2027 WERC TASKS
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2027 Tasks & Task FAQs
Task 1. Water Security on Tribal Lands: Reducing Disinfection Byproducts (THMs)
Sponsor: Souder, Miller & Associates
Explore innovative ways to reduce harmful disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe's (UMUT's) water system in Towaoc, Colorado. Traditional solutions are mechanical: employing mixers, blowers, and spray aerators. What innovative solution will you propose?
Task 2. Solar Facility Vegetation Mitigation and Control through Passive Systems
Diamond Sponsor: El Paso Electric Co.
Your team can support sustainable energy by developing innovative solutions to one of the solar industry's most persistent challenges: keeping weeds from taking over solar farms. This is a continual challenge that costs the industry millions of dollars each year. While solar panels generate clean energy, unwanted vegetation can shade panels, reduce power output, obstruct maintenance activities, increase fire risk, and damage equipment by creating hot spots that can permanently burn out modules.
Imagine the possibilities: Can you implement electrical? mechanical? or other innovative means of controlling vegetation growth and propagation? You'l have a ready source of power right on the spot.
Teams will be challenged to develop a practical, scalable system that suppresses weeds with little or no human intervention. Solutions should provide long-term vegetation control while minimizing environmental impacts, maintenance requirements, and lifecycle costs. The most successful designs will not only keep solar farms clear and productive but also offer a sustainable alternative to conventional approaches such as mowing, herbicides, grazing, and gravel ground cover.
Task Summary Coming 8/2/26
Task Problem Statement Coming 8/10/26
Task 3. Safe Drinking Water: PFAS Adsorption Using Biomaterials
Platinum Task Sponsor and Developer: Freeport-McMoRan
Teams will develop an innovative, sustainable adsorption system using biological materials to remove PFAS from drinking water, providing a practical and affordable treatment option for underfunded farms and communities.
The Task Preview, below, is a nearly finalized Task Problem Statement. We are awaiting a few minor parameters.
Full Task Problem Statement Coming Soon
Task 4. NASA Challenge: Power on the Lunar South Pole
Diamond Sponsor: New Mexico Space Grant Consortium
NASA's Artemis Program is planning to send space crew to the lunar south pole for up to 28-day missions. Conditions are extreme in this region, where temperatures can range from 54°C (130°F) in sunlight to -203°C (-334°F) in permanently shadowed areas.
With its challenges of some areas in permanent shadow, and... More information coming soon - We're waiting for the NASA subject-matter experts to connect with us.
Task Summary Coming 8/2/26
Task Problem Statement Coming 8/10/26
Task 5. Recovering Strontium from Produced Water
Task Developers: Chevron
Sponsors: Chevron, NGL Water Solutions
Discover innovative ways to recover and valorize strontium (Sr) from produced water derived from Permian Basin oil and gas recovery operations. The recovery and sale of this critical mineral will support water recovery efforts while contributing a valuable resource to the economy. The great challenge: Sr2++ and Ca2++ (both present in the PW samples WERC will provide from the Permian Basin) are very difficult to separate from each other.
Teams will prioritize recovery rates while also focusing on purity of the product produced.
Task Summary Coming 8/2/26
Task Problem Statement Coming 8/10/26
Task 6. Open Task
Sponsor: Jacobs Engineering Group
Task Developers: Your team.
Propose your own environmental challenge. The tasks require innovation and a bench-scale demo. Teams are encouraged to identify needs of economically challenged communities in their region.
Make sure your Open Task is competitive. Not sure? Email werc@nmsu.edu and our judges will review your plans.
Q: I just heard about Auditors. What is that about? (Updated 7/03/26)
A: As is done in industry, WERC requires 3 independent audits of your final report. These are topic-specific. Start looking for one auditor in each area: Economics, Legal, and Health & safety). See the Team Manual.
Q: What is the deadline for submitting the technical report draft to our auditors? (Updated 7/03/26)
A: We suggest that you submit your draft to your auditors 3 weeks prior to the report due date. The date is a suggestion, not a requirement. See the Team Manual.
Q: What should we put in the social media post? (Posted 4/9/26)
A: Sponsors have requested that you regularly post about your project. Send out something friendly and exciting that thanks the sponsors and tells people what you are doing, like this: We are excited to be solving XXX at the WERC Environmental Design Contest in Las Cruces, NM. We send a big "Thank you" to our sponsors: @XXX, @XXX. (But put it in your own words--you don't want everyone to use the same phrasing that you did.) Include a photo or video of your team having fun working on the project.