The National Research Council (NRC) is pleased to provide this “letter report” on the Desalination and Water Purification Technology Roadmap¹ (Roadmap) developed by the Bureau of Reclamation with support from the Sandia National Laboratories as suggested by Congress in the 2002 Energy and Water Development Appropriation Bill. Your letter dated October 29, 2002 to the Water Science and Technology Board (WSTB) asked for a critical evaluation of the desalination Roadmap, which is intended to serve as a guide for federal agencies and other public and private organizations in their desalination research and technology investment decisions.² In response, the NRC’s WSTB created the Committee to Review the Desalination and Water Purification Technology Roadmap to conduct the review. Committee members and NRC staff are listed in Attachment A. The committee’s Statement of Task is provided in Attachment B. The results of the NRC review are intended to aid your ongoing efforts to develop a national, broadly supported plan for desalination research investments.

This letter report, as explicitly requested by the Bureau of Reclamation, provides an initial assessment of whether the Roadmap presents “an appropriate and effective course to help address future freshwater needs in the United States” (addressing task #1 of the Statement of Task; see Attachment B). Our assessment is focused on the Desalination and Water Purification