Book Review: Water Sustainability; Zhang, H.X., Ed.; Springer: New York, NY, USA, 2023; ISBN: 978-1-0716-2465-4

Water is an essential resource of contemporary civilization and also a factor of its progress. The vast consumption of water, its pollution, and deep modifications of aquatic environments create serious risks for our civilization and challenge its sustainable development. In other words, water sustainability is not only about water but also about ourselves. A lot of research has been performed in this direction, and a lot of factual and conceptual information has been accumulated. Thus, there is a strong need for synthetic books, which can highlight and explain the issues of water sustainability professionally, freshly, systematically, and with paying equal attention to the theoretical and practical implications. Such books will be demanded by the broad circle of researchers and engineers, students and their teachers, journalists, and policymakers.

This new book edited by Zhang presents such a long-demanded synthesis of the knowledge of water sustainability. This book is a part of the multi-volume series entitled “Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology, Second Edition”, and it can be used as an ultimate reference for quick orientation within the subject. Nonetheless, it is also suitable for linear reading. Physically, it looks like a hybrid of a typical encyclopedia and well-organized, thematic collection of individual, review-type contributions. This book emphasizes the technical and organizational aspects of water sustainability, as well as the related managerial and policy issues. Speaking simply, this volume is about water and how we use it.

The book consists of seven parts and twenty-one chapters, each dealing with a major theme. About fifty specialists from many countries contributed to it. Surprisingly, they were able to present a very clear image and avoid any collage of opinions and views (the authors and the editor should be specially thanked for this!). Importantly, the chapters start with brief conceptualizations of their subjects and end with indications of perspectives and tasks. This composition allows for the temporal perspective of the research in water sustainability to be extended.

The introductory chapter outlines water sustainability issues and explains their general vision in the present volume. The first part deals with water treatment and supply. It was very important that one chapter was reserved for agricultural matters. The second part considers water and waste. Interestingly, it starts with the characteristics of wetland construction for wastewater treatment. Various technical solutions are described. The third part is about stormwater. Indeed, extreme weather events affect the normally functioning systems and influence water quality and quantity. Notably, the contributors tended emphasized the positive aspects of this issue and paid attention to the opportunities of rain- and stormwater harvesting and reuse. The fourth part focuses on water reuse, including desalination. One highly interesting chapter reviews the issue of micropollutants and their removal together with water reclamation. A lot of biochemical and technical information can be found there. The fifth part deals with groundwater. The related sustainable remediation issues are considered. The sixth chapter addresses the relationship between water sustainability and climate changes. For instance, it is discussed how the latter can affect the quality of community-owned water resources. Public perceptions of this quality are noted. The seventh part is about integrative water management. Particularly, water–energy relationships are explained. When renewable energy is considered, it is very important that the authors mentioned both positive and negative effects of its production on water.

To demonstrate the reviewed book’s richness, two examples can be given. Where desalination is considered, the authors do not only indicate the related technologies but also explain cost analysis models. In the other case, the reputational water-related risks to business are mentioned in detail. Particularly, it is said that unsustainably looking water treatment triggers a negative perception of businesses by local communities, irrespective of the true environmental impacts of this treatment. It should be added that the book bears a lot of case examples from different countries. Their extensive characteristics are important for obtaining a better understanding of the related issues, and they also allow for communicating some information which cannot be found in “dry” reviews. Some chapters seem to be based on full-scale research projects; they enrich the volume factually and stimulate the readers’ interest. The richness of this book often results from the contributors’ attention to various technological questions.

How comprehensive is the reviewed book? This is a really important question because publications of this type always claim to be comprehensive. On the one hand, the book contains a huge amount of diverse and logically organized information. On the other hand, it is evident that it focuses on water use on land, and some important ideas are considered, albeit in a slight haphazard manner. For instance, water sustainability is related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals [1]. This relationship is mentioned in this book, but only briefly and in only particular aspects. The emerging pollutants (contaminants) serve as a very significant factor of freshwater sustainability [2,3] (the role of this factor will only increase in the future), and this issue deserves a more extensive review. In fact, these and some other ideas would deserve special chapters. Various relations of water sustainability to climate change and population growth are considered in the reviewed book, and readers must summarize these notions in their mind to obtain a general vision of these problematics. Nonetheless, water sustainability is a very general and highly complex issue, and it is very doubtful that it can be considered comprehensively in any single, moderately thick book. Speaking of the aspects, which are emphasized in the reviewed book (see above), it is possible to find that they are covered rather comprehensively; thus, the editor and authors reached their goal successfully. They offered their own (very important, even if one of many possible opinions) vision of water sustainability issues. It is also necessary to add that the book boasts the presence of well-fixed knowledge and novel, “first-hand” information. This makes it really up-to-date and stimulating.

Zhang’s volume has many technical advantages, and it is an example of a very professional, careful, and responsible editorial work. First, it is rather compact and counts less than 450 pages. Second, the chapters are organized and styled similarly. Third, they bear lengthy lists of references, which are accompanied sometimes by the lists of basic sources (books and review articles). Fourth, the book is illustrated richly. Importantly, the images are often colorful and large. Fifth, the glossaries at the beginning of each chapter and the subject at the end of the book are detailed, informative, and very helpful.

The style of the book is purely academic and even too technical in some places. However, it is rather homogeneous and not “dry”. The writing is vivid due to the factual richness of the text and the well-articulated views of the contributors. This is a book with its own character! The target audience includes researchers, educators, and graduate students. As stated in the beginning of this review, some other categories of readers may be interested in the knowledge synthesized in this book—for instance, policymakers. Principally, they can try to use this book as a general reference on water sustainability, but some good education will be required from them to understand fully what is written there. A good solution for the next edition of this book, which is strongly desired, will be a conclusive chapter explaining the knowledge from all previous chapters clearly to non-experts.

Generally, the book edited by Zhang is strongly recommended as a valuable source of highly important knowledge. It allows for a better understanding of sustainability issues in the different situations of water use. Indeed, its reading is both enriching and stimulating.