ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Sept. 14, 2016) — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Water Environment Federation (WEF) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in support of the DOE’s Better Buildings Wastewater Infrastructure Accelerator initiative. The initiative engages state, regional and local agencies working with water resource recovery facilities to accelerate innovative approaches to sustainable infrastructure of the future.

“WEF is committed to providing a platform for water sector innovation, focusing on approaches and technologies that benefit utilities on the path to sustainable energy management,” WEF Executive Director Eileen O’Neill said. “To that end, we are excited to be collaborating with DOE to promote the benefits of the Accelerator initiative.”

The Wastewater Infrastructure Accelerator’s goals include:

  • Demonstrate best-practice/cutting-edge approaches and tools toward a sustainable wastewater infrastructure and yield road-tested examples for other facilities.
  • Document model plans for transitioning to a sustainable infrastructure that will help drive more solutions in the industry.
  • Develop assessment and decision tools for selecting best-practice approaches and tools on the pathway toward a sustainable infrastructure.
  • Develop recommendations for post-Accelerator next steps.

Specifically, the MOU partners will jointly promote the initiative, encouraging WRRF innovative approaches in accelerating improvements in energy efficiency, and facilitating and collaborating on technical peer exchange opportunities to share best practices and solutions.