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Optimization–Simulation Modeling of Sustainable Water Resource, 2nd Edition
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Optimization–Simulation Modeling of Sustainable Water Resource, 2nd Edition

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: 10 January 2027 | Viewed by 1931

Editor

Dr. Zhaocai Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Information, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China
Interests: water resources planning; cascade reservoir scheduling; hydrological prediction; coupled water-energy-food-carbon system
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Optimization–simulation modeling for sustainable water resources is a systematic approach to exploring sustainable water resource management options through modeling and simulation and the evaluation of model performance. This approach can support decision-making in the management and planning of water resources, as well as provide clear data and information that is reliable and accurate.

In the field of sustainable water resources management, the optimization–simulation modeling approach covers the following main areas:

  1. The planning and management of water resources: Through the simulation of various models and scenarios, the feasibility and sustainability of water resource utilization plans can be assessed, after which the best options can be gathered.
  2. The scheduling of water resources: By establishing dynamic scheduling models of hydropower plants and reservoirs, optimal control and scheduling can be achieved to ensure the rational use and supply of water resources.
  3. The allocation of water resources: After simulation, the optimal water resource allocation scheme can be determined to implement allocation of water resources in a way that is fair and reasonable, along with the maximum benefit.
  4. The management of the water environment: Through the construction of water ecosystem and water quality models, simulation analysis, and prediction, a better water environment management plan can be formulated.
  5. Disaster management: By constructing models of floods, droughts, and geologic hazards, disaster risks can be assessed and response plans can be formulated to reduce the impacts of disasters.

In conclusion, through the optimization–simulation modeling methodology, the in-depth analysis and optimal design of water resource systems can be undertaken to ensure the development and management of sustainable water resources.

Dr. Zhaocai Wang
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. 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 resources management
  • sustainable development of water resources
  • optimization models
  • simulation modeling
  • water planning
  • water scheduling
  • water allocation
  • water environment management
  • disaster management
  • decision support systems

