Marquette receives $3.8M Department of Defense grant for 'In Defense of Water' project 🌊

By: Jason Lee

Posted: Aug 4, 2023 3:53 PM CST

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Marquette University in Milwaukee received a second $3.8 million Department of Defense grant for the "In Defense of Water" project.

This ongoing interdisciplinary program focuses on the development of sustainable technologies to ensure water security and address environmental and human health concerns, including sewage treatment and emergency response to water contamination.

The grant, awarded on Wednesday, Aug. 2, builds upon a previous award received in late 2021 and will further support efforts in water technology, including the management of water on military installations and PFAS cleanup.

The second phase of the project will involve 11 faculty members from six departments across five colleges and schools, as well as the Water Law and Policy Initiative and the Water Quality Center.

The areas of focus include:

Investigating disinfection effects on pathogens;
Electro remediation of PFAS in various applications;
Data fusion and analytics for resilient infrastructure;
Development of sustainable Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor for sewage treatment;
Remote sensing and machine learning to protect military installations' water assets;
Studying the impact of water chemistry on corrosion and microbial communities;
Examining risk and resiliency in communities affected by PFAS in Wisconsin.

This award aims to highlight the continued investment in critical water infrastructure and aims to address challenges affecting both military and civilian populations.