Integrated Watershed Pollution Control: From Source Tracing to Systematic Management
A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Quality and Contamination".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2026 | Viewed by 897
Editor
Interests: water
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
As a fundamental unit of the aquatic environment, watersheds are characterized by complex pollution sources, diverse transport pathways, and profound ecological and societal impacts. Effective watershed pollution control requires moving beyond traditional single-technology or localized management approaches to establish a holistic scientific framework that spans pollution source tracing to systematic regulation. This Special Issue aims to synthesize cutting-edge research on integrated watershed pollution control, with a focus on the following key areas:
1. Pollution Source Apportionment and Multi-Dimensional Tracing Techniques- Integration of isotope tracing, chemical fingerprinting, and model inversion to accurately identify spatial and sectoral contributions from industrial, agricultural, domestic, and non-point sources.
- Development of dynamic pollution source inventories based on multi-source data fusion to support refined management.
- Advancement of watershed-scale hydrology–water quality–ecology coupled models to elucidate the transport mechanisms and fate of pollutants across multiple media (atmosphere, surface water, groundwater, and soil).
- Focus on interactive effects and combined impacts of emerging pollutants (e.g., microplastics, antibiotics) and traditional pollutants (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorus, heavy metals).
- Exploration of the efficacy of ecological restoration engineering, green infrastructure, and synergistic treatment technologies in reducing watershed pollution and improving water quality.
- Evaluation of sustainable pathways combining natural restoration and engineering measures.
- Optimization of pollution control strategies through scenario-based simulations, quantifying the environmental, economic, and social benefits of management measures.
- Integration of Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and digital twin technologies to build intelligent watershed management platforms for “monitoring–modeling–decision-making” integration.
- Investigation of institutional design, ecological compensation mechanisms, and multi-stakeholder engagement models for transboundary pollution co-governance.
- Exploration of synergistic pathways aligning watershed water quality objectives with national strategies such as carbon neutrality and ecological security.
This Special Issue encourages interdisciplinary and multi-methodological research to advance the paradigm shift in watershed pollution control from localized treatment to systematic regulation, providing theoretical foundations and technical solutions for watershed water security and sustainable development.
Prof. Dr. Haiqing Liao
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- watershed pollution
- pollution source
- pollution control technologies
- pollutant migration and transformation
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