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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28 pages, 13204 KB  
Article
Short-Term Prediction and Temporal Causality Analysis of Total Nitrogen in Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluent Based on LT-PR-LSTM
by Baoyi Lin and Huajun Meng
Water 2026, 18(13), 1607; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18131607 - 2 Jul 2026
Viewed by 222
Abstract
Accurate prediction of effluent total nitrogen (TN) is important for early exceedance warning and operational control in wastewater treatment plants. Existing decomposition-based models may overestimate performance when full-series decomposition is performed before data splitting, causing potential temporal information leakage. To address this issue, [...] Read more.
Accurate prediction of effluent total nitrogen (TN) is important for early exceedance warning and operational control in wastewater treatment plants. Existing decomposition-based models may overestimate performance when full-series decomposition is performed before data splitting, causing potential temporal information leakage. To address this issue, this study compares noncausal and strictly causal Improved Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive Noise combined with Long Short-Term Memory (ICEEMDAN-LSTM) and Variational Mode Decomposition–Long Short-Term Memory network (VMD-LSTM) settings, and proposes a Level–Trend Persistence-Residual LSTM (LT-PR-LSTM) for univariate effluent TN prediction. The model uses Persistence as the short-term state baseline, extracts level features from historical TN, and introduces first- and second-order differences to learn residual corrections relative to the current state. Multi-model comparison, ablation experiments, stability tests, SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) interpretation, supplementary dataset validation, and efficiency analysis were conducted. Results show that noncausal decomposition inflates predictive performance. LT-PR-LSTM achieves the best main-test performance, with RMSE 1.1273, MAE 0.6082, MAPE 7.5455%, and R2 0.8512, reducing RMSE, MAE, and MAPE by 6.73%, 7.64%, and 8.56% compared with Persistence. SHAP identifies TN(t−2h) as the dominant predictor, and the model requires only 0.5348 ms/sample, indicating potential for online TN early warning. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optimization–Simulation Modeling of Sustainable Water Resource, 2nd Edition)
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20 pages, 11451 KB  
Article
Landscape-Derived Indicators of Water-Related Ecological Risks: Multi-Scale Drivers and Zoned Governance in Yangtze River Basin Urban Agglomerations
by Jing Tao, Tianli Ma and Huajun Meng
Water 2026, 18(12), 1421; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18121421 - 10 Jun 2026
Viewed by 278
Abstract
Climate change and rapid urbanization increasingly threaten water security in large river basins, yet existing assessments often fail to capture the multi-scale interactions between hydroclimatic extremes and human activities. To address this gap, we developed an integrated framework combining risk assessment, multi-method driver [...] Read more.
Climate change and rapid urbanization increasingly threaten water security in large river basins, yet existing assessments often fail to capture the multi-scale interactions between hydroclimatic extremes and human activities. To address this gap, we developed an integrated framework combining risk assessment, multi-method driver diagnosis (Geodetector, Multi-Scale Geographically Weighted Regression (MGWR), and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)), and Zoned Management. Using a landscape-derived Ecological Risk Index (ERI) as a proxy indicator of runoff and non-point source potential, based on established empirical linkages between landscape metrics and hydrological processes, we applied the framework to three major urban agglomerations in the Yangtze River Basin from 2000 to 2020. Our results reveal three distinct risk mechanisms: in the Chengdu–Chongqing area (CYUA), a 165.8% increase in impervious surfaces drives altered runoff; in the Middle Reaches (MRC), the q-value of the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) rose from 0.017 in 2000 to 0.146 in 2020, corresponding to a 759% relative increase. Although the absolute q-value of SPI remains moderate at around 0.15, its rapid rise suggests increasing hydrological sensitivity of the MRC’s river–lake system to precipitation extremes; in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), socioeconomic activities exert overriding pressure. Based on these diagnostics, we propose tailored strategies for water environment management, adaptive planning, and disaster mitigation. This framework offers a scientific basis for differentiated water governance in large river basins facing coupled anthropogenic and hydroclimatic pressures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optimization–Simulation Modeling of Sustainable Water Resource, 2nd Edition)
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22 pages, 15917 KB  
Article
Spatiotemporal Evolution and Key Factors of Coupling Coordination Between Water Ecological Carrying Capacity and Urbanization Quality: A Case Study of Hubei Province in the Yangtze River Economic Belt
by Junlin Wen, Li Liu and Tinggui Chen
Water 2026, 18(7), 782; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18070782 - 26 Mar 2026
Viewed by 548
Abstract
The coupling coordination between Urbanization Quality (UQ) and Water Ecological Carrying Capacity (WECC) represents a critical nexus for sustainable regional development within the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB). Focusing on 16 cities in Hubei Province over the period 2020–2024, this study constructed comprehensive [...] Read more.
The coupling coordination between Urbanization Quality (UQ) and Water Ecological Carrying Capacity (WECC) represents a critical nexus for sustainable regional development within the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB). Focusing on 16 cities in Hubei Province over the period 2020–2024, this study constructed comprehensive indicator systems for UQ and WECC, Spatial Autocorrelation Analysis and Key Factor Analysis are then applied to analyze spatiotemporal evolution, identify key influencing factors. The results reveal that: (1) Both UQ and WECC demonstrated upward trajectories, with UQ increasing from 0.369 to 0.409, although WECC exhibited fluctuating patterns; (2) Spatial analysis identified pronounced “core–periphery” clustering effects with Wuhan as the dominant center, confirmed by the positive Global Moran’s I; (3) Hubei’s CCD advanced from 0.626 to 0.661, progressing toward initially coordinated stages, with Wuhan pioneering this transition, while 81.25% of cities remained at the moderately coordinated stage; (4) Grey relational analysis identified aquatic biological resources as the principal constraint, with piscivore biomass ratios and pension insurance participation rates (γ = 0.752) emerging as key biophysical and socioeconomic drivers, respectively. These findings provide empirical evidence for targeted interventions promoting balanced urban–water ecological development in the YREB, while contributing a novel analytical framework for examining UQ-WECC interactions in rapidly urbanizing regions globally. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optimization–Simulation Modeling of Sustainable Water Resource, 2nd Edition)
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Review

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24 pages, 8767 KB  
Review
Assessing Three Decades of Groundwater Modelling Applications in Greece: An Overview of Progress, Tools and Future Challenges
by Christos Pouliaris
Water 2026, 18(11), 1300; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18111300 - 27 May 2026
Viewed by 423
Abstract
Water resource management in a growing world has arisen as one of the major pillars of future development, economic stability, and environmental sustainability. Within this framework, groundwater plays a key role in providing the necessary water for urban, industrial, and, most importantly, agricultural [...] Read more.
Water resource management in a growing world has arisen as one of the major pillars of future development, economic stability, and environmental sustainability. Within this framework, groundwater plays a key role in providing the necessary water for urban, industrial, and, most importantly, agricultural uses. One of the tools used for managing water resources and planning future developments is groundwater models; the use of this resource has expanded since the 1990s. In Greece, the application of groundwater models has spanned for almost three decades, with a variety of applications developed for many of the geologically complex areas around the country. The present study aims to fill a gap in present scholarship by presenting an exhaustive review of case studies identified in the literature by collecting and reviewing the available research that involves the development of groundwater models, highlighting their primary foci, the numerical tools used, and their expected implications for future developments. This review shows that most applications focus on seawater intrusion processes in coastal areas, where agricultural activities have added significant stress on local groundwater resources. Additionally, many studies also involve pumping optimization methodologies, aiming for the sustainable management of coastal aquifers. Groundwater models can provide answers to these questions and assist in the sustainable management of water resources. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optimization–Simulation Modeling of Sustainable Water Resource, 2nd Edition)
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