Freshwater Quality Challenges in Southern Europe under an Increasingly Warmer and Drier Climate Scenario

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue considers surface freshwater and groundwater as equally important parts of the same overall resource, with the goal being to integrate inter- and transdisciplinary research on freshwater quality under changing climate scenarios where droughts are becoming more frequent and severe. The increasing scarcity of precipitation is leading to decreased water levels and water quality in surface and groundwater bodies, leading to environmental, societal, political and economic changes that can affect global health. In lentic water bodies, droughts and warmer temperatures promote the occurrence of life-threatening events within local communities. Groundwater quality may be also greatly affected, namely in coastal regions where freshwater salinization may occur. Therefore, the preservation of freshwater quality is a crucial and urgent issue to resolve. In the era of the “knowledge-based” society, information is vital to increasing understanding and awareness on the impacts of climate change and to prepare society to find and implement ways to deal with those changes through collaborative solutions (with stakeholders, academia and policy makers).

Within the context of climate change, and geographically focusing on the Southern Europe regions, we welcome research papers and reviews regarding current topics on freshwater ecology, toxicity, hydrochemistry, monitoring approaches, but also societal aspects related to these concerning climate challenges. Ultimately, this Special Issue intends to establish a multidisciplinary standpoint in regard to how best to tackle freshwater quality issues.

Dr. Daniela R. De Figueiredo
Dr. M. Teresa Condesso de Melo
Guest Editors

Dr. Sofia Bento
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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.

• drought
• water quality
• surface freshwaters
• groundwater
• water and society