The Next Generation of Evaporation Pans | BOR UC 17 N006

Opportunity Information: Apply for BOR UC 17 N006

The Next Generation of Evaporation Pans is a Bureau of Reclamation (Department of the Interior) funding opportunity focused on improving how open-water evaporation is measured on reservoirs and lakes. The project is driven by a practical water-management problem: as water demand rises and supplies tighten, small errors in evaporation estimates can translate into meaningful impacts on how much water is available for ranchers, farmers, municipalities, and environmental restoration. Existing evaporation approaches can be limited by bias, site-specific issues, or mismatches between what is measured in a pan versus what actually happens on a large water body, so this opportunity targets a more accurate and more defensible measurement method.

The core goal is to finalize, deploy, test, and validate a new open-water evaporation measurement technology centered on a semi-submerged Floating Evaporation Pan (FEP). Unlike traditional land-based pans, this device is intended to operate directly on the reservoir surface so it better experiences the same wind, radiation, humidity, and heat-storage conditions that drive real open-water evaporation. A key part of the validation strategy is the use of a hemispherical evaporation chamber as a reference tool to assess accuracy and precision. The overall concept is not just to build a new instrument, but to prove it performs reliably and improves on commonly used methods.

The work is organized around three main research objectives. First, the project will finalize the engineering design of the semi-submerged FEP, including an adjustable freeboard (to control how high the pan sits relative to the waterline) and a protective wave guard (to reduce wave-driven disturbances and measurement noise). After finalizing the design, the pan will be tested at Cochiti Lake, which serves as the primary field site for deployment and evaluation.

Second, the project will assess the FEPs measurement accuracy over a full year while deployed on Cochiti Lake. During that period, the FEP will be paired with a hemispherical evaporation chamber to validate the evaporation readings, and it will also support micrometeorological instrumentation. Those sensors are used to compute evaporation using multiple equation-based approaches, allowing the researchers to compare direct pan-based measurements with physically based estimates derived from meteorological conditions.

Third, the project will translate the measurements into practical water-accounting terms by computing and comparing monthly evaporation volumes over a one-year period. The comparison set includes the new FEP, a nearby standard Class A evaporation pan (a widely used benchmark in operational hydrology), and several common model-based methods such as energy-budget formulations, temperature-based approaches, and bulk-aerodynamic equations. By evaluating results on a monthly timestep across an entire year, the study aims to capture seasonal variability and test how consistently the different methods agree or diverge.

From a grant structure standpoint, this opportunity was offered as a cooperative agreement under the natural resources funding activity category, with CFDA 15.560. The funding opportunity number is BOR UC 17 N006. The expected award count was one, with an award ceiling of $20,000. It was posted on April 26, 2017, with an original closing date of May 10, 2017, and eligibility was listed broadly as "Others" with additional eligibility details referenced in the full announcement.

The intended outcome is a clear determination of the proposed technologys reliability, accuracy, and precision, along with evidence of whether it meaningfully improves evaporation estimates compared to current operational tools. If successful, the work would support better reservoir and lake water-balance calculations and help water managers allocate and plan with greater confidence under increasing water scarcity.

• The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "The Next Generation of Evaporation Pans" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.560.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 26, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 10, 2017. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $20,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for BOR UC 17 N006

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