Special Issue "Water–Energy Nexus in Urban Infrastructure Systems"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Water Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 June 2022.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Husnain Haider
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Qassim University, Buraidah 52571, Saudi Arabia
Interests: sustainable infrastructure; water–energy nexus; water supply system reliability; water quality modeling; low-cost water and wastewater treatment; risk-based decision-making under uncertainty; life cycle thinking
Dr. Gyan Chhipi Shrestha
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Associate, Faculty of Applied Science, School of Engineering, The University of British Columbia (Okanagan Campus), Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada
Interests: water–energy nexus; sustainable water supply; water reuse; environmental and human health risk analysis; life cycle analysis; climate change and resilience
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In urban areas, only an efficient and reliable water infrastructure can ensure the provision of safe drinking water and sanitation facilities. Urban water infrastructure primarily consists of the water supply system, sewerage system, and stormwater drainage system. All these systems utilize a large amount of energy for numerous operations, including raw water extraction, water and wastewater treatment, water transmission and distribution, and stormwater management. Population growth and urbanization trends are increasing the burden on existing urban infrastructure. Aging may increase the energy requirements by reducing the efficiency and reliability of various components, such as leaking pipes and obsolete pumps. With growing awareness and stringency of regulations about carbon emissions, optimizing the energy utilization by the urban water infrastructure systems has become a serious challenge for both policy-makers and technical professionals.

Most of the existing literature covers the topic in the context of water supply systems, while its application in wastewater and stormwater systems has been relatively less addressed. Energy optimization in large urban infrastructure systems also needs further attention, as most of the past studies evaluated smaller systems or hypothetical scenarios. Most of the related work was conducted in developed countries operating continuous water supply systems, while the evaluation of intermittent supply operation in developing countries and arid regions might come up with new and interesting findings. Although greywater recycling with low-cost treatment at the point of generation can conserve water resources, it can impact the wastewater-to-energy option. Emerging concepts of sponge cities can certainly recharge groundwater, but the reduced runoff could impact hydropower generation. 

There are several other questions that need to be answered. This Special issue is an effort towards addressing these questions and bridging research gaps.

Dr. Husnain Haider
Dr. Gyan Chhipi Shrestha
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 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

  • water–energy nexus
  • water supply system
  • wastewater to energy

Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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