Themed collection Outstanding Papers 2023 – Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology

The Editors-in-Chief of the Environmental Science journals introduce the Outstanding Papers of 2023.

Urban stormwater is a source of persistent, mobile and toxic substances, however the risk for water resources is unknown.

Harnessing phage for biological treatment is of growing interest, but an improved understanding of phage diversity, host range, lifestyle, molecular signaling, and genetic potential are needed for microbial community control.

The main aim of the blue-green city concept is the reduction of the adverse impacts of stormwater by recreating the natural water cycle with the aid of green infrastructure in major metropolitan areas worldwide.

This review highlights the pressing need for sustainable water management strategies within the water-energy-infrastructure-human nexus, and accentuates the critical roles of infrastructure and human engagement for sustainable water management.

Traditional stormwater infrastructure facilitates the transport of antibiotic resistance genes while green stormwater infrastructure may capture the genes and promote horizontal gene transfer.

This review article focuses on metal–organic framework (MOF) composites and the impact of mixing MOFs with other materials, such as polymers, carbon-based materials, and magnetic particles, to increase their performance to remove metals from water.

Environmental chronic risk generated by wet-weather discharges compared to final effluent was stochastically assessed, also from a climate-change perspective, stressing their growing contribution for many (micro-)pollutants.

Episodic stormwater discharges expose aquatic ecosystems to extensive contaminant mixtures. Cumulative acute risks to multiple aquatic trophic levels are estimated based on contaminant mixtures documented in a US stormwater reconnaissance.

Diamine modification of polyamide reverse osmosis membranes using carbodiimide chemistry and heat treatment improves the removal of small neutral molecules.

Legionella pneumophila was quantified during the COVID-19 pandemic in 26 buildings in three countries to identify factors that influenced positivity.

A two-stage process for a sustainable degradation method for industrial dye effluents. The chemical process is triggered by a bio-inspired copper catalyst.

Enhancing the degradation of ciprofloxacin in water using Oxone activated by urchin-like cubic and hollow-structured cobalt@N-doped carbon.

This study assessed sanitation infrastructure and maintenance practices in rural Fijian communities. The high prevalence of tank type sanitation back-ends highlights the health and environmental risks.

Wastewater-based epidemiology is a promising tool to anticipate potential viral outbreaks not only at city-scale but also at precincts-scale or even buildings.

Arsenic is regarded as a highly toxic element that naturally exists in ground drinking water.

Water pollution caused by the frequent use of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) has been attracting increased media and political coverage in England as in other places in the world.

Aqueous microplastic were tested in terms of leachate formation and surface oxidation during UV irradiation. Surface properties (FTIR, RAMAN, XPS) and leachate characteristics (UV₂₅₄, DOC, fluorescence spectroscopy) were analyzed concurrently.

The fabrication of glycerol-mediated novel CdSnS₂ atom clusters by one-pot co-precipitation was conducted to address rising concerns about environmental harm from hazardous organic compounds.

A GO/CuO composite film was synthesized via a facile ultrasonication method towards the enhanced solar absorbance for high-efficient ISSG.