Studies on Nutrient & Algae/Cyanobacteria Removal in Backwater Areas of the Mississippi River | W81EWF 20 SOI 0030

Opportunity Information: Apply for W81EWF 20 SOI 0030

This grant opportunity, issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Department of Defense) under Funding Opportunity Number W81EWF 20 SOI 0030, seeks research that explains and predicts how backwater areas along the Mississippi River can influence nutrients and algae, including harmful algae and cyanobacteria. The work is framed as science and technology/research and development, and it is planned as a single cooperative agreement award with an expected ceiling of $40,000. The intent is to build on prior backwater modeling work (notably Ochs and Shields, 2019 and 2020), then extend it to more constituents and broader river settings, and finally test, through modeling, practical engineering strategies that could improve water quality outcomes.

The first objective focuses on improving and expanding a numerical model for a representative backwater system, similar to an existing model previously developed for a backwater pond in northwest Mississippi. The earlier efforts emphasized nitrogen dynamics, but this opportunity specifically asks for a broader constituent set and more comprehensive simulations. In particular, the model should be extended to cover phosphate and algae, and ideally algae/cyanobacteria behavior as well. Beyond those priorities, the agency also expresses interest in simulations for other water quality indicators such as dissolved solids, suspended solids, bacteria (including E. coli), and pesticides. A major theme is testing the backwater system under a wide range of conditions: varying flow regimes, different nutrient and sediment inputs driven by runoff, and different loading scenarios that reflect real-world variability. The expected outcome of this objective is a refined modeling tool (or a well-justified use of an existing tool) capable of estimating key water quality parameters in backwater environments and running scenario analyses across many combinations of hydrology and constituent fluxes.

The second objective scales the findings up from a single backwater setting to a river-reach perspective. Here, the backwater assumptions and relationships developed under Objective 1 are applied to the southern Mississippi River to estimate the cumulative effect of backwater areas along the mainstem. The solicitation describes a target extent of roughly 900 miles, from Cairo, Illinois to the river discharge, while also leaving room for the applicant and agency to agree on a shorter stretch if that is more feasible. The underlying purpose is to translate localized backwater behavior into an understanding of broader impacts on downstream water quality, including nutrient and algae/cyanobacteria dynamics, and potentially the other modeled parameters as well. In practical terms, the agency is looking for a basin-scale or reach-scale modeling perspective that can quantify how backwaters might act as sinks, sources, or transformers of nutrients and biomass under different hydrologic and loading conditions.

The third objective turns the modeling framework into a decision-support tool for evaluating engineering interventions at both small and large scales. Rather than requiring field construction or pilot implementation, the emphasis is on model development and simulations that assess how specific approaches could enhance the beneficial functions of backwater areas, especially nutrient retention or removal and algae/cyanobacteria control. The opportunity lists several example strategies to be examined: increasing water retention time within backwater systems (which can change settling, uptake, and transformation processes); using relatively inexpensive media that bind or remove nutrients, such as molecular sieves or ion exchange materials; applying algae precipitation or removal technologies to reduce algae/cyanobacteria and associated nutrients (citing Thomas et al., 2020 as an example of this class of approach); and using macrophytic (aquatic) vegetation to remove nutrients through biological uptake and related processes. The deliverable implied by this objective is a modeling capability that can compare these alternatives, explore performance across different flow and loading scenarios, and provide insight into which measures might be most effective and under what conditions.

Administratively, the opportunity is categorized as discretionary and uses a cooperative agreement, indicating the Corps of Engineers expects to have substantial involvement during the project period (for example, in coordinating data sources, refining study design, or aligning modeling assumptions with agency needs). The CFDA number is 12.630, the posting date was June 4, 2020, and the original closing date was July 31, 2020. Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others" with additional eligibility details referenced in the full announcement, which typically means applicants may include certain non-federal entities beyond standard categories, depending on the solicitation language.

Overall, the grant is essentially a modeling-centered research effort with three linked steps: (1) strengthen and widen a backwater water-quality model to include phosphate and algae/cyanobacteria (plus other constituents of interest) across many hydrologic and runoff-driven conditions; (2) apply those backwater insights to estimate cumulative effects along a major portion of the Mississippi River; and (3) use the resulting models to test engineering strategies that could improve nutrient and algae/cyanobacteria outcomes by changing residence time, chemically or physically removing nutrients and biomass, or leveraging aquatic vegetation for uptake and treatment.

• The Department of Defense, Dept. of the Army -- Corps of Engineers in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Studies on Nutrient & Algae/Cyanobacteria Removal in Backwater Areas of the Mississippi River" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.630.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 04, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 31, 2020. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $40,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for W81EWF 20 SOI 0030

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