Viral Pathogen and Surrogate Approaches for Assessing Treatment Performance in Water Reuse | EPA G2021 STAR A1

Opportunity Information: Apply for EPA G2021 STAR A1

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offered this discretionary grant under its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program to support research that strengthens how water reuse systems evaluate and manage viral safety when the starting source water is wastewater. The core purpose of the opportunity is to improve the science and practical tools used to detect, monitor, and interpret the presence of human enteric viral pathogens in reuse settings, and to do so in a way that directly informs how treatment performance is measured and credited in real-world reuse treatment trains.

A central focus of the solicitation is the development and evaluation of surrogates. In this context, surrogates are organisms, markers, or other measurable indicators that can stand in for human enteric viruses during monitoring and performance testing. Because directly measuring infectious human viruses in environmental samples can be technically challenging, expensive, slow, and sometimes inconsistent, the EPA is looking for projects that examine both existing surrogates and novel surrogate approaches that might be more reliable, more practical for routine monitoring, or more predictive of actual health risk. The work is expected to address detection and monitoring needs specific to water reuse applications, where treated wastewater may be used for purposes such as irrigation, industrial uses, groundwater recharge, or potentially indirect or direct potable reuse depending on the context.

In addition to detection, the opportunity places strong emphasis on quantifying how effectively treatment processes reduce infectious viral pathogens and their surrogates. Applicants are expected to generate data on quantitative reductions (often expressed as log reductions) across individual unit treatment processes (for example, specific filtration steps, membrane processes, disinfection barriers, or advanced oxidation) as well as across full treatment trains. This means the research should not just show whether viruses or surrogates are present, but should produce defensible, quantitative performance information that can be used to evaluate how much risk is reduced at each stage of treatment and cumulatively across the entire system.

A practical outcome the EPA is aiming for is improved viral risk assessment for water reuse. By better linking surrogate measurements and treatment performance data to infectious virus reductions, the resulting science can help refine viral log reduction targets, improve how utilities and regulators assign unit process credits (how much reduction each unit is assumed to provide), and reduce uncertainty in the design and operation of reuse systems. In short, the program is looking for research that helps translate lab and field measurements into better decisions about treatment requirements, monitoring strategies, and public health protection in reuse scenarios.

Key administrative details from the notice include that this was a grant opportunity (FundingInstrumentType: Grant) in the environmental funding category (FundingActivityCategory: Environment) under CFDA 66.509. The opportunity number is EPA G2021 STAR A1, and it was posted on October 29, 2020, with an original closing date of January 6, 2021. The anticipated maximum award amount (award ceiling) was $1,240,000 per award, with approximately five awards expected. Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others" with additional clarification provided in the full announcement, particularly in the section describing eligibility and submission requirements (the notice points applicants to Section IV for details on how to apply and due dates).

Overall, this grant competition is best understood as an effort to move water reuse viral monitoring beyond general indicators and toward approaches that more directly track infectious virus behavior through treatment. It encourages work that compares and validates surrogate candidates, improves sampling and analytical methods for reuse matrices, and produces quantitative treatment reduction datasets that can be used to strengthen guidelines, performance targets, and crediting frameworks for reuse treatment processes.

• The Environmental Protection Agency in the environment sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Viral Pathogen and Surrogate Approaches for Assessing Treatment Performance in Water Reuse" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 66.509.
• This funding opportunity was created on Oct 29, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jan 06, 2021 Please refer to the announcement, including Section IV, for additional information on submission methods and due dates.. (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 $1,240,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 5 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for EPA G2021 STAR A1

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