Health Risks of Alternative Water Sources

Dear Colleagues,

We invite you to submit your latest research findings showing progress in health risks of alternative water sources to a Special Issue in Water (ISSN 2073-4441)—an open access journal (http://www.mdpi.com/journal/water).

Traditionally, the focus of water and sanitation efforts has been on securing access to treated, centralized water systems using surface water or groundwater supplies. However, increasing water scarcity and pressures on source water supplies due to climate variability, population growth, and economic development have led to a greater reliance on alternative and decentralized water resources to augment these supplies. The use of alternative water supplies, such as reclaimed water, rainwater, grey water, black water, and stormwater, can provide benefits in terms of sustainability, nutrient recovery, energy efficiency, and cost. However, due to their increasingly widespread use, it is warranted to examine potential health risks in order to guide management practices and encourage responsible design and use of these resources. This Special Issue aims to bring together recent research on contaminant occurrence in alternative water supplies, mathematical modeling of predictive factors relating to contaminant occurrence and transport, and the potential health risks. We encourage submissions reporting findings on physical-chemical or microbiological testing of the alternative or decentralized water sources mentioned, as well as risk assessments for exposures via intentional potable and non-potable uses, as well as unintentional exposures. We especially welcome submissions that explore and prioritize driving factors in contaminant occurrence and risk.

Dr. Warish Ahmed
Dr. Kerry Hamilton
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 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-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.