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Urban Water Pollution Control: Theory and Technology
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Urban Water Pollution Control: Theory and Technology

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Urban Water Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2025 | Viewed by 4097

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Bingdang Wu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Environment, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, China
Interests: urban water pollution control; coagulation; adsorption; advanced oxidation; ecological restoration; environmental functional materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Yonghai Gan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Nanjing, China
Interests: water and wastewater treatment; coagulation; flocculation; adsorption; membrane technology; advanced oxidation; ecological restoration
Dr. Jingjing Yang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Worship, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, China
Interests: advanced oxidation process; water purification; algal dewatering and resource utilization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Continuous urbanization and industrialization have led to an increase in stormwater runoff, which has resulted in the discharge of heavy metals, nutrients, and organic chemicals. Transporting pollutants into water systems can harm both human health and aquatic species. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the theory and technology of pollutant control in urban water.

The purpose of this Topic “Urban Water Pollution Control: Theory and Technology” is to review the properties and transport and fate of pollutants in urban aquatic systems, list and discuss occurrence and treatment efficiencies, develop new ways, i.e., low-impact development and sponge city to control the conventional pollutants and micropollutants, and provide a report of status and research needs on aquatic and multimedia models.

Papers are welcome on topics including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Theory of Fate and Transport of Pollutants in Urban Water;
  • Control Strategies and Theory;
  • Emerging Pollutants in Water;
  • Low-impact Development and Sponge City;
  • Physical–chemical Remediation;
  • Microbial Remediation;
  • Ecological Restoration;
  • Emergency Restoration Method;
  • Climate Change and Resource Recovery;
  • Water Quality Monitoring.

In this field, research papers, reviews, and short communications will be accepted. Concerning original articles, only studies concerning the evaluation of environmental concentrations or, in general, with a high ecological impact will be considered. This Topic will aim to collect articles that contribute to filling the knowledge gap related to the fate and transport of pollutants in urban water.

Dr. Bingdang Wu
Dr. Yonghai Gan
Dr. Jingjing Yang
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 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 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. Water 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 2600 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

  • micropollutants
  • urban water
  • remediation
  • low-impact development
  • sponge city
  • constructed wetland

