A Major Milestone for Water + Energy Forward

Last week, The Water Council staff and the other leaders of our Water + Energy Forward Engine breathed a sigh of relief as we submitted our pre-proposal — the culmination of more than a year and a half of work — to the National Science Foundation.

And later that day, we held a meeting to dive into our next steps.

You may already know that The Water Council and our partners received a Development Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2023 to create an economic engine in Wisconsin focused on water and energy resiliency for manufacturers and utilities. Submission of the pre-proposal is the latest step in our effort to receive a Launch Award for the engine, which could provide up to $160 million from NSF over 10 years. We expect to learn in October if NSF will invite us to submit a full proposal.

But we are not relaxing in the meantime. We continue to build out the infrastructure necessary to launch our engine, including a diverse array of partners, innovative funding mechanisms and an inclusive workforce development plan.

• Earlier, we told you about the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District’s plans for a groundbreaking research and piloting facility that will help engine partners test new technologies. Check out this article in BizTimes Milwaukee to learn more about it.
• Stay tuned in the next few weeks for another major announcement from a new engine collaborator.
• We also plan to hold community forums this fall to discuss diversity and inclusion plans for the engine.

Finally, water and energy resiliency and sustainability will be major topics of discussion at our summit on Oct. 29 and 30. For the first time, we are collaborating with the Sustainability Lab at Marquette University (an engine partner) for the Nexus Sustainability Leaders Forum. Registration is now open!