Special Issue "Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Water Management in Urban Areas"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Health and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2021.

Special Issue Editors

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
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Dr. Nicolas Beauchamp
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Civil and Water Engineering, Laval University, Quebec QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Interests: drinking water treatment; drinking water and public health; quantitative risk analysis; climate change impact on water supplies
Dr. Ianis Delpla
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. École Supérieure D’aménagement du Territoire et de Développement Régional (ESAD), Université Laval, Pavillon F-A. Savard, 2325, rue des Bibliothèques, local 1612, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
2. Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Montréal, Montréal H3A 2B2, Canada
Interests: drinking water quality and human health; climate change impacts on drinking water supply; environmental justice; human health risk assessment; drinking water management; decision support systems; water quality modeling
Dr. Bingyi Kang
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Information Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China
Interests: data fusion; Dempster–Shafer evidence theory; multicriteria decision making; intelligence information processing; decision support systems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Water supply and management in urban areas have a long history of over two millennia in the planet. Urban water management has been especially challenged at the present time due to rapid urbanization, population growth, changing lifestyles, climate change, overuse of resources, and pollution. In developed countries, urban water systems are very resource-intensive, e.g., high energy intensity and chemical uses, whereas developing countries do not have a sufficient degree of water and wastewater treatment in cities increasing pollution. Both urban water systems are less sustainable. On the other hand, almost all countries are increasingly facing disasters in urban water systems, such as climate-induced floods, drought, and forest fires. This means present urban water and its infrastructure systems are not resilient. Moreover, modern digital technologies, e.g., the Internet of things (IoT), have made the planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of water infrastructures more efficient, cost-effective, and automated in real-time being smart. Therefore, this is the right time to address and solve the complex problems of urban water systems employing IoT, sustainability principles, and resiliency measures.

The purpose of this Special Issue to disseminate real-life applications, innovative research outcomes, and new knowledge of urban water management, which have been used to make urban water systems smart, sustainable, and resilient. The scope of this Special Issue includes but is not limited to:   

  • Source water monitoring and protection;
  • Development of resilient water infrastructures;
  • Drinking water treatment and their sustainability;
  • Disinfection by-products, their removal, and health risks;
  • Emerging contaminants in drinking and wastewater and their risks to human and ecosystems;
  • Wastewater treatment, energy recovery, and water reuse;
  • Water–energy nexus;
  • Climate change adaptation and mitigation, stormwater harvesting, and urban hydrology;
  • Water-sensitive design of cities;
  • Life cycle sustainability assessment (LCA, LCC, and Social LCA) of urban water;
  • One water approach;
  • Smart water management and digital water.

Dr. Gyan Chhipi Shrestha
Dr. Nicolas Beauchamp
Dr. Ianis Delpla
Dr. Bingyi Kang
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

  • Source water protection
  • Drinking water treatment
  • Disinfection by-products
  • Emerging contaminants
  • Wastewater treatment and reuse
  • Water–energy nexus
  • Stormwater harvesting and management
  • Climate change adaptation and mitigation
  • Water-sensitive design Low impact development (LID)
  • Resilient infrastructure
  • Water infrastructure management
  • Urban resilience
  • Life cycle analysis (LCA)
  • Life cycle cost (LCC)
  • Urban hydrology
  • One water approach
  • Digital water

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Commentary
Bridging Science and Practice-Importance of Stakeholders in the Development of Decision Support: Lessons Learned
Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5744; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105744 - 20 May 2021
Viewed by 412
Abstract
User-friendly, evidence-based scientific tools to support sanitation decisions are still limited in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector. This commentary provides lessons learned from the development of two sanitation decision support tools developed in collaboration with stakeholders in Uganda. We engaged with [...] Read more.
User-friendly, evidence-based scientific tools to support sanitation decisions are still limited in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector. This commentary provides lessons learned from the development of two sanitation decision support tools developed in collaboration with stakeholders in Uganda. We engaged with stakeholders in a variety of ways to effectively obtain their input in the development of the decision support tools. Key lessons learned included: tailoring tools to stakeholder decision-making needs; simplifying the tools as much as possible for ease of application and use; creating an enabling environment that allows active stakeholder participation; having a dedicated and responsive team to plan and execute stakeholder engagement activities; involving stakeholders early in the process; having funding sources that are flexible and long-term; and including resources for the acquisition of local data. This reflection provides benchmarks for future research and the development of tools that utilize scientific data and emphasizes the importance of engaging with stakeholders in the development process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Water Management in Urban Areas)
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