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Sustainable Management of Water and Wastewater

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Wastewater Treatment and Reuse".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2022) | Viewed by 17810

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and I.T., University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia
Interests: water and wastewater treatment technology; renewable energy generation; remote sensing of vehicle emissions; environmental processes; contaminated land remediation
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Guest Editor
School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Interests: wastewater treatment technologies; environmental remediation; heavy metals; catalysts; multifunctional adsorbents; nanoparticles; waste valorization; synthesis and tailoring of materials

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Water is one of the most vital natural resources on the planet, and becomes widely polluted from human activities. Due to increased water scarcity as a result of climate change, arid and semi-arid regions worldwide are forced to use recycled water for a variety of uses. The usage of recycled water has several advantages. The most obvious benefit is the acquisition of a steady and consistent water supply. In many countries, reuse is already an important aspect of water management, but there are still concerns to be resolved to ensure that it has no negative effects on the environment or public health. Wastewater may contain a variety of contaminants that must be removed before it can be discharged back into the environment. Water quality engineering aims to determine the sources, transportation, and treatment of chemical and microbiological pollutants in water. Over the last thirty years, wastewater treatment has evolved from designing treatment technologies for safe discharge into natural water bodies, employing techniques, such as physical water treatment, biological water treatment, chemical treatment, and sludge treatment, to addressing a variety of human health issues, including wastewater recycling, waste treatment solutions, and pollution prevention. The reason for the move was simple: alternate treatment ways to provide a return, such as saving on energy expenses inside the operation, as well as developing something that produces energy or can be reused in other operations.

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue, which aims to provide a critical update of recent development in water and wastewater treatment, water quality modelling, water resource management, resource recovery from wastewater, decentralized wastewater treatment, and the recycling and reuse of treated wastewater. The Special Issue will highlight fundamental research, case studies, and industrial applications in water resource management, wastewater treatment and reuse, and resource recovery from wastewater. It is expected that the collection of papers will stimulate further research to support sustainable use of water resources.

In this Special Issue, both original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Regulations and standards for water and wastewater management;
  • Eco-friendly wastewater treatment;
  • Energy-efficient wastewater treatment;
  • Integrated water resources management;
  • Management and application of recycled water;
  • Big data and AI modeling;
  • Risk analysis of wastewater reuse

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. John Zhou
Dr. Muhammad Faheem
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • water and wastewater management
  • water quality modelling
  • wastewater treatment technologies
  • water reuse
  • resource recovery

