools to enable
states, tribes, and their EPA program office and regional partners to develop cost-effective regulatory and
non-regulatory approaches to nutrient reduction.
PFAS: The cross-ORD PFAS research effort addresses the four goals of ORD's PFAS action plan: 1)
understanding human health and ecological effects of PFAS; 2) understanding PFAS occurrence, fate
and transport, and exposure; 3) reducing, removing, and remediating PFAS in the environment; and 4)
supporting stakeholders in protecting public health and the environment. The results from this work
are designed to support the cross-EPA and interagency efforts to address PFAS. SSWR research will
address validation of analytical methods for PFAS in environmental samples, treatment technologies
and processes for removing PFAS from water, characterization of PFAS sources, and
remediation options for drinking and agricultural water resources, wastewater, biosolids, and landfill
leachates. Other ORD research includes: PFAS air sampling and emissions (A-E); analytical standards,
AOP, rapid toxicity testing (CSS); risk characterization (HERA); and fate and transport at contaminated
sites and estimation of human exposure (SHC).
Lead: The cross-ORD lead (Pb) research effort is focused on answering the question: "How can EPA
mitigation efforts/techniques and coordinated multimedia assessments most effectively reduce
exposures and blood lead levels for children in the United States?" ORD's highest priorities with respect
to lead include: 1) identifying the most highly exposed communities for targeting intervention actions;
2) generating critical data on the geographic distributions of media-specific lead exposure sources, key
exposure factors, bioavailability, and bioaccessibility; 3) updating and evaluating multimedia exposure-
dose models for regulatory determinations; and 4) developing corrosion control strategies, drinking
water sampling protocols, and methods to diagnose water distribution system issues. The ORD effort is
designed to provide research to support the updated Federal Action Plan to Reduce Childhood Lead
Exposures and Associated Health Impacts and EPA's Public Health Approach to Addressing Lead.
Wildland Fires: Wildland fires are a persistent and pervasive multimedia issue. Wildland fires and
resulting increased runoff can adversely affect ambient waters through increased sedimentation and
mobilization of nutrients, heavy metals, and other pollutants. These effects may warrant shifts in
drinking water treatment processes, which may, in turn, result in elevated concentrations of nitrate
and DBPs post-treatment. For SSWR, this crosscutting project will provide information needed by OW
to work with utilities, especially small drinking water systems, to anticipate and respond to wildfire
impacts. Research in this area involves multiple national research programs, specifically A-E, SSWR,
SHC, and HSRP.

