To new beginnings and a better alternative

Welcome to what I hope will become a mainstay in your quest for the top tier in water research. I'm delighted you have found us and want to use the occasion of our first issue to introduce you to Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology (ES:WRT).

Personally, it's an honor and a privilege to be the inaugural Editor-in-Chief of ES:WRT. When approached by Executive Editor Harp Minhas to help the Royal Society of Chemistry launch their latest effort in the water field, I knew it was too great of an opportunity to pass up. I have previously worked with Harp and the outstanding staff at the RSC as a member of the Editorial Board (EB) for Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts (ES:PI), while also serving as a guest editor for two themed “Emerging Investigators” issues for ES:PI. Through these experiences, I was continually impressed by the professionalism of the RSC and their staff, and their strong commitment to grow their footprint in the water and environmental research community. Indeed, ES:WRT represents the third sister journal in their series, complementing ES:PI's focus on natural systems and Environmental Science: Nano’s (ES:Nano) emphasis on the environmental fate, implications and applications of engineered nanomaterials.

I'm sure you are wondering (and many have certainly asked) “Where will ES:WRT fit in?” We realize the water research and technology field is crowded and there is a fleet of competitors to which you could submit your work. So let me take a few moments to share why I think ES:WRT is a better alternative for your research.

Our title reveals our scope, with a sharp focus on cutting edge water research, engineering and technology that addresses critical global needs in water resource management, water security and water sustainability. And never before has work in these areas been so critical for humanity with the growing pressures on water quality and quantity from climate change, population growth, food and energy production, urbanization, and industrialization.

To be a “go to” journal for the diverse and highly talented community of water researchers, ES:WRT must be built upon the strength of these same researchers. Accordingly, to our valued readers and authors, we make the commitment to never compromise on quality. Collectively, the team at ES:WRT aspires for this journal to be a destination for top quality research. We will strive to highlight the best and most innovative science, engineering and technology in water today, while maintaining a timely and transparent review process with prompt publication. Over time, we aim to grow into a reliable and respected resource to the water community, a journal whose content is recognized as a leading voice in the field.

To this end, we have assembled an impeccable team of Associate Editors (AEs) that share this vision and are already working to instill a standard of excellence in our journal. Stuart Khan of the University of New South Wales is a leader in water reclamation and reuse, treatment processes, and trace chemical contaminants among others. Tamar Kohn of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne brings expertise in waterborne pathogens, disinfection technologies and environmental chemistry. Paige Novak of the University of Minnesota specializes in biotransformation and biological treatment processes, from the laboratory to the field. In complement to our AEs, we also boast a top-notch editorial board (EB) consisting of global leaders in water research and innovation. The leadership and vision of this group of AEs and the EB have been instrumental in getting ES:WRT off the ground and I will be forever grateful for their dedication and efforts.

We anticipate that a strength of ES:WRT will be high quality invited content on emerging topics of great importance to the field. This is an exciting and dynamic time for water research, and we will work to identify and invite forward-thinking critical reviews and frontier reviews that will help frame the discussion and advance the field in such research areas. You can also expect ES:WRT to produce high impact content in the form of focused themed issues. In fact, I would like to call your attention to our first step into this domain with a themed issue on potable reuse, with Stuart Khan serving as guest editor. No doubt, indirect and direct potable reuse are the new reality in many parts of the globe. We want this themed issue scheduled for early 2015 (submission deadline February 15, 2015) to showcase work at the leading edge of this new frontier in water management. If you have a suitable submission, I strongly encourage you to contribute. And stay tuned for other themed issues that are already in the planning stages, including topics such as resource recovery from wastewater and global sanitation.

If we meet our mark, what we hope for in return from you is simply your best effort. Send us your strongest work and be a repeat customer! We also hope that you'll be willing to provide us quality reviews to help maintain our standards; as I'm sure many of you realize, a journal's quality is most often a reflection of its reviewers. Regarding your role as author, reviewer, or reader, provide us feedback (E-mail: eswater-rsc@rsc.org). Let us know what about ES:WRT you like and especially let us know when there is something we can do better. We will listen and learn, because our goal is to be adaptive, recognizing that this journal is as much yours as it is ours. Finally, if you have a positive experience, tell a friend and help us grow our community of readers, authors and reviewers. Throughout my career, I have found the global community of water researchers to be among the best professionally and personally, outstanding researchers and friendly people driven by their desire to help advance a vision of water sustainability for all. We aspire to have this journal be a home for this amazing group of researchers.

Here, in this first issue, we believe we have compiled a collection of perspectives, communications and research papers that reflects our vision and the level of scholarly research we aim to routinely achieve. This includes an insightful perspective from Michael Templeton (DOI: 10.1039/C4EW00087K) on the progress and challenges toward achieving sustainable sanitation for all, a piece from the Water Science Forum of the Royal Society of Chemistry on the water–energy–food nexus (DOI: 10.1039/C4EW90001D), a communication from Craig Banks et al. (DOI: 10.1039/C4EW00033A) on the innovative, electrochemical detection of corrosion inhibitors, and exciting research papers from the group of Zhiyong Jason Ren (DOI: 10.1039/C4EW00050A) on treatment and resource recovery from produced water and the group of Lutgarde Raskin (DOI: 10.1039/C4EW00070F) on the use of anaerobic membrane bioreactors for domestic wastewater treatment. So thanks for stopping by to check out our first issue, which I believe is the start of something special. I sincerely hope you'll like what you discover and plan on making ES:WRT an integral part of your future research and publishing activities.

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