Research articles

How will climate change affect wet and dry extreme events around the world? On the basis of terrestrial water storage observations and a novel clustering algorithm, this study shows that the intensity of such events has been increasing with global warming.

Concentrations of dissolved oxygen are considered as comparably driven by light, temperature and flow regimes in individual rivers, although their continental-scale drivers remain elusive due to data scarcity. Results from data and a long short-term memory deep learning model suggests that temperature is the most predominant driver of daily DO in US rivers.

Membranes can be used not only for water filtration but also for solute–solute separation. Using the separation between lithium and magnesium, this analysis provides a platform for evaluating the performance of nanofiltration-based selective solute separation.

The development of advanced nanofiltration membranes should be compatible with existing manufacturing process to be practically useful. A process based on nanoemulsion-regulated interfacial polymerization allows the fabrication of low-cost and high-performance membranes.

One of the problems of water-treatment membranes based on two-dimensional materials is that they tend to swell once in operation in water. A new strategy is presented for the preparation of non-swelling, covalently functionalized molybdenum disulfide membranes with tunable interlayer space and cohesion energy of the laminates.

Low-arsenic aquifers are considered safeguarded against contamination as long as iron reduction does not occur. Combining field experiments in Bangladesh with reactive transport modelling, this study reveals that limited sulfate reduction instead can accelerate groundwater arsenic contamination.

Shanghai is a city facing the challenge for flood defence under climate change. This study proposes engineering solutions for mitigation flood risks in Shanghai by incorporating regret theory and decision science into the dynamic-adaptation-pathways framework.

Understanding the fate of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 RNA in sewage is essential to develop reliable wastewater surveillance. Research employing a sewer reactor shows that biofilms affect the RNA stability and can act as reservoirs for accumulating, retaining and distributing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 RNA under hydraulic changes.

Earth System Models are widely used for projecting future streamflow. The authors show that the models underestimate declines in global streamflow with climate change, indicating that a future water crisis could be more severe than previously estimated.

Water utilities worldwide are facing increasing challenges related to imbalances between water demand and resource availability. Market-based policy tools, such as water pricing and utility subsidy, can be used in combination with information dissemination to reduce residential water consumption.

Based on case-specific operating parameters of each municipal wastewater treatment plant and the associated sewers and sludge disposal utilities, this study presents a detailed analysis of the current carbon footprint of the wastewater sector in China and scenarios for reducing future emissions.

Local government investment in water infrastructure is associated with rural economic development in the United States. Through the use of interactional models, the economic benefits are shown to be ethnically and racially uneven.

Mt Fuji’s freshwater springs were believed to be fed exclusively by shallow groundwater aquifers. Using a newly developed combination of tracer techniques, this study finds widespread vertical exchange between shallow and deeper aquifers and shows evidence of a substantial deep groundwater contribution to the springs.

Unaffordable water prices pose a threat to human health and well-being. A socio-hydrological modelling approach that integrates hydrology, water infrastructure, utility decision-making and household behaviour can be used to understand the impacts of droughts on household water affordability

The development of hydropower offers a renewable energy source that can help reduce society’s dependence on fossil fuels. A global assessment of the unused profitable hydropower potential can be performed by incorporating strict constraints to identify hydropower station locations with reduced environmental and societal impacts.

Electrocatalytic hydrogenation is an efficient process for treating oxidized contaminants in water. The use of a rhodium nanoparticle-modified palladium membrane electrochemical reactor presents a practical, safe and efficient approach to the treatment of water and can be applied to the hydrogenation of 12 different oxidized contaminants.

Efficient ways to disinfect water from bacterial contamination are essential for public health. Locally enhanced electric field treatment can be used to induce ultrafast bacteria inactivation with nanosecond electrical pulses.