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

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 6380 KiB  
Article
Mapping and Assessing Groundwater Quality in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (France): Toward Optimized Monitoring and Management of Groundwater Resource
by Abderrahim Bousouis, Meryem Ayach, Youssouf El Jarjini, Ismail Mohsine, Laurence Ravung, Saïd Chakiri, Abdelhak Bouabdli, Vincent Valles and Laurent Barbiero
Water 2025, 17(9), 1396; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17091396 - 6 May 2025
Viewed by 254
Abstract
To optimize the management of groundwater resources in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (BFC, France) region, data from the Size-Eaux database were cross-referenced with the French Reference Framework for Groundwater Bodies (GWB). The information contained in this dataset was synthesized using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), followed [...] Read more.
To optimize the management of groundwater resources in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (BFC, France) region, data from the Size-Eaux database were cross-referenced with the French Reference Framework for Groundwater Bodies (GWB). The information contained in this dataset was synthesized using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), followed by Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC) of GWBs based on their average coordinates along the main factorial axes. The results reveal 11 distinct GWB groups, each internally homogeneous in terms of chemical composition and ongoing processes responsible for intra-group variability. The distribution of the groups aligns with the region’s structural geology, lithology, and agricultural activity patterns. Livestock farming areas, prone to fecal contamination, and cereal-growing areas, characterized by high nitrate concentrations, stand out distinctly. Furthermore, the analysis of GWB groups highlights regional processes such as denitrification, confirming the existence of spatial structuring of these mechanisms beyond local specificities. The major physicochemical and bacteriological zones show strong contrasts between groups while maintaining significant internal homogeneity. Despite the region’s vast size and diversity, spanning three major watersheds, further subdivision was not necessary to obtain applicable results. These findings confirm observations made in other regions and pave the way for an optimized monitoring and surveillance strategy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Water Pollution Control: Theory and Technology)
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18 pages, 3483 KiB  
Article
Bibliometric Analysis of Hydrothermal Wastewater Treatment in the Last Two Decades
by Abel Santillan-Angeles, Candido Mendoza-Perez, Edwin Villagrán, Francisco Garcia and Jorge Flores-Velazquez
Water 2025, 17(5), 746; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17050746 - 4 Mar 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 652
Abstract
The reuse of wastewater expands its area of influence due in part to the water crisis and the increase in population in urban areas. Technologically, the methods of the treatment and separation of toxic agents have been diversified to provide water with a [...] Read more.
The reuse of wastewater expands its area of influence due in part to the water crisis and the increase in population in urban areas. Technologically, the methods of the treatment and separation of toxic agents have been diversified to provide water with a second use. The objective of this work was to evaluate the growth and development of science in the hydrothermal wastewater treatment (HTAR) through a bibliometric analysis. The keywords directly obtained from the treatment method were used in order to carry out the integration of related published research, and the terms used in the search both separately and crossly were “treatment, hydrothermal, wastewater” in the database from SCOPUS; 97 response records were filtered to 87 documents that were analyzed using BIBLIMETRIX as the R Statistical interface. According to the results obtained, the trend of documents published is shown, with 17 articles in 2023 and 21 in 2024. The author with the highest number of contributions on the topic is Yuanhui Zhang. The countries most involved in this issue are China, the U.S.A., and Japan; China was the one with the highest number of publications. The scientific and technological development regarding the HTAR is shown; and that, technology is aimed at the use and generation of energy. In addition, hydrothermal liquefaction treatment is being investigated to generate biocrude and bio-oils; the hydrothermal carbonization treatment for the generation of hydrochar; and the hydrothermal gasification treatment to produce methane and hydrogen; all from biomass with a high moisture content. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Water Pollution Control: Theory and Technology)
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16 pages, 1915 KiB  
Article
Sensitivity Analysis-Aided Calibration of Urban Drainage Modeling
by Morteza Kheshti Azar, Carlo Giudicianni and Enrico Creaco
Water 2025, 17(5), 612; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17050612 - 20 Feb 2025
Viewed by 576
Abstract
This paper presents a novel methodology for the event-based calibration of urban drainage models based on conceptual simulation of external sub-catchments and physical representation of underground channels. Following the setup of the numerical model of an urban drainage system and the definition of [...] Read more.
This paper presents a novel methodology for the event-based calibration of urban drainage models based on conceptual simulation of external sub-catchments and physical representation of underground channels. Following the setup of the numerical model of an urban drainage system and the definition of the list of parameters, the methodology proposed is based on two steps, namely the application of sensitivity analysis for the identification of influent parameters and the calibration of the model on each event considering the reduced set of influent parameters by means of an optimizer. The methodology is applied to the Cascina Scala urban catchment in Pavia, northern Italy, for which a rainfall/runoff dataset is available for 14 events. In the applications, the urban drainage system is constructed in the EPA-SWMM environment, and a genetic algorithm is used for calibration. The results prove that the model parameterized with the innovative methodology features a very good fit to experimental data concerning hydrographs at the exit of the catchment while offering significant computational advantages compared with the usual calibration approach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Water Pollution Control: Theory and Technology)
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21 pages, 15270 KiB  
Article
Adsorption Removal of Organophosphates from Water by Steel Slag: Modification, Performance, and Energy Site Analysis
by Wei Wu, Yiming Nie, Zhixin Wang, Tianyin Huang, Xiaoyi Xu, Hanhan Liu, Peirong Li and Bingdang Wu
Water 2024, 16(21), 3145; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16213145 - 3 Nov 2024
Viewed by 1603
Abstract
Organophosphates are a type of emerging environmental contaminant, which can be removed effectively by adsorption. Here, modified steel slag was examined for its adsorptive performance in the removal of hydroxyethylidene diphosphonic acid (HEDP) from water. Compared to acid (55.3%, maximum removal rate) and [...] Read more.
Organophosphates are a type of emerging environmental contaminant, which can be removed effectively by adsorption. Here, modified steel slag was examined for its adsorptive performance in the removal of hydroxyethylidene diphosphonic acid (HEDP) from water. Compared to acid (55.3%, maximum removal rate) and base (85.5%) modification, high-temperature modification (90.6%) significantly enhanced steel slag’s adsorption capacity for HEDP, surpassing that of unmodified slag (71.2%). Kinetic analyses elucidated a two-phase adsorption process—initial rapid adsorption followed by a slower equilibrium phase. The results of adsorption energy analysis showed that modified steel slag preferentially occupied the sites with higher energy, which promoted the adsorption. After five regeneration cycles, the adsorption properties of the material were not significantly reduced, which indicates that the material has good application potential. Microscopic and spectroscopic techniques, including SEM-EDS, FTIR, and XPS, were employed to uncover the surface chemistry and structural changes responsible for the enhanced adsorption efficiency. The adsorption mechanism of HEDP on steel slag is a complete process guided by hydrogen bonding interactions, strengthened surface complexation, and optimized ligand exchange. This study advances the sustainable utilization of industrial waste materials and contributes significantly to the development of innovative water treatment technologies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Water Pollution Control: Theory and Technology)
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Review

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23 pages, 947 KiB  
Review
Pollutant Monitoring Solutions in Water and Sewerage Networks: A Scoping Review
by Rosario La Cognata, Stefania Piazza and Gabriele Freni
Water 2025, 17(10), 1423; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17101423 - 9 May 2025
Viewed by 428
Abstract
Ensuring water quality standards in water and wastewater distribution systems is crucial to protect public health and ecosystems. Environmental monitoring technologies have evolved rapidly owing to the use of portable devices and digital platforms. The integration of digital sensors, Internet of Things (IoT) [...] Read more.
Ensuring water quality standards in water and wastewater distribution systems is crucial to protect public health and ecosystems. Environmental monitoring technologies have evolved rapidly owing to the use of portable devices and digital platforms. The integration of digital sensors, Internet of Things (IoT) systems, and technologies such as Arduino and Raspberry Pi enables real-time monitoring of emerging contaminants (CECs) in water and wastewater networks, overcoming the limitations of traditional methods. This review provides an overview of integrated systems based on lab-on-a-chip, Raman spectrometry, and colourimetry for pollutant detection in water and wastewater networks. Our comparative analysis highlights that lab-on-a-chip devices enhance analytical efficiency (achieving detection limits in the sub-ppb range for certain heavy metals), Raman spectrometry—especially SERS—provides ultra-trace sensitivity and molecular specificity, and colorimetric sensors offer cost-effective, rapid field deployment albeit with moderate sensitivity. The novelty of this work lies in integrating these findings to illustrate how IoT-enabled sensor platforms can complement traditional methods for real-time water quality monitoring. The PRISMA framework and Rayyan platform were used for systematic literature selection, analysing 72 recent references. These findings indicate that lab-on-a-chip systems enhance analytical efficiency but face selectivity and reagent stability challenges. Raman spectrometry offers high specificity but has high operational costs, while colorimetric sensors are practical for rapid field analysis. Future research should focus on optimising analytical protocols and validating them in real-world settings, as suggested by recent studies monitoring specific contaminants in different aquatic matrices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Water Pollution Control: Theory and Technology)
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