Research articles

Although the contribution of microplastic fibres to pollution is well documented, less is known about the chemical composition of nanoplastics. The observation of plastic residues from textile washing shows the important contribution of water-insoluble oligomer particles to plastic pollution.

This study presents the probability of drought occurrence in various regions globally and demonstrates the pivotal role of moisture transport deficit. Assessing the contribution deficit of the dominant global moisture source to regional precipitation enhances drought predictability.

Climate model simulations and aridity indices suggest decreasing summertime surface soil moisture in the continental USA due to anthropogenic climate change, but observations from 2011 to 2020 reveal positive trends across 57% of the region. Using a two-layer land surface model, this study attributes short-term soil moisture changes mainly to internal precipitation variability, and long-term trends to uncertain precipitation alterations.

Metal–organic framework (MOF)-based membranes hold great potential for water purification but are not used in practical applications due to challenges in scaling them up. The nanoreactor-confined crystallization strategy enables rapid and roll-to-roll fabrication of high-performance ultra-thin (∼25 nm) MOF hybrid membranes (0.33 m × 35 m) that show high performance in separating close-size solutes present in aqueous solutions.

The proactive approach to economically and safely extracting microalgae shows potential for efficiently controlling and preventing water blooms. A circular strategy mediated by a customized adsorber for electrostatic microalgae capture coupled with flexible magnetic collection demonstrates remarkable microalgae harvesting and recovery efficiency.

Production losses due to drought escalate progressively with the depletion of aquifers, underscoring the need for proactive measures in aquifer conservation.

Assessing the accuracy of evapotranspiration (ET) data is crucial for managing the water used by crops and natural vegetation. This study presents a comprehensive evaluation of the accuracy of a remotely sensed ET model ensemble from the OpenET system using in situ ET measurements collected across the contiguous United States.

Although it is widely acknowledged that nanoplastic and microplastic contaminants are omnipresent in the environment, the role of water treatment plants in the fate of these contaminants is unclear. Correlating nanoplastic removal with total suspended solids removal in water is shown to be a reliable method for predicting how much nanoplastic can be removed by wastewater treatment plants.

Australia will not achieve SDG 6.1 (water for all) without improving drinking water quality in small, rural and remote communities. Australians are willing to pay AU$1.2–4.7 billion yr⁻¹ to ensure good-quality drinking water, and the cost would be AU$0.2–1.3 billion.

Harnessing solar energy to generate electricity and provide water is recognized as a sustainable pathway to addressing water scarcity and electricity shortage. The integration of passive interfacial cooling in a hybrid system boosts the utilization of waste heat and latent heat from the hybrid modules and minimizes the energy loss to air.

Fe⁰-enabled nanotechnologies for the reduction of refractory organic contaminants have the limitations of poor selectivity and low stability during water treatment. A lattice doping technique based on Lewis acid–base chemistry to incorporate lattice Ni and S into crystalline Fe⁰ can achieve rapid and highly selective chemical reductions.

It is difficult to remove micropollutants in water due to their chemical diversity, low concentrations and slow uptake by industrial adsorbents. Here, a tailorable zwitterionic hydrogel is shown to rapidly and simultaneously absorb organic and inorganic micropollutants from water.

Fabric distillation is proposed as a thermal desalination technique that employs hydrophilic fabrics to separate the vapour water from the feed water through capillary and Coandă effects.