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icn-ovalResearch Priority Program

5410 - Risk-Based Prioritization of Critical Valves Using Limited Utility Data and Machine Learning

  • Develop data-efficient machine learning models to estimate likelihood of failure (LOF) of valves using commonly available utility data, including asset attributes, condition indicators, environmental factors, and geohazards.
  • Develop consequences of failure (COF) analysis based on hydraulic modeling and network connectivity to quantify service disruption, affected population, outage duration, and community impacts resulting from valve inoperability or failure.
  • Incorporate uncertainty in asset condition and operability into risk estimation and prioritization.
  • Create a practical, risk-based framework to rank critical assets for maintenance, rehabilitation, and capital investment planning.
  • Define the minimum data requirements needed to perform reliable risk-based prioritization.
Upcoming Grant
icn-priceUSD $300,000
icn-ovalResearch Priority Program

5411 - Practical Adaptive Utility Capital Improvement Program Playbook Under Deep Uncertainty

  • Assess current utility practices for incorporating adaptive or flexible decision making into capital improvement planning (CIP) at the portfolio or programmatic level, and identify where deep uncertainty most affects CIP decision points, including investment areas prone to lock-in or points of no return.
  • Document the institutional processes, frameworks, and governance structures that have enabled utilities to embed adaptive and flexible investment strategies.
  • Quantify how adaptive capital strategies compare to traditional CIP approaches in terms of lifecycle costs, rate stability, financial risk exposure, and avoided or deferred capital investments across a range of plausible future conditions.
  • Establish practical criteria to help utilities determine which types of capital investments are well suited for adaptive approaches.
  • Develop a practitioner-focused playbook that equips utilities to apply adaptive CIP in practice, including case studies, decision trees, trigger points, vulnerability assessment tools, financial and risk insights, and governance guidance.
  • Produce tiered recommendations that allow utilities to adopt adaptive CIP practices incrementally.
Upcoming Grant
icn-priceUSD $250,000
icn-ovalResearch Priority Program

5412 - Determinants of Workforce Retention in Public-Sector Water Utilities

  • Quantify the relative influence of compensation, pension stability, mission alignment, schedule flexibility, leadership support, career development opportunities, and other factors on employee retention in public-sector water utilities.
  • Identify and analyze key impediments to retaining talent, including structural, cultural, compensation-related, and organizational barriers.
  • Identify and benchmark retention best practices from sectors outside the water industry to assess transferability and develop case studies of high-retention organizations to distill replicable strategies and measurable success factors.
Upcoming Grant
icn-priceUSD $275,000
icn-ovalResearch Priority Program

5413 - Comparison of PFAS Loading to Agricultural Systems

  • Report per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) concentrations from a variety of agricultural inputs, including animal manures, fertilizers, pesticides, biosolids, and composts.
  • Compare impact of the various agricultural inputs on PFAS concentration in the soil profile over short and medium timeframes.
  • Evaluate the fate and transport of different inputs to PFAS loadings in agricultural systems at field scale.
  • Determine the relative contributions from biosolids and other inputs to help develop and prioritize risk management strategies.
Upcoming Grant
icn-priceUSD $400,000
icn-ovalResearch Priority Program

5414 - Return on Investment for Internships, Apprenticeships, and Development Programs

  • Quantify the return on investment of internships, apprenticeships, and development programs.
  • Assess the effectiveness of these programs in supporting critical and high-turnover roles by examining impacts on retention, time to fill, internal advancement, and reduced reliance on external labor.
  • Develop a business case framework and decision-support tools that enable utilities to evaluate, communicate, and justify investments in internships, apprenticeships, and development programs.
Upcoming Grant
icn-priceUSD $250,000
icn-ovalResearch Priority Program

5415 - Guidelines to Develop Best-In-Class Maintenance Strategies for Vertical Assets

  • To understand the background and benefits of why well-rounded maintenance strategies are needed for vertical assets.
  • To develop a structured approach to identify and implement best-in-class maintenance strategies for vertical assets to improve asset reliability, increase asset availability, reduce unplanned work, reduce unplanned/emergency shutdowns, shift from reactive to proactive maintenance, and minimize asset total lifecycle cost, amongst others.
  • To apply leading practices such as reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) and cutting-edge technologies and analytics to vertical assets.
Upcoming Grant
icn-priceUSD $250,000
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