Towards Sustainability and Green: Decarbonizing Water Supply and Drainage

Dear Colleagues,

As an important part of urban infrastructure and ensuring the normal life of residents and the healthy development of the economy, the urban water sector, mainly comprising water supply and drainage, plays a key role in sustainable urbanization and continuous welfare improvement. However, the urban water sector is also facing the challenges of being labeled as a high energy consumer and greenhouse gas (GHG) contributor. In general, the GHG emissions from water supply and drainage utilities account for 3% to 7% of the total emissions of a given country. Global water utilities emit the same volume of GHGs as the world’s shipping industry. Moreover, the water sector is one of the most vulnerable industries to climate change, which undermines the general services of providing safe drinking water and hygienic environments. As such, regarding both aspects, the water sector should proactively take actions to reduce GHG emissions and decarbonize their processes.

In fact, in regard to reducing GHG emissions, the water sector must examine its own nature, as water/wastewater is recognized as a carrier of energy and resources. Over the past decade, several countries have been on track to decarbonize their water sectors. In November 2020, water companies in the UK unveiled a ground-breaking plan to deliver net zero water supply and drainage for customers by 2030 in the world’s first sector-wide commitment of its kind. Later, Denmark, New Zealand, and several Australian states successively released their time-bound targets to achieve net zero emissions and carbon- and climate-neutrality in the water sector. Moreover, dozens of water and wastewater utilities world-wide have joined the Race to Zero campaign, which rallies entities to reach a decarbonization target of net zero.

On the one hand, these advancements and success stories give the water sector the confidence to achieve carbon neutrality. On the other hand, how to plan and find a scientific pathway to fulfill the goal of decarbonization in water sector also needs a convergence of expertise and knowledge. Thus, this Special Issue, titled “Towards sustainability and green: decarbonizing water supply and drainage”, is introduced in order to integrate inspiring practices and advancements in carbon reduction in water supply and drainage. The scope of the Special Issue covers a wide array of topics, including, but not limited to, the following:

• Carbon accounting and methodologies in the water sector;
• Non-CO₂ emission monitoring practices in sewer or treatment plant;
• N₂O production and minimization in wastewater management;
• Energy efficiency improvement and reduction in the water sector;
• New technologies or process optimization to reduce non-CO₂ emissions in wastewater collection and treatment;
• Carbon reduction strategies and pathways;
• Good practices in energy recovery and the valorization of wastewater;
• Carbon emission benchmarking and policies to promote carbon reduction;
• Green solutions to manage water and wastewater.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Ranbin Liu
Dr. Kai He
Dr. Cheng Shen
Guest Editors

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• water supply and drainage
• GHG emission
• carbon accounting
• carbon reduction
• non-CO₂ emission monitoring
• energy efficiency optimization
• energy recovery