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David Keiser, professor of resource economics, has been awarded a planning grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to draft a proposal for a National Center for Water Policy (NCWP), which would coordinate and conduct research on the country’s water quality and quantity challenges. Drinking and surface water pollution have been among the top environmental concerns of the American public for decades. In addition to traditional pollution concerns, microplastics and PFAS “forever chemicals” have emerged as more recent threats to water quality.

Over the next year, Keiser and some of the nation’s leading interdisciplinary scholars and federal scientists will develop a detailed plan for an NCWP, a policy paper outlining water resource issues in the U.S. and a record of academic and policy discussions related to water policy. The goal is to empower a data-driven approach to policymaking and infrastructure investments that will inform everything from flood-control measures to clean-water technology.

“This is a way to kick-start what a potential social science-led center might be, addressing some of society’s most pressing issues,” Keiser says. “We see this as a unique opportunity to build out a broader community around water resources and water-resource policy.”

He views the grant as an avenue to integrate economics with ecological sciences, public health, engineering and other fields that study water-resource issues. Earlier this month in Washington, D.C., Keiser convened the first meeting of the project’s larger group, which also includes UMass faculty members Tihitina Andarge, assistant professor of resource economics, Casey Brown, provost professor of civil and environmental engineering, Emily Kumpel, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Anita Milman, professor of environmental conservation.

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As he awaits a formal request for proposals from the NSF for the national center, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reappointed Keiser to its Science Advisory Board (SAB) for a second three-year term. Established in 1978 and consisting of nearly 50 experts from around the country, the board provides outside expert advice to the EPA on matters related to an array of urgent environmental issues.

During his time on the panel, Keiser has provided independent scientific guidance on topics including greenhouse gas emissions, drinking water pollution and analysis of the Clean Water Act.

“There are phenomenal career scientists, economists and others who are working at EPA. They’re excellent scholars in their own right. The Science Advisory Board provides a solid, independent voice on the science that the agency uses in their regulatory decision process,” Keiser explains. “As with all science, it’s important to get independent feedback and review.”

C. Marjorie Aelion, dean emerita of the School of Public Health and Health Sciences and professor emerita in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at UMass, has served on the SAB since 2021 and will complete a three-year term in September 2026.

Both Keiser and Aelion, along with John Tobiason, professor emeritus and research professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, are also active on various SAB ad hoc committees and panels specializing in issues ranging from environmental justice to microbial and disinfection byproducts.