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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Abel Silva Vieira
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Guest Editor

School of Engineering and Built Environment and Cities Research Institute, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Queensland 4222, Australia
Interests: sustainability; sustainable development; water resources management; alternative water supply; water and energy efficiency; water-energy-climate nexus; renewable energy technologies; green buildings; greenhouse gas emissions; energy and water systems modelling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue on Sustainable Water Use addresses the nexus of water use as an enabler for the sustainability of environmental, social and economic systems. Cutting-edge meta-analyses, critical reviews, frameworks, case studies, modelling and empirical evaluations are invited for this Special Issue, which will include international and cross-disciplinary studies on sustainable water use. From an environmental perspective, the issue will focus on studies which further the academic knowledge and industry practices (e.g. emerging technologies, strategic frameworks, monitoring and design tools, etc.) to improve the environmental performance of the water and wastewater sectors, as well as water end use sectors. Environmental analyses may include, but are not limited to, water end use efficiency, water pollution control, water-energy-carbon nexus, water for energy and energy for water generation, water-related environmental services, chemical and biological environmental indicators, etc. Studies on the social-economic aspects of sustainable water use may include, but are not limited to, water governance, integrated water management frameworks, urban water infrastructure synergies, project management approaches for sustainable water projects, water-based strategic land use planning, demand side management strategies, water price instruments, water for economic prosperity, water–energy–food nexus, water supply and stormwater modelling and planning, alternative water supply, alternative wastewater treatment, water demand for hydrogen production as an energy carrier, circular economy of water and wastewater systems, urban water lifecycle analyses, water end use studies, waterways access for social livability, waterways importance for urban economy, coastal hazard adaptation strategies, climate change-related water crises, etc. The selected peer-reviewed studies in this Special Issue will provide cutting-edge insights into the current and future trends of approaches to use water in a sustainable manner, as well as indicate unsustainable water use patterns and risks. Ultimately, the Special Issue will provide a holistic view of the importance of sustainable water use to maintain thriving environmental, economic and social systems concomitantly.

Dr. Abel Silva Vieira
Guest Editor

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 papers will be 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 1900 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

sustainable water use
water resources management
water–energy–climate–food nexus
emerging water technologies
strategic water governance frameworks
monitoring and design tools

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

Water Resource Management: Moving from Single Risk-Based Management to Resilience to Multiple Stressors

and

Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8609; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158609 - 02 Aug 2021

Viewed by 354

Abstract

Water resource management in the UK is multifaceted, with a complexity of issues arising from acute and chronic stressors. Below average rainfall in spring 2020 coincided with large-scale changes to domestic water consumption patterns, arising from the first UK-wide COVID-19 lockdown, resulting in increased pressure on nationwide resources. A sector wide survey, semi-structured interviews with sector executives, meteorological data, water resource management plans and market information were used to evaluate the impact of acute and chronic threats on water demand in the UK, and how resilience to both can be increased. The COVID-19 pandemic was a particularly acute threat: water demand increased across the country, it was unpredictable and hard to forecast, and compounding this, below average rainfall resulted in some areas having to tanker in water to ‘top up’ the network. This occurred in regions of the UK that are ‘water stressed’ as well as those that are not. We therefore propose a need to look beyond ‘design droughts’ and ‘dry weather average demand’ to characterise the management and resilience of future water resources. As a sector, we can learn from this acute threat and administer a more integrated approach, combining action on the social value of water, the implementation of water trading and the development of nationwide multi-sectoral resilience plans to better respond to short and long-term disruptors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Water Use)

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Open AccessArticle

Developing Generalised Equation for the Calculation of PayBack Period for Rainwater Harvesting Systems

Monzur A. Imteaz

Maryam Bayatvarkeshi

and

Md. Rezaul Karim

Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4266; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084266 - 12 Apr 2021

Viewed by 372

Abstract

Many end-users for the stormwater harvesting systems are reluctant in implementing the system due to uncertainties of the potential returns for their investment for such system. A common practice of presenting potential benefit of a certain investment is through calculation of payback period using net annual benefit from the system. Traditional practice of doing such payback period analysis for rainwater tanks was considering individual building/roof, system volume, and specific investment cost. It is not feasible to conduct such analysis for each and every rainwater harvesting system installed in different buildings. To overcome this tedious practice, this study presents development of a generalised equation for the estimation of payback period for rainwater tanks based on roof area, initial cost, and rate of return. Based on an earlier study, several payback periods were calculated for different roof sizes, initial costs, and rate of return. It was found that all these variables can be correlated and embedded into a base equation of power function. Final developed equation results were compared with the payback periods calculated through traditional practice considering net annual savings and net present value of cumulative savings. It is found that the developed equation can estimate payback periods with very good accuracies; for all the selected internal rates of return correlation values ranging from 0.99 to 1.0 were achieved. Corresponding coefficient of determinations varied from 0.988 to 0.993. Furthermore, it is found that for a fixed roof area and rate of return, the payback period is having a power relationship (having an exponent less than 1.0) with the initial cost. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Water Use)

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