Coupling of Human and Hydrological Systems

Dear Colleagues,

Natural and hydrological systems are responsible for several key ecosystem services that humankind needs to thrive. The provision of water, regulation of its quality, role in local cultures, and support for water and nutrient cycles and soil formation all depend on the behavior of hydrological systems. Societies have, however, long explored natural resources with limited perception of consequences to hydrological systems, which leads to increasing impacts that reduce water availability and quality, also increasing flood risks. All these impacts ultimately affect water security to cities and production systems.

Human decisions are driven by their cultural, social, technological and economic contexts, which reflect on the hydrological systems. Those decisions determine not only the rates of extraction of resources such as water and emissions such as wastewater, but also land and floodplain use, which will reflect on future hydrological behavior and provision of ecosystem services. For societies to effectively manage increasingly scarcer land and water, a broader understanding of how human and hydrological systems interact is essential. Coupling human and hydrological systems is not only important to better understand, and mitigate, the negative impacts on the hydrological systems, but also to find adaptive solutions on how to boost the output of those systems for the benefit of society and the environment itself, improving resilience and support capacity.

This Special Issue aims to gather contributions on how human and hydrological systems can be coupled to improve decisions on the use of land and water. The contributions to this Special Issue will encompass a broad range of topics, including but not limited to:

• Adaptation pathways to urban water supply systems;
• Hydro-economic modeling and analysis;
• Economic instruments to water and land management;
• Representation of social, environmental, and economic networks;
• Reservoir operation and ecosystem services;
• Water–food–energy nexus;
• Application of nature-based solutions (NbS) to improve drought and flood preparedness.

Prof. Dr. Guilherme F. Marques
Guest Editor

Ana Paula Dalcin
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Hydrology is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 1800 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.