Thales assures that water is the principle of all things; and that God is that mind which shaped and created all things from water.                                                                                   

Marcus Cicero (106-43 BC) said that about Thales of Miletus (624-546 BC)

Water has played a crucial role since the beginning of human history on earth. Since prehistoric times, people have always needed to be near reliable sources of water. The first organized human communities developed on riverbanks only in the late Neolithic times (ca. 4500–3200 BC), in Mesopotamia on the banks of Egypt’s River Nile, in the Indus River valley, and along China’s rivers. As farming developed, grain agriculture became more sophisticated and prompted a division of labor to store food between growing seasons. At that time, the first successful efforts to control water flow (dams and irrigation systems) due to food needs were implemented in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India/Pakistan, and China. There is also some evidence of irrigation and drainage channels in Ancient Iran (ca. 5220–4990 BC). Some of the ancient water technologies, such as qanats, are still in use. Urban water supply and sanitation systems appeared at a later stage, in the Bronze Age (ca. 3200–1100 BC), mainly in Minoan Greece and the Indus Valley.

In historic times (ca. 1000 BC-330 AD), water and wastewater technologies were highly improved by the Greek civilizations and, later on, by the Romans, especially regarding their scale. Sustainability, as a design principle, has more recently entered the engineering lexicon in Europe and the USA. It is important to know how historical information can help us to meet sustainable development in the future. Presently, global warming, climate change, and the water crisis, in addition to the growth of human population around the world, are big challenges. These challenges highlight the importance of water resource management to meet sustainable agriculture in the future.

This Special Issue of Sustainability, focused on the evolution of sustainable water management, aims to address the abovementioned aspects. More specifically, we call for manuscripts which deal with sustainable water resource management practices in both urban and rural regions, and regulations and policies which could contribute to improve sustainability. The papers that address past, present, and future challenges of water resource management and represent solutions with regard to sustainability in either agricultural or urban water management are also welcome.

The main themes include but are not limited to:

• Onsite and decentralized water and wastewater treatment systems;
• The role of water reuse for integrated water resources management;
• The role of regulations in sustainable water management;
• Water supply and wastewater treatment and reuse in future cities;
• The role of planning and policies in sustainable water management;
• Relevance of the ancient water technologies with modern day water resource sustainability;
• Agricultural drainage for sustainable water management;
• Managing river flows towards sustainable water management;
• Water pollution and emerging pollutants/contaminants;
• Water pollution and tourism development;
•  Wastewater management technologies from the past to the present;
• Lessons of sustainable water management from ancient to modern times and the future;
• Water practice issues related to sustainable resource management;
• New topics on sustainable water resources: virtual water and water footprint;
• History of sustainable water resources;
• Learning from ancient water management towards sustainable water management;
• Ancient roots of modernity based on hydrotechnologies;
• Challenges and opportunities of the water–energy nexus;
• Sustainability of ancient water control technologies through the centuries;
• Water harvesting structures: past, present, future;
• Evolution of sustainable water resources management;
• The role of climate change and variability of sustainable water management;
• The impact of uncertainty on sustainable water management in future;
• Extreme events and sustainable water management;
• Designing a scientific framework for sustainable water management;
• Sustainable agriculture with respect to water resources management.

Dr. Vasileios Tzanakakis
Dr. Mohammad Valipour
Prof. Dr. Andreas N. Angelakis
Guest Editors

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. Sustainability 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 2400 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.