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Resilience: The cross-ORD resilience effort is focused on integrating ORD's work to prepare for and
recover from disasters, including extreme weather events. This research will deliver metrics, methods,
and tools that EPA programs, states, tribes, and communities can use to assess their own vulnerability
to, preparedness for, and response and recovery from environmental releases and other conditions
resulting from extreme weather and other disasters. ORD research will advance the assessment of
trends and the development of future scenario products for disasters (A-E); and address resilience and
preparedness with respect to immediate emergency response (HSRP), watersheds and water
infrastructure (SSWR), contaminated air and site remedies (A-E, SHC), and long-term planning for
resilient communities (SHC).
Conclusion
The SSWR research program takes an integrated approach that examines the entire water cycle. It
produces robust research and scientific analysis for decision-making and innovative, practical solutions for
its partners and stakeholders. This Strategic Research Action Plan maps out the targeted steps that will be
taken during the next four years. It was developed in collaboration with other ORD national research
programs, EPA program offices and regions, federal agencies, states and tribes, and colleagues in the
scientific community. This work will yield the innovative tools and information needed to protect and
restore America's watersheds, aquatic ecosystems, and water infrastructure so that they, in turn, can
provide clean and adequate supplies of water for optimum human and ecosystem health and a strong
economy.
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References
•	American Society of Civil Engineers (2017). "2017 Infrastructure Report Card." The American Society of
Civil Engineers, https://www.infrastructurereportcard.ore/cat-item/drinking-water/
•	Cordell, H.K. (2012). "Outdoor recreation trends and futures: a technical document supporting the
Forest Service 2010 RPA Assessment." Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-150. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of
Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station, 167 p.
https://www.fs.usda.eov/treesearch/pubs/40453
•	DeFlorio-Barker, S.; Wing, C.; Jones, R.M.; and Dorevitch, S. (2018). "Estimate of incidence and cost of
recreational waterborne illness on United States surface waters." Environmental Health. 2018; 17:3.
Published online January 9, 2018 (DOI: 10.1186/sl2940-017-0347-9). https://doi.org/10.1186/sl2940-
1347-9
•	U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1985). "Guidelines for Deriving Numerical National Water
Quality Criteria for the Protection of Aquatic Organisms and Their Uses." U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Publication No. PB85-227049.
https://www.epa.gov/wac/guidelines-deriving-numerical-national-water-quality-criteria-protection-
aquatic-organisms-and
•	U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2018). "U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's FY 2018- FY
2022 Strategic Plan." U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of the Chief Financial Officer,
Publication No. EPA-190-R-18-003, February 12, 2018.
https://www.epa.gov/planandbudget/strategicplan
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Appendices
Appendix 1: States and tribal needs reflected in ORD research planning
The table below lists the state needs identified in the 2016 Environmental Council of the States (ECOS)
survey and in ECOS and National Tribal Water Council (NTWC) discussions with ORD in the spring of 2018.
These needs are aligned to the Research Areas planned in the ORD StRAPs.
Source
State Need
Research Area
Water
ECOS
2016
Survey
Water Quality/Surface Water
Quality/Groundwater Quality
Assessment, Monitoring, and Management of
Aquatic Resources; Human Health and Aquatic Life
Criteria; Assessment and Management of Harmful
Algal Blooms; Science to Support Nutrient-Related
Water Quality Goals; Nutrient Reduction Strategies
and Assessment; Wastewater and Water Reuse;
Integrated Stormwater Management
Nutrients and Nonpoint
sources/agriculture vs.
groundwater/HABs
Assessment and Management of Harmful Algal
Blooms; Nutrient Reduction Strategies and
Assessment
MS4 Compliance and
Stormwater
Integrated Stormwater Management
Water Quantity and Reuse
Wastewater and Water Reuse
Water and Wastewater
Infrastructure
Drinking Water/Distribution Systems; Wastewater
and Water Reuse; Integrated Stormwater
Management; Technical Support for Water
Treatment, Analytical Methods, and Risk
Assessments
Small System Drinking Water
and Wastewater Treatment
Drinking Water/Distribution Systems; Wastewater
and Water Reuse; Technical Support for Water
Treatment, Analytical Methods, and Risk
Assessments
Ensuring Safe Drinking Water
and Wastewater Disinfection
Byproducts
Drinking Water/Distribution Systems; Wastewater
and Water Reuse; Integrated Stormwater
Management; Technical Support for Water
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Treatment, Analytical Methods, and Risk
Assessments
Issues with Altered Hydrology
Assessment, Monitoring, and Management of
Aquatic Resources [focus on water quality/aquatic
resources and potential interactions with altered
flow/hydrology]
ECOS
Media
meeting
Groundwater remediation:
would be beneficial to see data
from past in situ efforts and
designs related to hydro
technologies (AZ)
Addressed in the SHC research program
ECOS
Media
meeting
Research at the groundwater-
surface water interface (OK)
Assessment, Monitoring and Management of Aquatic
Resources
Also addressed in the SHC research program
HABs (MO): Ecological
endpoints, Gulf Hypoxia
research, WQS criteria
validation, using satellite
images for algae bloom
prediction, HAB method
development and validation,
and HAB risk assessment based
on lake attributes (Wl)
Assessment and Management of Harmful Algal
Blooms
Water reuse (CO, AZ)
Wastewater and Water Reuse
Nutrient impact on wastewater
reservoirs from water reuse
(OK)
Insufficient resources to address
More work on wastewater
treatment plants and landfills
(Ml)
Wastewater and Water Reuse
Removing (emerging)
contaminants from direct
potable reuse (TN, OK)
Wastewater and Water Reuse [focus on biological
contaminants]

