Infrastructure and facilities

The Nevada Center for Water Resiliency (NCWR) is equipped with state-of-the-art research facilities designed to support water reuse innovation, technology development and pilot-scale testing. Our infrastructure provides cutting-edge resources for researchers, industry partners and government agencies to collaborate on developing and implementing advanced water treatment solutions.

Laboratory and testing facilities

NCWR High-Bay Laboratory (University of Nevada, Reno Engineering complex)

  • A dedicated research space at the University of Nevada, Reno designed for bench-scale and pilot-scale testing of advanced water treatment technologies
  • Includes large-capacity laboratory space to accommodate mobile demonstration units and modular treatment systems
  • Equipped with real-time monitoring capabilities for tracking pathogen reduction, emerging contaminant removal and treatment system performance

Demonstration and testing capabilities

  • Direct access to raw municipal wastewater for evaluating advanced water treatment technologies under real-world conditions
  • Pilot-scale modular water treatment systems to test various treatment methods, including:
    • Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs)
    • Membrane distillation (MD) and reverse osmosis (RO)
    • Ozone-based pretreatment systems for potable reuse
    • Nanotechnology-based contaminant removal
  • Flexible research space for on-site and off-site technology validation, process optimization and system scalability studies

Specialized testing and analytical capabilities

Emerging Contaminants Research & Analytical Lab

  • Detection and treatment of PFAS and other persistent contaminants using advanced analytical methods
  • Real-time water quality monitoring with nanoporous conductive wire-based PFAS sensors
  • Biological agents and microbial monitoring for pathogen removal efficiency assessments

Mobile water treatment and field testing units

  • Deployable treatment systems for testing potable and non-potable reuse and alternative water sources in remote and emergency conditions
  • Portable water quality monitoring stations for field-scale assessments of water reuse applications

Contact us to get involved

Head shot of Sage Hiibel

Sage Hiibel, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Chemical & Materials Engineering
University of Nevada, Reno
shiibel@unr.edu
(775) 327-2260

Head shot of Eric Marchand

Eric Marchand, Ph.D., P.E.
Professor
Civil & Environmental Engineering
University of Nevada-Reno
marchand@unr.edu
(775) 784-6817