Holistic Assessment of One Water Harvesting in Agricultural and Urban Settings

Dear Colleagues,

Cities worldwide are facing challenges around water resource quantity (demand and supply deficit) and water quality (e.g., contaminants, such as nutrients, sediment, pharmaceutical products, pesticides, pathogens) from growing populations and anthropogenic impacts such as urbanization, intensification of agriculture, land development, and climate change [1]. Addressing these challenges requires collaboration, wealth of knowledge, relevant datsets, and creative approaches for sustainable and robust (e.g., climate adaptative) “one water” resource management. The phrase “one water” refers to all types of water—drinking water, wastewater, ocean and groundwater desalination, stormwater, gray water, rainwater, and more [2]. A holistic, one water harvesting approach can help to address water resource challenges by identifying alternative water resources, recovering these resources for fit-for-purpose use/reuse, and developing new methods of evaluating the appropriateness, robustness, and availability of these resources [3].

Some examples of these creative, alternative water resources, often described as decentralized green infrastructure options, include rainwater harvesting (RWH), air-conditioning condensate water capture, atmospheric water generated from desert air, fog water collection, and on-site gray water treatment and reuse [4]. For example, RWH has been creatively used globally to address water scarcity for various ecosystem uses, including crop irrigation requirements, and to meet the water resource needs of a growing urban population. While countries in North America, Europe, and Australia have utilized RWH primarily for non-potable uses, countries in Asia and South Africa employ it for potable uses. Studies have explored RWH cost impacts, water savings, potential human health impacts, designs, energy use, and hydrologic impacts [5–8].

This Special Issue of Sustainability aims to demonstrate a comprehensive assessment of one water harvesting by publishing research and review papers. This Special Issue collection provides the first synthesis of designs and analyses of one water harvesting in urban and agricultural settings, both in theory and in practice. The scope will include the following aspects of one water harvesting:

1. State-of-the-art reviews offering insights, approaches, best management practices (BMPs), tools, and techniques for holistic, one water harvesting practices;
2. Designs (centralized versus decentralized one water harvesting systems in urban and agricultural settings);
3. Integration of climate change uncertainties and biodiversity;
4. Water quantity versus quality assessment of one water harvesting systems;
5. Assessment of competing water demands for crops, hydropower, and aquaculture;
6. Life cycle assessment of one water harvesting systems;
7. Life cycle cost assessment of one water harvesting systems;
8. One water in practice: case studies;
9. Sustainability assessment of one water harvesting systems by integrating ecological/environmental, economic, social, political, and technological pillars.

Literature Cited:

1. S. R. Ghimire, J. M. Johnston, W. W. Ingwersen, T. R. Hawkins, Life cycle assessment of domestic and agricultural rainwater harvesting systems. Environmental science & technology 48, 4069-4077 (2014).
2. U. W. Alliance, "One Water for America Policy Framework," (US Water Alliance, Washington, DC 2017).
3. USEPA, in Water Research. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, 2020).
4. S. R. Ghimire et al., Life cycle assessment of a rainwater harvesting system compared with an AC condensate harvesting system. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 146, 536-548 (2019).
5. S. R. Ghimire, J. M. Johnston, A modified eco‐efficiency framework and methodology for advancing the state of practice of sustainability analysis as applied to green infrastructure. Integrated environmental assessment and management 13, 821-831 (2017).
6. S. R. Ghimire, J. M. Johnston, Impacts of domestic and agricultural rainwater harvesting systems on watershed hydrology: A case study in the Albemarle-Pamlico river basins (USA). Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology 13, 159-171 (2013).
7. S. R. Ghimire, J. M. Johnston, Sustainability assessment of agricultural rainwater harvesting: Evaluation of alternative crop types and irrigation practices. PloS one 14, e0216452 (2019).
8. S. R. Ghimire, J. M. Johnston, W. W. Ingwersen, S. Sojka, Life cycle assessment of a commercial rainwater harvesting system compared with a municipal water supply system. Journal of cleaner production 151, 74-86 (2017).

Dr. Santosh Raj Ghimire
Dr. John M. Johnston
Prof. Dr. Yongyut Trisurat
Guest Editors

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