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Need more bioassessment
tools for estuarine/marine
waters (especially since EPA
has an emphasis on
downstream water quality) (FL)
Assessment, Monitoring, and Management of
Aquatic Resources; Science to Support Nutrient-
Related Water Quality Goals

Need tools to discriminate
nutrient sources—need to
bring down costs and make
more accurate (NE)
Nutrient Reduction Strategies and Assessment

Need for some waste
management or reuse options
for the residuals from water
treatment, whether it be from
produced water or other,
where there is the possibility
to generate voluminous solids,
highly concentrated water,
that possibly contain norm and
tenorm (OK)
Wastewater and Water Reuse [emphasis on PFAS in
biosolids]
Emerging Contaminants
ECOS
2016
Survey
Manage new chemicals of
emerging concern and existing
chemicals
Drinking Water/Distribution Systems; Wastewater
and Water Reuse; Human Health and Aquatic Life
Criteria

Adapt and respond to
emergencies
Technical Support for Water Treatment, Analytical
Methods, and Risk Assessments

More info for PFAS, surface
water standards, fish
consumption and biosolids
advisory levels
Drinking Water/Distribution Systems; Wastewater
and Water Reuse
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All Areas
Source
Tribal Need
Research Area
NTWC
meeting
Spring
2018
Predictive modeling capability
for Harmful Algal Blooms
Assessment and Management of Harmful Algal
Blooms
Develop guidance for
addressing drinking water and
wastewater home-based
technologies for rural/tribal
communities1
Drinking Water/Distribution Systems; Wastewater
and Water Reuse; Technical Support for Water
Treatment, Analytical Methods, and Risk
Assessments

Develop guidance for water
system operators on corrosion
control1
Drinking Water/Distribution Systems; Technical
Support for Water Treatment, Analytical Methods,
and Risk Assessments

Dependable, affordable
continuous water quality
monitoring equipment.
Assessment, Monitoring, and Management of
Aquatic Resources; Assessment and Management of
Harmful Algal Blooms; Nutrient Reduction Strategies
and Assessment; Drinking Water/ Distribution
Systems; Wastewater and Water Reuse; Integrated
Stormwater Management; Technical Support for
Water Treatment, Analytical Methods, and Risk
Assessments

Develop ecologically-based
criteria for sulfate and identify
treatment technologies1
Human Health and Aquatic Life Criteria

Hydraulic fracturing water
reuse study for evaluating
ecological impacts
Insufficient resources to address

Human health & ecological
effect studies for large vessel
ships - dumping sewage and
gray water in international
waters.
Insufficient resources to address

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Appendix 2: National Research Program environmental regulations and policies mandated by legislation
The following table lists the legislation supported by SSWR research.
Legislation
Website
Safe Drinking Water Act
https://www.epa.sov/sdwa
SDWA 42 U.S. Code, Chapter 6A, SUBCHAPTER
XII—Safety of Public Water Systems
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim
@title42/chapters A/ subchapter IP.&edition^prelim
SDWA 42 U.S. Code § 300g-l: National drinking
water regulations
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim
(5>title42/chapter6A/subchapterl2&edition=prelim

SDWA 42 U.S. Code § 300j-l. Research, technical
assistance, information, training of personnel
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtmI7patIWpreIim
Ptitle42/chapter6A/subchapterl2&edition=prelim

Clean Water Act
https://www.epa.gov/Iaws-reguIatioiis/sumrriarY-
clean-water-act
CWA 33 USC CHAPTER 53, Section 4001—
Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and
Control Amendments Act
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtmI7patlWpreIim
(®title33/chapter53&edition=prelim
CWA 33 U.S. Code Chapter 26, Sections 1251-
1387
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim
PtitIe33/chapter26&edition=preIim

CWA 33 U.S. Code § 1251. Congressional
declaration of goals and policy
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtmI7patIWpreIim
Ptitle33/chapter26&edition=prelim
CWA 33 U.S. Code § 1252. Comprehensive
programs for water pollution control
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml7patlWprelim
Ptitle33/chapter26&edition=prelim

