ET Demands Model Enhancement, Implementation and Documentation | BOR DO 17 N018

Opportunity Information: Apply for BOR DO 17 N018

The ET Demands Model Enhancement, Implementation and Documentation opportunity is a Bureau of Reclamation (U.S. Department of the Interior) grant aimed at improving and deploying a numerical evapotranspiration and irrigation-demand modeling tool known as ET Demands. The core purpose is to strengthen Reclamation's ability to estimate how climate change could alter water needs for both agricultural irrigation and urban landscape watering across the western United States. Rather than being a general open research solicitation, it is structured as a collaborative effort in which Reclamation works directly with the Desert Research Institute (DRI) to refine the model, implement it for practical use, and document it thoroughly enough that it can be applied consistently and understood by technical users.

The work centers on quantifying climate-driven changes in evapotranspiration, which is a key driver of irrigation demand because it reflects the combined water loss from evaporation and plant transpiration. By enhancing a numerical ET model, the project supports more realistic projections of future water demand under changing temperature, precipitation patterns, and other climate-related variables. The emphasis on both agricultural and urban landscape irrigation indicates the model outputs are expected to be relevant to multiple water-use sectors, including irrigated farming systems and municipal or suburban outdoor watering needs, which can be a major component of urban demand in arid and semi-arid regions.

A major deliverable is public-facing dissemination. The opportunity specifies that results from the climate change impact analyses produced through this collaboration will be published and served through a website available to the public. That implies the project is not just about creating internal analytical capability, but also about building accessible products such as maps, datasets, model outputs, technical documentation, or other web-hosted resources that can be reused by practitioners. The intent is to make the findings broadly usable beyond the immediate project team, reducing barriers for planners and water managers who need demand-side information for long-range decisions.

Reclamation also ties the expected use of results directly to ongoing federal water-planning programs. Outputs are intended to support WaterSMART Program Basin Studies and West-Wide Climate Risk Assessments Program Impact Assessments. In practice, that means the enhanced ET Demands model and associated climate-impact results would feed into formal planning processes used to evaluate vulnerabilities, compare future scenarios, and identify adaptation or mitigation strategies. The opportunity highlights that the products should be usable by water managers throughout the western U.S., enabling applications such as drought and climate adaptation planning, infrastructure and operational planning, conservation planning, and assessments of potential strategies to reduce climate-related risks to water supplies.

Administratively, the opportunity is a discretionary funding action using a cooperative agreement, which typically signals substantial federal involvement during performance (for example, active collaboration, shared decision-making on technical approaches, or iterative review of deliverables). It falls under the Science and Technology and other Research and Development funding activity category and is associated with CFDA 15.560. The funding opportunity number is BOR DO 17 N018. The award ceiling is listed as $86,000, with one expected award, reinforcing that this is a targeted collaboration rather than a multi-award competition. The posting dates indicate it was created on February 14, 2017, with an original closing date of February 28, 2017. Eligibility is described as "Others" with additional clarification referenced in the full announcement, but the narrative makes clear that the collaboration is intended to be carried out with DRI.

• The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "ET Demands Model Enhancement, Implementation and Documentation" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.560.
• This funding opportunity was created on Feb 14, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 28, 2017. (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 $86,000.00 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 BOR DO 17 N018

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