WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH ACT PROGRAM NATIONAL COMPETITIVE GRANTS FY2025 (104g General)

The United States Geological Survey, under the U.S. Department of the Interior, has released the Fiscal Year 2025 Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Water Resources Research Act Program National Competitive Grants (104g General). This program is authorized under Section 104 of the Water Resources Research Act of 1984, as amended by several subsequent public laws. The responsibility for administration rests with the USGS, and the program is coordinated with the National Institutes for Water Resources, which consists of 54 Institutes located across all U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. The program supports applied research to address pressing water resource issues at state, regional, and national levels, with emphasis on collaboration between universities, institutes, and federal agencies. The program’s goals include promoting research that improves understanding of water resources and supports effective management. The Fiscal Year 2025 priorities focus on two main areas. The first priority is the economic value of information from the USGS streamgage network and associated data resources, where proposals should provide methodologies to quantify costs and benefits, analyze valuation, and provide recommendations for policy and practice. The second priority emphasizes advancing hydrologic modeling with the integration of machine learning, targeting areas such as harmonization of water quality data, predictions of groundwater and base flow, and exploration of causal machine learning approaches to improve robustness in modeling. Proposals are expected to demonstrate scientific innovation, practical impacts, collaboration potential, and measurable benefits for stakeholders. Approximately $1,850,000 is available for this competition, with an estimated six awards to be distributed. The maximum award per project is $310,000, and the minimum award is not specified. Each applicant is required to provide a 1:1 cost match of non-federal funds for each federal dollar received, except for Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Northern Mariana Islands, which are exempt from this requirement. Eligible applicants are exclusively the State and Territory Water Resources Research Institutes, though any researcher at a U.S. institution of higher education may apply through their respective institute. Federal employees may serve as collaborators but not as principal investigators or sources of matching funds. Applications must be submitted through Grants.gov by the universities housing the institutes no later than September 30, 2025, at 5:00 PM Eastern Time. Required documents include the SF-424 and SF-424B, a full proposal addressing priorities, a matching commitment letter, budget forms and justification, conflict of interest disclosures, biographical sketches, and current or pending support forms. Proposals must conform to strict formatting and page limits. Merit review will be conducted by a peer panel composed of institute directors, university researchers, and USGS staff. Evaluation criteria include alignment with program priorities, scientific value, integration with USGS science, benefits to the community, information transfer, training potential, and completeness of budget and data management plans. Awards are anticipated to begin February 1, 2026, and will run through January 31, 2029. Post-award requirements include compliance with federal policies, reporting on research progress, financial expenditures, and annual program activities. Performance reports must document research accomplishments, publications, outreach activities, student support, and collaboration with USGS. Contacts for technical inquiries include Christian Schmidt, Program Coordinator, reachable at cgschmidt@usgs.gov or 208-861-2866. Administrative questions should be directed to Sara Roser, Grants Specialist, at sroser@usgs.gov or 703-648-7357. Technical support for Grants.gov submissions is available through Grants.gov customer support at 1-800-518-4726 or support@grants.gov.