The Freshwater Initiative: An Opportunity to Enhance Limnology at the National Science Foundation

The Freshwater Initiative (hereafter, FWI) is a U.S. federal interagency program still in its formative stages. Initially conceived of as a mechanism for coordinating freshwater research across federal agencies, it may ultimately be a mechanism by which additional funding of limnological research is possible. At this time the FWI exists as a set of ideas and supporting documentation developed by an interagency coordinating council made up primarily of program officers from federal departments and agencies with interests in freshwater science.