CWA 33 U.S. Code § 1254. Research,
investigations, training, and information
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml7patlWprelim
{®title33/chapter26&edition=prelim

CWA 33 U.S. Code § 1257. Mine water pollution
control demonstrations
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml7pattWprelim
ptitle33/chapter28&edition=prelim

CWA 33 U.S. Code § 1266. Hudson River
reclamation demonstration
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml7pattWprelim
Ptitle33/chapter28&edition=prelim

CWA 33 U.S. Code § 1267. Chesapeake Bay
http://uscode.hause.gov/view.xhtml7patfWprelim
Ptitle33/chapter26&edition=prelim
33

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CWA 33 U.S. Code § 1273. Lake Pontchartrain
Basin
httD://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim
(®title33/chaoter26&edition=orelim
CWA 33 U.S. Code § 1274. Watershed pilot
projects
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtmlPpatlWprelim
ptitle33/chapter28&edition=prelim

CWA 33 U.S. Code § 1311. Effluent limitations
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtmlPpatlWprelim
Ptitle33/chapter28&edition=prelim
CWA 33 U.S. Code § 1314. Water quality criteria
development
http://u8code.house.gov/view.xhtmI7pattWpreIim
Ptitle33/chapter26&edition=prelim

CWA 33 U.S. Code § 1315. State reports on water
quality
http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim
Ptitle33/chapter26&edition=prelim
CWA 33 U.S. Code § 1321. Oil and hazardous
substance liability
http://useode.house.gov/view.xhtmI7patIWpreIim
(S)title33/chapter26&edition=prelim
Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and
Control Amendments Act of 2014
https://www.eovinfo.eov/content/pke/BILLS-
113sl254enr/pdf/BILLS-113sl254enr.pdf

Clean Air Act
https://www.epa.eov/clean-air-act-overview

National Environmental Policy Act
http://www2.epa.gov/nepa

Water Infrastructure Improvements for the
Nation Act
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-
coneress/senate-bill/612/text
Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments
of 1990
https://www.congress.eov/bill/101st-
coneress/house-bill/4030
34

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Appendix 3: Cross-cutting research areas
The following table lists the research areas coordinated across the ORD national research programs.

A-E
CSS
HERA
HSRP
SHC
SSWR
Nutrients
• Atmospheric
deposition of
nitrogen and
phosphorus to
ecosystems
• Toxicity
testing



•	Sensors &
Water
Infrastructure
•	N & Co-
pollutants
PFAS
• Air sampling
and emissions
•	Analytical
standards
•	Adverse
outcome
pathways
•	Rapid toxicity
testing
• Risk
characterization
• Treatment of
contaminated
water from
emergency
response
activities.
•	Tech Support
•	Fate and
transport at
contaminated
sites and
landfills
•	Human
exposure
•	Analytical
methods
•	Remediation
•	Treatment
Lead


•	Regulatory
models
•	Risk Assessment
• Sensors and
water
infrastructure
modeling,
including
contaminant
fate and
transport
•	Locations
•	Exposure data
& evaluated
models
•	Innovative
solutions
•	Water
treatment
systems
•	Drinking water
quality
sampling
•	Risk
Assessment
Wildfire
• Models and
measurement
methods


• Wildland fires
• Models and
measurement
methodologies
•	Drinking water
treatment and
utilities
•	Source water
protection
Resilience
• Sector-based
approaches to
resilience


• Emergency
preparedness
and response
for all hazards
•	Indicators of
long-term
resilience
•	Preparation
and response
to natural
disasters
•	Coastal
Resilience
•	Stormwater
Ecosystem
services
• Secondary
NAAQS



• Ecosystem
services
• Secondary
NAAQS

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Appendix 4: Summary table of proposed outputs for the Safe and Sustainable Water Resources
Research Program (FY2019 -2022)
The following table lists the expected SSWR outputs, organized by topic. It should be noted that the
outputs might change as new scientific findings emerge. Outputs are also contingent on budget
appropriations.
Research Area
Program/Region/State /Tribal
Needs
Output Title
Topic 1: Watersheds
Research Area 1:
Assessment, Monitoring,
and Management of
Aquatic Resources
Technical support and tools to
implement NARS.
Output 1.1: Science to support NARS
survey design, indicator development
and assessment benchmarks,
methods development, and data
tools. (FY221)