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 4222 KiB  
Article
Contaminant Removal from Wastewater by Microalgal Photobioreactors and Modeling by Artificial Neural Network
by Amin Mojiri, Noriatsu Ozaki, Reza Andasht Kazeroon, Shahabaldin Rezania, Maedeh Baharlooeian, Mohammadtaghi Vakili, Hossein Farraji, Akiyoshi Ohashi, Tomonori Kindaichi and John L. Zhou
Water 2022, 14(24), 4046; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14244046 - 12 Dec 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3093
Abstract
The potential of microalgal photobioreactors in removing total ammonia nitrogen (TAN), chemical oxygen demand (COD), caffeine (CAF), and N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET) from synthetic wastewater was studied. Chlorella vulgaris achieved maximum removal of 62.2% TAN, 52.8% COD, 62.7% CAF, and 51.8% DEET. [...] Read more.
The potential of microalgal photobioreactors in removing total ammonia nitrogen (TAN), chemical oxygen demand (COD), caffeine (CAF), and N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET) from synthetic wastewater was studied. Chlorella vulgaris achieved maximum removal of 62.2% TAN, 52.8% COD, 62.7% CAF, and 51.8% DEET. By mixing C. vulgaris with activated sludge, the photobioreactor showed better performance, removing 82.3% TAN, 67.7% COD, 85.7% CAF, and 73.3% DEET. Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Chloroflexi were identified as the dominant phyla in the activated sludge. The processes were then optimized by the artificial neural network (ANN). High R2 values (>0.99) and low mean squared errors demonstrated that ANN could optimize the reactors’ performance. The toxicity testing showed that high concentrations of contaminants (>10 mg/L) and long contact time (>48 h) reduced the chlorophyll and protein contents in microalgae. Overall, a green technology for wastewater treatment using microalgae and bacteria consortium has demonstrated its high potentials in sustainable management of water resources. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Management of Water and Wastewater)
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18 pages, 3541 KiB  
Article
Runoff Estimation Using Advanced Soft Computing Techniques: A Case Study of Mangla Watershed Pakistan
by Usa Wannasingha Humphries, Rashid Ali, Muhammad Waqas, Muhammad Shoaib, Pariwate Varnakovida, Muhammad Faheem, Phyo Thandar Hlaing, Hnin Aye Lin and Shakeel Ahmad
Water 2022, 14(20), 3286; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14203286 - 18 Oct 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2412
Abstract
A precise rainfall-runoff prediction is crucial for hydrology and the management of water resources. Rainfall-runoff prediction is a nonlinear method influenced by simulation model inputs. Previously employed methods have some limitations in predicting rainfall-runoff, such as low learning speed, overfitting issues, stopping criteria, [...] Read more.
A precise rainfall-runoff prediction is crucial for hydrology and the management of water resources. Rainfall-runoff prediction is a nonlinear method influenced by simulation model inputs. Previously employed methods have some limitations in predicting rainfall-runoff, such as low learning speed, overfitting issues, stopping criteria, and back-propagation issues. Therefore, this study uses distinctive soft computing approaches to overcome these issues for modeling rainfall-runoff for the Mangla watershed in Pakistan. Rainfall-runoff data for 29 years from 1978–2007 is used in the study to estimate runoff. The soft computing approaches used in the study are Tree Boost (TB), decision tree forests (DTFs), and single decision trees (SDTs). Using various combinations of past rainfall datasets, these soft computing techniques are validated and tested for the security of efficient results. The evaluation criteria for the models are some statistical measures consisting of root means square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), coefficient of determination (R2), and Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE). The outcomes of these computing techniques were evaluated with the multilayer perceptron (MLP). DTF was found to be a more accurate soft computing approach with the average evaluation parameters R2, NSE, RMSE, and MAE being 0.9, 0.8, 1000, and 7000 cumecs. Regarding R2 and RMSE, there are about 57% and 17% of improvement in the results of DTF compared to other techniques. Flow duration curves (FDCs) were employed and revealed that DTF performed better than other techniques. This assessment revealed that DTF has potential; researchers may consider it an alternative approach for rainfall-runoff estimations in the Mangla watershed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Management of Water and Wastewater)
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20 pages, 3882 KiB  
Article
Hydrogeochemical Investigation of Elevated Arsenic Based on Entropy Modeling, in the Aquifers of District Sanghar, Sindh, Pakistan
by Zahid Ullah, Muhammad Afnan Talib, Abdur Rashid, Junaid Ghani, Asfandyar Shahab, Muhammad Irfan, Abdur Rauf, Sami Bawazeer, Zainab M. Almarhoon and Yahia N. Mabkhot
Water 2021, 13(23), 3477; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13233477 - 6 Dec 2021
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 5760
Abstract
Arsenic (As) contamination in drinking groundwater is a common environmental problem in Pakistan. Therefore, sixty-one groundwater samples were collected from various groundwater sources in District Sanghar, Sindh province, Pakistan, to understand the geochemical behavior of elevated As in groundwater. Statistical summary showed the [...] Read more.
Arsenic (As) contamination in drinking groundwater is a common environmental problem in Pakistan. Therefore, sixty-one groundwater samples were collected from various groundwater sources in District Sanghar, Sindh province, Pakistan, to understand the geochemical behavior of elevated As in groundwater. Statistical summary showed the cations and anions abundance in decreasing order of Na+ > Ca2+ > Mg2+ > K+, and HCO3 > Cl > SO42− > NO3. Arsenic was found with low to high concentration levels ranging from 5 µg to 25 µg/L with a mean value of 12.9 µg/L. A major water type of groundwater samples was mixed with NaCl and CaHCO3 type, interpreting the hydrochemical behavior of rock–water interaction. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed the mixed anthropogenic and natural sources of contamination in the study area. Moreover, rock weathering and exchange of ions controlled the hydrochemistry. Chloro-alkaline indices revealed the dominance of the reverse ion exchange mechanism in the region. The entropy water quality index (EWQI) exposed that 17 samples represent poor water, and 11 samples are not suitable for drinking. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Management of Water and Wastewater)
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Review

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19 pages, 1017 KiB  
Review
Sugarcane Industrial Byproducts as Challenges to Environmental Safety and Their Remedies: A Review
by Qurat-Ul-Ain Raza, Muhammad Amjad Bashir, Abdur Rehim, Muhammad Umair Sial, Hafiz Muhammad Ali Raza, Hafiz Muhammad Atif, Andre F. Brito and Yucong Geng
Water 2021, 13(24), 3495; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13243495 - 8 Dec 2021
Cited by 29 | Viewed by 16061
Abstract
Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) is one of the major crops cultivated in tropical and sub-tropical countries, and the primary purpose is to obtain raw sugar. It is an important substance for sugar and alcohol production by both the sugar and beverage industries. During cane [...] Read more.
Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) is one of the major crops cultivated in tropical and sub-tropical countries, and the primary purpose is to obtain raw sugar. It is an important substance for sugar and alcohol production by both the sugar and beverage industries. During cane processing, various byproducts are obtained, namely sugarcane bagasse, bagasse ash, pressmud cake, sugarcane vinasse, and spent wash. There are many challenging problems in storage, and they cause great environmental pollution. This review discusses their properties by which they can be used for cleaner agricultural and environmental sustainability. Utilization of byproducts results in value-added soil properties and crop yield. Replacing chemical fertilization with these organic natured byproducts not only minimizes the surplus usage of chemical fertilizers but is also cost-effective and an eco-friendly approach. The drawbacks of the long-term application of these byproducts in the agricultural ecosystem are not well documented. We conclude that the agriculture sector can dispose of sugar industry byproducts, but proper systematic disposal is needed. The need arises to arrange some seminars, meetings, and training to make the farming community aware of byproducts utilization and setting a friendly relationship between the farming community and industrialists. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Management of Water and Wastewater)
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