Grants / Department of Defense / Engineer Research and Development Center

W81EWF-22-SOI-0033: Effects of Sediment Release from Water Injection Dredging on Downstream Freshwater Ecology in Kansas

Closed Closed August 18, 2022 Opportunity W81EWF-22-SOI-0033 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. A newer notice from the same program is open now: ERDC Broad Agency Announcement (W912HZ26S0001). Status: Closes January 1, 2027 (55 days left). It is in our archive of Engineer Research and Development Center notices from 2022.

• Award ceiling$77,000
• Total funding$183,000
• Expected awards1
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeCooperative Agreement

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to the applicants described in the notice.

• Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)

This opportunity is restricted to non-federal partners of the Great Plains Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (CESU).

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past Basic, Applied, and Advanced Research in Science and Engineering awards averaged $1.1 million; this notice allows up to $77,000 per award.
• Most of the program's money (69% over five years) went to colleges and universities.
• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

The construction of dams interrupts the continuity of sediment transportation through river basins, resulting in problems such as, decreased reservoir storage, flood risk management, and navigation capacity. As of 2012, loss of water storage capacity from sedimentation in 20 large federal reservoirs in Kansas ranged from 2% to 43% (see Juracek 2015; The Aging of America's Reservoirs: In-Reservoir and Downstream Physical Changes and Habitat Implications). Downstream habitat changes also result from sediment deprivation (e.g., channel incision, changes in bedform, loss of lateral connectivity, unnaturally clear water). Sediment management actions at aging reservoirs (e.g., hydro injection dredging, flushing, hydrosuction) may drive ecological effects in downstream river systems (e.g., changes in biodiversity, water quality, habitat quality) that are not well-known. Research is needed to understand and document the potential effects of releasing sediment from reservoirs to downstream ecosystems. The USACE Kansas City District (NWK) is conducting a Water Injection Dredging (WID) pilot project at Tuttle Creek Lake, Kansas that will potentially begin as soon as Summer 2023.This will be the first time Water Injection Dredging has been conducted in a reservoir anywhere in the world. Water Injection Dredging uses water jets designed to disaggregate, hydraulically lift, and entrain bed material into a density current. Factors such as, settling velocity, bed slope, bed roughness, relative densities of sediment and water column, and total jet water discharge influence the distance over which a density current will be transported. Ideally, sediment is transported in the density currents to reservoir outlets and sediment is passed to downstream the ecosystem in order to restore reservoir pool capacities. The main objective of the WID pilot project is to test, collect, analyze and document data related to the WID technology. Environmental data will be collected inside the reservoir and downstream to evaluate the potential effects of moving the sediment inside the reservoir and changing the sediment regime downstream of the reservoir. The data collected will help future feasibility studies at Tuttle Creek Lake, and will also be used to validate empirical or numerical models and other tools that could be used to assess WID at other lakes.

Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Apply under the newer notice, W912HZ26S0001, which is open now.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.