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Hybrid urban water supply systems combine conventional, centralized water sources with distributed sources. Such system configurations are shown to exhibit lower severity, range of impact and duration of substandard performance compared with centralized systems in a number of disruptive incidents.
Fe-based electrodes emerge as an effective and economical option to treat nitrate-laden wastewater. Whereas Fe cathode corrosion is commonly considered as an adverse factor for the electroreduction of nitrate to ammonia, intentional corrosion-induced surficial reconstruction has the potential to enhance catalytic performance.
By utilizing flooding records and county-level daily deaths during 2015 to 2019 across 98 counties in North Carolina, United States, this study found significant associations between cause-specific mortality and short-term exposure to flooding.
The El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a critical control on winter precipitation in the Intermountain West of North America but is impacted by mountainous terrain and climate change. This study isolates ENSO impacts from these complicating factors using a spatially distributed, nonlinear spline model applied to long-term gauge observations.
Membranes are useful for removing pollutants from water, but the pore size of most commercial membranes is larger than the molecular size of many trace organic contaminants. Here an engineered covalent organic framework allows pore size regulation to efficiently remove organic pollutants.
Global water models are important tools for understanding the water cycle. This study evaluates eight global water models by focusing on functional relationships that capture the spatial co-variability of forcing and response variables.
A water splitting system capable of operating stably using contaminated water sources for decentralized H2 production would be a more practical approach towards solar H2 production. A floating hybrid photocatalyst sheet device can simultaneously perform photocatalytic gas-phase water splitting and clean water production using contaminated water sources such as seawater and other waste waters.
Farmer livelihoods and food production are impacted by water shortages in many regions globally. These shortages can be mitigated by changing the mix of crops produced in water-scarce regions, potentially resulting in reduced irrigation needs of 28–57%.
Solar-powered interfacial system has emerged as a sustainable, efficient and CO2-neutral strategy to produce clean water. The solar-powered graphene/alginate hydrogel-based clean water extractor shows super resistance to the transport of complex contaminants and has an ultra-antifouling capacity.
Sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting has the capability of capturing water from air anytime and anywhere. A facile strategy to synthesize bidirectionally aligned and hierarchically structured nanocomposite could realize scalable and efficient sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting.
Drinking water distribution systems are commonly being used to deliver new-quality water after decades of service, and monitoring the occurrence of transition effects is critical for both water utilities and customers. This 2 year longitudinal study offers an exceptional opportunity to explore transition effects when a distribution system receives new-quality water.
Increases in lake surface water temperature could threaten lacustrine ecosystems. This study explores the widespread temperature increases in 92,245 lakes across the globe, showing that less than half of the lake warming is due to surface air temperature change and that accelerated evaporation causes slower lake warming compared with surface air temperature.
Recharge net metering is an adaptable, performance-based incentive for groundwater recharge. It costs less than most methods, supports distributed recharge and imparts substantial benefits to both groundwater basins and programme participants.
Surface conductance variations in non-vegetated salt flats are similar to those in vegetated ecosystems and in an idealized boundary layer model. This suggests that soil moisture, and not vapour pressure deficit, controls surface conductance variations.
Harmful algal blooms threaten water resources across the globe. This study quantifies how temperature affects the occurrence and concentration of microcystin in lakes across the United States and finds that regions with temperatures that promote high microcystin concentrations will shift to higher latitudes in the coming decades.
Widespread switching of cereal crops in the Indo-Gangetic Plain from paddy/wheat to millet/sorghum will result in water savings with the co-benefits of improved nutrition, calorie production and increased farmers’ profits.
Wastewater-based epidemiology can be used to monitor viruses and chemical spread across diverse populations. Analysis of wastewater collected over 13 years from one treatment plant and from 51 wastewater treatment plants in 2021 shows the efficacy of the technique for studying the use of performance-enhancing substances.
Finding an efficient way to extract uranium from uranium mine wastewater is an essential environmental requirement. A spontaneous electrochemical method is now shown to enable stable and efficient uranium extraction with net electrical energy output.
This study showcases that balancing-oriented hydropower operation supporting variable renewable energy integration provides a more affordable and water-saving clean energy transition than the conventional peak-shaving-oriented operation.
Effective flood response management relies on rapid high-resolution and high-accuracy flood inundation predictions. This study develops a low-fidelity model and upskills its predictions, greatly reducing the computational time while maintaining a high resolution and accuracy comparable with a high-fidelity model.