Human–Water Interactions: Water Supply, Livelihood and Rural Society
A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Resources Management, Policy and Governance".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2025 | Viewed by 10
Special Issue Editor
Interests: water resource management; ecosystem services; grain-for-green
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Ensuring adequate, continuous and clean water supply relates to many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (i.e., target 7c) and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets (i.e., SDG Indicator 6.1.1). With intensive efforts of governments and non-governmental organizations in recent decades, the water supply in rural areas of less-developed countries has been greatly improved. The livelihoods of rural residents have also been improved significantly.
However, as the time goes on, rural water supplies face notable challenges, including supply limitations (i.e., insufficient water sources, facilities, and supply), economic limitations (i.e., low profits and high cost investments), policy limitations (i.e., lack of subsidies, insufficient policies) and usage limitations (i.e., waste water and unreasonable use). These will hinder sustainable water supply and limit improvements in residents’ lives.
Now, it is time to summarize feedback on water supply improvements. We wish to uncover the interactions among water supplies, rural communities, water consumption, and residents’ lives, and provide a basis for formulating interventions and policies for water safety management in the challenging future.
We invite contributions which offer analyses and empirical study on rural water supplies, management, and water use globally or in specific regions. We also encourage empirical research on interventions, regulations, and policies that could affect water use behavior and management. Other original research articles and reviews are also welcomed. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: water governance; water consumption; water conservation; water sanitation; water supply; water resource management; and public policy.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Prof. Dr. Liangxin Fan
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 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
- water governance
- water consumption
- water conservation
- water sanitation
- water supply
- water resource management
- public policy
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