NSF Convergence Accelerator Track K: Water for Small And Very Small Systems (WaterSAVerS) - A Convergence Framework for Expediting Equitable Water Systems Deployment

3000多万美国人和全世界数十亿人生活在人口不足1万人的小社区里。水和废水基础设施对这些小型和非常小的社区（“储蓄者”）来说尤其具有挑战性。节水系统被困在大城市的中间，大城市倾向于集中供水系统和家庭用水点供水系统。虽然集中的水处理和分配对社区是有益的，但他们可能缺乏资源来规划、设计、实施、操作和维护水处理系统。例如，对于小型社区来说，全职运营商可能负担不起。储蓄基础设施必须支持半自主运营，以减轻运营商工资的经济负担。两党基础设施法（BIL）正在为小型社区的水利基础设施提供重要的财政支持，但现有的支持与储蓄者社区获得这种支持的能力之间存在脱节。拟议的项目将重点关注美国联邦波多黎各的储蓄者，作为开发可复制框架的案例研究，以使BIL资金用于储蓄者的水系统，这些水系统具有可持续性和弹性，并且是社区的骄傲。该项目将不同的利益相关者和学科专家聚集在一起，共同制定支持节水系统的框架。项目团队代表康奈尔大学、锡拉丘兹大学可持续社区解决方案中心、波多黎各泛美大学环境教育、保护和研究中心以及非营利组织阿瓜拉拉河。该团队的重点将是波多黎各（PR）——一个面临经济挑战和严重自然灾害风险的美国联邦，特别是在面临气候变化的情况下。该团队的项目将有三个重点领域（FA），以实现在美国及其他地区快速部署节水系统框架的最终目标：FA1)治理和融资；FA2)社区教育和劳动力培训；FA3)弹性水系统技术。该项目将通过推进社区参与实践、融资、水利基础设施、治理和运营管理实践的综合方案来造福社会。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

More than 30 million Americans and billions of people worldwide live in smallcommunities of less than 10000 persons. Water and wastewater infrastructure can be especiallychallenging for these Small and Very Small communities (”SaVerS”). SaVerS water systems arestuck in the middle between large cities that favor centralized water systems and household levelpoint-of-use systems,. Though centralized water treatment and distribution is beneficial tocommunities, they may lack resources to plan, design, implement, and operate and maintain awater treatment system. For example, a full time operator may be unaffordable for smallcommunities. SAVerS infrastructure must support semi-autonomous operations to reduce theeconomic burden of operator salaries. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is makingavailable significant financial support for water infrastructure in small communities but there is adisconnect between the available support and the SaVerS communities’ capacities to access thatsupport. The proposed project will focus on SaVerS in Puerto Rico, a US Commonwealth, as acase study for developing a replicable framework for getting BIL funds towards SaVerS watersystems that are sustainable and resilient and are a point of pride in the community.The project brings together diverse stakeholders and disciplinary experts to bear on thedevelopment of a framework for supporting SaVerS water systems.The project team coPIsrepresent Cornell University, Syracuse University Center for Sustainable Community Solutions,Interamerican University of Puerto Rico Center for Environmental Education, Conservation andResearch, and the non-profit AguaClara Reach. The team’s focus will be Puerto Rico (PR)- a UScommonwealth with economic challenges as well as severe natural disaster risk, particularly inthe face of climate change. The team’s project will have three convergent Focus Areas (FA) toachieve the ultimate goal of a framework for rapid deployment of SAVerS water systems in theUS and beyond: FA1) Governance and Financing; FA2) Community Education and WorkforceTraining; and FA3) Resilient Water System Technologies. This project will benefit society byadvancing an integrated package of community engagement practices, financing, waterinfrastructure, governance, and O&M practices that are specifically designed for SAVerSThis award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.