Analytical approaches and new
tools to leverage survey data for
condition assessment, trends
analysis, stressor identification,
and causal analysis.
Output 1.2: Extended applications of
NARS data and approaches to
support priority setting and
management actions. (FY22)

Tools to advance integrated
watershed assessments, establish
attainable biological targets, and
evaluate recovery potential.
Output 1.3: Tools, indicators, and
information to inform water quality
goals, assess biological condition, and
support effective management of
diverse water bodies. (FY22)

Analytical methods for
micro/nanoplastics in water and
tools to assess potential adverse
health outcomes from exposure.
Output 1.4: Methods to identify and
quantify micro/nanoplastics in
environmental matrices. (FY 21)

Technical support for water
quality modeling and applications
for linking water quality and
economic models.
Output 1.5: Water quality models and
economic analyses to support
science-based water quality
decisions. (FY22)

Technical support and tools for
monitoring and modeling sources,
fate, and transport of metals and
other pollutants in the Animas-
San Juan watershed.
Output 1.6: Research support for the
San Juan Watershed Program. (FY22)
Research Area 2:
Improved Aquatic
Resource Mapping
Tools for aquatic resource
mapping of waters of the United
States.
Output 2.1: Improved accuracy and
application of geospatially explicit
aquatic resource data. (FY22)
36

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Research Area 3: Human
Health and Aquatic Life
Criteria
Analytical tools for pathogens,
fecal indicators and sources,
including antimicrobial resistance,
and science supporting
recreational water quality criteria.
Output 3.1: Data and innovative tools
to advance public health protection
from microbial contaminants in
surface water. (FY22)

Technical support and tools to
address data gaps and modeling
challenges to developing
bioaccumulation factors for
metals and other contaminants
for human health criteria.
Output 3.2: Data and innovative tools
to protect public health from
consumption of chemical
contaminants in surface waters and
aquatic organisms. (FY22)

Scientific and technical support to
update the 1985 Aquatic Life
Guidelines. Developing next
generation toxicological tools for
new and emerging contaminants,
including mixtures, for aquatic life
guidelines.
Output 3.3: Science to advance the
methodology for deriving water
quality criteria to protect aquatic life
from toxic chemicals. (FY22)
Topic 2: Nutrients and Harmful Algal Blooms
Research Area 4:
Assessment and
Management of Harmful
Algal Blooms
Epidemiological and toxicological data
on existing and emerging cyanotoxins.
Output 4.1: Data and tools to
assess human and environmental
adverse health outcomes from
exposure to HABs and associated
toxins. (FY22)

Research and evaluation of
management actions in watersheds,
including economic analyses.
Output 4.2: Information for
preventing, treating, and
managing HABs and their impacts
in water bodies, ambient water,
and drinking water. (FY22)

Tools for predicting, characterizing
and monitoring HABs.
Output 4.3: Tools for HAB risk
characterization and assessment.
(FY22)
Research Area 5: Science
to Support Nutrient-
Related Water Quality
Goals
Scientific support for developing
numeric nutrient criteria.
Methods to determine nutrient-
related impacts in watersheds and
waterbodies.
Output 5.1: Research for
characterizing nutrient-related
impacts across multiple spatial
scales. (FY22)

Information on water body recovery
rates from nutrient pollution.
Output 5.2: Trajectories of
aquatic ecosystem responses to
and recovery from nutrient
pollution. (FY22)
37

