Advancing global priorities in water research and technology

In preparing for the role of Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology (ES:WRT), I was humbled to consider the leadership that our community has enjoyed. As an Associate Editor for 6 years, I was onboarded by founding Editor-in-Chief (EiC) Dr David Cwiertny. As the first EiC, Dave dedicated significant effort to launching the journal, where he cultivated a strong research direction and focus for the ES:WRT community. Dr Cwiertny set some fundamental pillars, including that the journal does not accept papers that are conducted in highly idealized circumstances or situations.

From 2019 to 2023, Dr Paige Novak lifted the journal to new heights. The global COVID-19 pandemic presented unprecedented challenges for the scientific community. Despite this challenge, Dr Novak led our community in an extremely positive manner and the journal contributed to new science and information that would support efforts related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under her direction, the journal published one of the first critical comparability studies for quantifying and measuring SARS CoV-2 in wastewater by Pecson et al. (2021) (https://doi.org/10.1039/D0EW00946F). Further, under Dr Novak's leadership our journal was one of the first in the environmental science space to implement the double-anonymised peer review option for authors. To date, this process has been incredibly useful for a range of authors and was well received by the community. Following inspired leadership from previous EiCs, I am truly humbled to provide leadership to the ES:WRT community.

There are three key items that I aim to foster for our ES:WRT community as EiC:

• Advance a One Water approach in our contributions.

• Develop positionality associated with respect to climate change as it relates to water research and technology.

• Continue to strive for the highest-quality peer review process to advance our commitment to the responsible conduct of research.

As defined by the sustainable development goals, a One Water approach is a clear acknowledgement that our freshwater resources are limited. For many circumstances, water is not limited to drinking water and wastewater but is rather a water continuum that does not respect the boundary conditions that we may choose to infer or impose. Currently, the journal asks authors to prepare a water impact statement which is an important criterion of ES:WRT papers. As a possible approach to address a One Water approach to our contributions, I will work with our Editorial Board to review our water impact statement approach and ask how this can continue to be improved through a One Water lens.

Over the past number of years, the climate crisis has continued to impact water in both natural and engineered systems through many unexpected processes such as: flooding, drought, and unexpected water quality changes. Within the ES:WRT community, climate change is addressed directly through a broad range of topics that face the water research and technology community. For example, Odhiambo et al. (2023) (https://doi.org/10.1039/D2EW00720G) is considering the health risks due to intrusion into the drinking water distribution network, considering climate change risks of microbial intrusion that may occur through an insufficient water supply scenario. Whereas Zhang et al. (2023) (https://doi.org/10.1039/D2EW00587E) conducted a comprehensive evaluation of rainwater utilization in China, which considered seven geographical regions in different climatic zones for investigation under various scarcity scenarios. Not surprisingly, there have been many contributions over the years in ES:WRT that make direct or indirect consideration of climate change. I would encourage authors to continue to consider the impact climate change may have on water science and technology through either mitigation or adaptation possibilities. Accordingly, I will work with the Editorial Board to develop an appropriate policy that advances water research and technology as it relates to climate change.

As I mentioned earlier, Dr Novak took the bold step to develop a double-anonymised peer review system for the ES:WRT community. This was an important step in becoming an inclusive community to advance water research. As EiC, I am committed to continue to improve our peer review process to support transparency and acknowledge the effort and work that is being contributed by our editors and reviewers. There are a number of different approaches that could be used such as acknowledging the handling Associate Editor on the paper, and being fully transparent on review comments. As the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has signed the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), I will work with the RSC and our Editorial Board to find a path that advances responsible conduct of research for our community.

Again, I am very excited to serve as Editor-in-Chief and look forward to supporting our innovative and inspired water research community.

---