Water Research Foundation Tailored Collaboration Projects

Utilities today are facing increasingly complex challenges, from rising operating costs due to stricter regulations to emerging risks like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Although some of these challenges can be addressed individually with existing engineering approaches, many are too large and too complex for individual utilities to solve alone. The Water Research Foundation (WRF) Tailored Collaboration (TC) Program is designed to break through this barrier. The program provides subscribing water utilities with matching funds to research specialized challenges that also benefit the broader water sector. This approach enables utilities, researchers, and engineers to come together to solve problems that would not be feasible to tackle alone.

Through a series of WRF TC projects, Carollo Engineers is working alongside utilities across North America to advance the science and technology needed to tackle big water challenges. Carollo’s projects range in scope throughout the water sector, providing innovations for utilities key challenges:

• Carollo and a public agency in California are exploring how machine learning can improve disinfection performance while reducing operating costs.
• Carollo is working with stakeholders in Canada to evaluate powdered activated carbon as a potential PFAS treatment alternative for wastewater effluent.
• Carollo is partnering with several stakeholders in the southeastern United States to evaluate the feasibility of PFAS removal through regenerable anionic exchange.
• In partnership with a utility in the southwest, Carollo is examining how changes in chloride-to-sulfate mass ratio affect corrosion of aging copper pipes with lead solder.

Each of these projects is co-led by a Carollo principal investigator with a strong track record of innovation, and each project is also supported by experienced proposal teams and project managers, as well as Carollo’s innovative Water Applied Research Center (Water ARC^®) in Boise, Idaho. In 2026, this collaborative approach led to Carollo securing a third of the WRF TC proposals awarded that year, encompassing projects in drinking water, wastewater, and water reuse.

Through these projects—and many similar efforts—Carollo is helping utilities secure funding, build partnerships, and advance new technologies to tackle some of the water sector’s biggest challenges. The resulting research will accelerate the adoption of innovative technologies and help utilities deliver safer, more sustainable, and more resilient water services for their communities.