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Assessment of nutrient-related
impacts on aquatic life.
Approaches to identify watershed and
water bodies that will most effectively
respond to restoration and recovery
efforts.
Output 5.3: Scientific approaches
for identifying which watersheds
and water bodies may most
efficiently attain water quality
goals. (FY22)
Research Area 6: Nutrient
Reduction Strategies and
Assessment
Scientific support to determine which
practices, in which combinations, in
which locations are best suited to
reduce nutrient loadings to ambient
water.
Output 6.1: Tools, technologies,
and best practices to predict,
monitor, and manage nutrients in
surface water and groundwater.
(Application of state-of-the-
science for nutrient
management). (FY22)

Program designs for monitoring and
tracking nutrient management
activities, including low-cost sensor
technology.
Output 6.2: Information for
assessing the effectiveness of
restoration and conservation
practices and systems. (Nutrient
reduction effectiveness
evaluation). (FY22)

Social science applications to address
water quality.
Information on water body recovery
rates from nutrient pollution.
Output 6.3: Best practices for
integrated nutrient management
programs (Whole system
integrated nutrient management
science, engineering, economics,
and stakeholder engagement).
(FY22)
Topic 3: Water Treatment and Infrastructure
Research Area 7: Drinking
Water/Distribution
Systems
Technical support for revisions to the
Lead and Copper Rule.
Resources for states to minimize lead
exposure.
Output 7.1: Resources and tools
for characterizing and mitigating
lead and copper release in
drinking water distribution
systems and premise plumbing.
(FY22)

Technical support for 6-year reviews
on DBPs and future decisions on the
Unregulated Contaminant
Monitoring Rule.
Resources for small systems for
optimizing disinfection strategies.
Output 7.2: Best practices, tools
and information for assessing and
controlling pathogens and
biostability in drinking water
systems, managing disinfectant
residuals, and minimizing DBPs.
(FY22)
38

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Treatment options and technical
support for future regulatory
determinations and health
advisories.
Output 7.3: Analytical methods,
occurrence, health effects, and
treatment assessments to aid
regulatory decision-making. (FY22)
Technical support for states and
small systems for maintaining and
improving drinking water
infrastructure.
Output 7.4: Resources and tools
toward a systems approach for
maintaining drinking water
infrastructure performance and
integrity. (FY22)
Research Area 8:
Per-and Poly-Fluorinated
Alkyl Substances (PFAS)
Robust analytical methods for
analyzing PFAS in water, solid, and
tissue samples.
Output 8.1: Analytical methods for
PFAS in environmental samples.
(FY20)
Centralized website for treatment
and pre-treatment
recommendations for wastewater
and water reuse treatment
strategies.
Output 8.2: Treatment
technologies and processes for
removing PFAS from drinking
water. (FY22)
Characterization of PFAS in biosolids,
wastewater, and landfill leachates
with an emphasis on pre-treatment
strategies for minimizing PFAS
contamination in water resources.
Output 8.3: PFAS in wastewater
treatment operations:
Characterization, prevention, and
treatment. (FY22)
Research Area 9:
Wastewater and Water
Reuse
Scientific data to support risk
assessments of wastewater for
discharge and for reuse. Technical
support for developing or optimizing
whole effluent toxicity tests.
Advancement of new methods
(bioassays) for monitoring effluents.
Output 9.1: Analytical methods,
exposure and effects assessment
processes, and tools for
wastewater and fit-for-purpose
water reuse. (FY22)
Technical evaluations for states and
program offices on water reuse
treatment technologies
Technologies and treatment targets
for fit-for-purpose reuse.
Output 9.2: Treatment
technologies for wastewater and
fit-for-purpose water reuse. (FY22)
Research Area 10:
Integrated Stormwater
Management
Support for states/regions to
implement the most effective and
economical green and gray
infrastructure combinations for
managing CSOs.
Output 10.1: Planning,
implementing, and monitoring
stormwater management
practices. (FY22)
39

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Research results on stormwater
capture and water quality for
augmenting safe water supplies.
Output 10.2: Stormwater
management as a resource for
enhanced recharge, capture, and
use.(FY22)
Research Area 11:
Technical Support
Application of research results and
technical expertise to support
state/region needs for site-specific
environmental challenges.
Output 11.1: Technical support for
water treatment, analytical
methods, and risk assessments.
(FY 20, 21, 22)
40

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