Section 104 of the Water Resources Research Act of 1984
National Competitive Grants - FY2026 104g General now open; FY2026 104g PFAS anticipated opening fall 2026
The U.S. Geological Survey supports an annual call for proposals under the National Competitive (104g) Grants in cooperation with the National Institutes for Water Resources (NIWR) to focus on water problems and issues that are of a regional, interstate or national concern or relate to a specific program priority identified by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior. Goals of the National Competitive (104g) Grants program are to promote collaboration between the USGS and university scientists in research on significant water resources issues; promote the dissemination and results of the research funded under this program; and to assist in the training of scientists in water resources.
The USGS Water Resources Research Act (WRRA) program has released the FY2026 104g General notice of funding opportunity (NOFO). See below for more information. We anticipate the FY2026 104g PFAS NOFO will be released in fall 2026 with a short turnaround time for proposal submission (~4 weeks). There will be no FY2026 104g aquatic invasive species (AIS) program.
The FY2026 104g General National Competitive Grant program focuses on water use associated with data centers and other water intensive industries. These grants are open to any investigator at an institution of higher learning and support projects of up to 3 years in duration. Note that each applicant must match each Federal dollar provided with not less than one dollar from non-federal sources. Federal funds may not be used to pay indirect costs, but indirect costs applied to qualifying federal and non-federal direct costs may be used as match. All awards are subject to the availability of federal USGS funds. Important timelines, links to the funding announcement and other documents are below:
104g General Program
- Federal funding award ceiling: $120,000
- Anticipated project start date: 5/01/2027
- 104g General Funding Opportunity (pdf)
- 104g General Supporting Documents (zip)
- There is no FY2026 104g information webinar planned at this time. A webinar on August 21, 2025 provided an overview of the FY2025 funding opportunities, details on the proposal process, and time for Q&A. A recording of the FY2025 104g information webinar and slides are available.
- Important Dates:
- October 1, 2026 - USGS WRRA released the 104g General notice of funding opportunity
- As soon as possible or by Thursday October 15, 2026 – New Hampshire investigators must notify nh.wrrc@unh.edu with their intent to submit a 104g General proposal and include the principal investigator(s), institution(s), provisional proposal title and anticipated project duration (1-3 years). For USNH investigators, the NH WRRC Director (Dr. Adam Wymore), not proposal investigators, will notify SPA Pre-Award using their Intent to Submit Form.
- 5:00 pm Friday October 30, 2026 – All 104g General proposals led by New Hampshire investigators are due to nh.wrrc@unh.edu. Please submit:
- All proposal elements as one file in PDF format
- Proposal elements 1-8 and 10-11 in Word format
- Budget sheet in Excel format (use template provided)
- Budget justification in Word format (use template provided)
- On or before 5:00 pm November 12, 2026 - NH WRRC and UNH SPA (not individual investigators) submit 104g General proposals via grants.gov.
Contact nh.wrrc@unh.edu with any questions or feel free to call the NH WRRC Associate Director Michelle Shattuck at 603-862-2341. Additional information is also available on the USGS Water Resources Research Act homepage, application information page and FAQ page.
NH Water Resources Research Center - 104b annual base grants (FY2026 now closed; FY2027 anticipated opening late fall 2026)
The New Hampshire Water Resources Research Center (NH WRRC) is accepting applications for water resources related projects for FY2026 (anticipated budget year begins September 1, 2026). Any investigator at an institution of higher learning in New Hampshire is eligible to apply. Please see the 2026 NH WRRC RFP for further details. Note that the federal budget requested (maximum of $30,000 in total direct costs) must be matched by one non-federal dollar for each federal dollar requested. If you plan to submit a proposal, please contact nh.wrrc@unh.edu by Friday March 13, 2026 to provide the provisional title, principal investigator(s) and two or three potential technical reviewers with whom you have no conflicts of interest. To be considered for funding, proposals must be submitted to nh.wrrc@unh.edu no later than Friday April 10, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. Please note that federal funding has been appropriated for FY 2026, but the USGS FY2026 104b notice of funding opportunity has not been released.
