sustainability-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Advances in Sustainable Water Management: Wastewater Treatment and Water Reclamation

A Special Issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050) belonging to the section "Sustainable Water Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2027 | Viewed by 990

Editor

1. Department of Circular Economy and Decarbonization, Leitat Technological Center, Terrassa, Spain
2. Department of Chemical Engineering (EQ), Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain
Interests: water; circular economy; nutrients; adsorption; membranes

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Water scarcity is an increasingly pressing global concern, with more severe and frequent drought episodes affecting both rural and urban areas. In this context, reusing wastewater effluent as reclaimed water is not just an option, but a necessity, in order to ensure a sustainable water supply. However, water reuse also introduces new challenges, particularly the presence of contaminants of emerging concern, such as microplastics or antibiotics, which can pose significant risks to both human health and ecosystems. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to compile innovative research on sustainable water management, with a particular focus on wastewater treatment and water reclamation. We welcome papers that explore innovative approaches in the field of wastewater treatment, particularly those focused on water reclamation and the recovery of solutes as added value products.

We encourage research not only on cutting-edge technologies (e.g., advanced oxidation processes, novel membranes, adsorbents, etc.), but also on novel integrations of existing technologies (e.g., membrane-based processes, adsorption, biodegradation) in order to exploit their synergetic effects and overcome their existing challenges and limitations.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Xialei You
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 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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized 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.

Keywords

  • wastewater treatment
  • circular economy
  • water reclamation
  • physical-chemical technology
  • biological processes

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Review

54 pages, 2732 KB  
Review
From Source Reduction to Risk-Based Discharge: An End-to-End Sustainable Management Framework for Medical Radioactive Wastewater in China—A Narrative Review
by Gaoqiang Su, Runyu Liu, Shenbin Cao and Zhuyuan Niu
Sustainability 2026, 18(16), 8243; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18168243 - 11 Aug 2026
Viewed by 631
Abstract
With the rapid development of nuclear medicine, the safe and sustainable management of medical radioactive wastewater has become an increasingly critical challenge at the interface of radiation protection and environmental engineering in China. Current management practices primarily focus on end-of-pipe treatment, whereas systematic [...] Read more.
With the rapid development of nuclear medicine, the safe and sustainable management of medical radioactive wastewater has become an increasingly critical challenge at the interface of radiation protection and environmental engineering in China. Current management practices primarily focus on end-of-pipe treatment, whereas systematic frameworks integrating wastewater generation, collection, treatment, monitoring, and risk-informed discharge remain insufficient. In this narrative review, we systematically examine the complete management chain of medical radioactive wastewater, from generation to discharge, by evaluating source reduction strategies, available treatment technologies, and international regulatory frameworks, while also summarizing the requirements for whole-process monitoring and occupational radiation protection. We characterize the pollution profiles and discharge loads associated with major medical radionuclides, assess the applicability of different treatment technologies under various operational scenarios, and analyze key differences between Chinese and international regulatory approaches. Based on these analyses, we first establish a hierarchical decision matrix for treatment process selection considering hospital classification and site-specific constraints, and subsequently propose a six-tier end-to-end management framework integrating source reduction, source characterization, multi-constraint process selection, tiered treatment intensification, multi-level quality monitoring, and risk-informed discharge. This framework promotes a paradigm shift in medical radioactive wastewater management from conventional end-of-pipe treatment toward integrated full-chain governance, providing theoretical insights and practical guidance for the standardized, refined, and sustainable management of medical radioactive wastewater in China. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop