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Sanitation Themed Collection

The Editorial Board of Environmental Science: Water Research and Technology is encouraging submissions in the area of sanitation research.


Accepted articles on this topic will be gathered in an online themed collection to be highlighted on the journal website. Submissions on research in the following areas are welcome:

  • Novel onsite sanitation technologies
  • Sanitation solutions for areas with high water tables
  • Sanitation for emergency relief situations
  • Faecal sludge properties, emptying methods, and treatment
  • Biogas recovery technologies at household or small community scales
  • Sanitation service models
  • The role of sanitation in improving health
  • Cost-benefit and sustainability assessments of sanitation options
  • Simplified sewerage and drainage
  • Urban sanitation challenges and large-scale solutions
  • We welcome original research articles, communications and review papers on these topics.


    Submit your paper by 31st December 2015!

    Prospective authors may wish to read Pitfalls and Progress: A Perspective on Achieving Sustainable Sanitation for All*’ by Dr Michael R. Templeton of Imperial College London and an Editorial Board member, which was published in the first issue of the journal.

    There are many benefits to publishing with us, including wide exposure to your publication, as all content published during 2015 & 2016 is free* to access.

    For more information on our scope and author guidelines, please visit our website or email us at eswater-rsc@rsc.org.


    ESWRT Banner

    *Access is free through an RSC registered account.

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    Our first Editorial Board Meeting!

    Issue 1The first Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology Board Meeting was hosted in Chicago last week and it was an absolute success, with an astonishing 100% of attendance. It was an incredibly busy day, full of development ideas, plans for exciting new projects and long term vision plans.

    We aspire to be the premier journal in the area of water resource management for the built environment, and our team is working enthusiastically to achieve this goal. To that end, we have assembled a tremendous group of respected global leaders in the area of water research and technology for our editorial board and associate editors.

    There are also several practical advantages to submitting to Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology: we have no page or word restrictions, fast publication (< 90 days), colour figures are free, and if accepted, our team in Cambridge will work tirelessly to promote your work through social media and our blogs. But this is not all, please see the full list of benefits!

    “Although Issue 1 was only recently published, we believe it is the start of something incredibly special.”

    David Cwiertny, Editor-in-Chief

    Editorial Board Meeting

    We sincerely hope you will join us in this great new adventure!

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    First issue is now available!

    ESWRT Cake

    Last week, we were tremendously excited to announce the publication of our first issue of Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology. This inaugural issue was introduced by David M. Cwiertny, Editor-in-Chief of the journal.

    In his editorial ‘To new beginnings and a better alternative’, he stated our strong commitment to grow a footprint in the water and environmental research.

    The launch of this journal would not have been possible without an incredibly professional and capable Editorial Board. Therefore, we included a Profile article with mini-biographies so you can meet them and read more about their background.

    Cake cutting

    This issue contained three HOT articles which obtained particularly high scores during peer review.

    In the first of them, researchers from the Manchester Metropolitan University discussed the quantification of corrosion inhibitors used in the water industry for steam condensate treatment.

    The second article was brought to us by Michael Templeton, who wrote an insightful perspective on achieving sustainable sanitation for all.

    And last but not least, the group of Zhiyong Jason Ren presented a research on microbial capacitive desalination and energy production from unconventional natural gas produced water in our third HOT article.

    In our office in Cambridge, this special event called for some celebration and we enjoyed an incredible cake with the cover of this first issue.

    We hope you enjoy reading Issue 1 as much as we did. We are now relentlessly working on our next ones to keep up the incredible high standards set up in the inaugural issue. Be ready!

    —————————-
    Read our first issue:
    01 January 2015, Issue 1,  Page 1 to 122
    Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology
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    Energy-water-food nexus: “All the pieces matter”

    As far as technical reports go, the Soggy Lettuce Report (2004) is as delightful a name as any. According to the report: “More money is wasted on food each year [in the United Kingdom] than any other category of goods and services – a whopping ₤424 per person.” But money isn’t the only loss – gone with the wasted soggy lettuce are its embodied energy and water.

    The Nexus: Energy, water and food are inextricably intertwined. In a recent forum, Machell et al. discuss the interdependencies between the three (also called the Energy-Food-Water Nexus). “Food production consumes both water and energy in order to grow, harvest, clean and prepare food.” (Machell et al.) Water and energy are interdependent too. Water is indispensable for every phase of energy production. Steam generation for electricity, extraction of fossil fuels, and cultivation of biofuel crops – all of these depend on water. On the other hand, it takes energy to treat and distribute water for human use.Energy-Water-Food Nexus

    So, letting food go to waste means we are also wasting water. Leaving a faucet running unnecessarily wastes not only water, but also the energy it took to extract, treat and send the water to that faucet. By leaving the lights on or letting an idling car needlessly guzzle fuel (petrol, diesel, and yes, even electricity), we are wasting energy that could have been used to clean water or grow food.

    Policy implications: It is important that we develop future policies using the nexus perspective. “…[C]auses that might upset the nexus balance are increasingly requiring global solutions and there is a great need for joined-up activities between stakeholders to mitigate future resource conflicts.” (Machell et al.)

    A deeper understanding of this nexus balance will help us change our perceptions and consumption patterns. That soggy lettuce that we throw away has far-reaching environmental implications as well as opportunities for energy recovery [1,2,3]. International trade [4], climate and water policies [5], renewable energy [6,7], and wastewater treatment [8] have interlinked environmental and social impacts [9] that can be identified only through comprehensive nexus analysis. As mentioned in the article, “The complex relationships in the water energy food nexus, require informed production and consumption decisions for the near future that can mitigate negative impacts on risk, security, and the environment.”

    The Wire had it right: The interdependencies between energy, water and food cannot be compartmentalized and studied in isolation. Detective Lester Freamon said it best: “All the pieces matter.”

    Find out how by reading the full article for free*:

    The water energy food nexus – challenges and emerging solutions
    Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2015, 1, 15-16
    DOI: 10.1039/C4EW90001D

    —————-

    About the webwriter

    Paramjeet Pati is a PhD Candidate at the Virginia Tech Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology (@VTSuN).
    You can find more articles by him in the VTSuN blog, where he writes using the name
    coffeemug.

    —————-

    *Access is free through a registered RSC account.

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    Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology Special Issue

    Are you currently doing research in an area of potable water reuse?

    We are delighted to announce a special themed issue, dedicated to recent advances associated with the potable reuse of water, which will be published in 2015 in Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology.

    The Editor-in-Chief David. M Cwiertny, and Associate Editor Stuart Khan, are encouraging submissions highlighting research technology and engineering development at the leading edge of potable water reuse.

    This special issue will combine a variety of topic areas that are relevant to Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology. Submissions in the following areas are welcome:

    •           Technical innovations facilitating potable reuse

    •           Human health risk assessment of potable reuse

    •           The role and efficiency of environmental buffers in indirect potable reuse

    •           Monitoring strategies in potable water reuse systems

    •           Assessment and regulation of potable water reuse projects

    •           Public perception of direct and indirect potable reuse

    •           Sustainability assessment for potable reuse

    •           Technical challenges, particularly relating to direct potable reuse

    •           Novel applications of direct and indirect potable reuse

    Submit your Paper!

    We welcome original research papers, communications and Review articles.

    For more information on the scope of Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology and our author guidelines, please visit our website or email us at ESWater-rsc@rsc.org

    Submission Deadline: 15th February 2015

    We hope to receive a manuscript from you or your group soon!

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    Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology

    Here is a few reminders of the great benefits of publishing with Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology:

    Environmental Science Water
    Free colour on all figures

    – No page charges and no page limits

    Fast Publication (average of 40 days from receipt to acceptance)

    – Wide exposure: free access to all content for the first 2 years after launch*

    – Individual promotion of HOT articles

    – Papers processed by peers in the field

    – High quality content

    – Free electronic reprints

    – Simple and effective submission process

    Submit now!

    *ES: Water Research & Technology was launched in 2015. Access is free through a registered RSC Publishing account.

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    Removing phosphate from water

    On 5th October 2014, Drake took a short swim in the lake in Lindon Harbor, Utah. Drake was a black Labrador retriever. Like most dogs, he loved to play in the water. After the swim, Drake started vomiting and became lethargic. Shortly after that, Drake died. “[D]og deaths have emerged as an unfortunate early warning…” An early warning of what?

    When blooms aren’t beautiful and nutrients don’t nourish

    Recent dog deaths have pointed to one suspect: pond scum – or more specifically – harmful algal blooms. Some algae produce toxins that have been linked to the deaths of cattle, elks, fishes, and even endangered species such as sea otters. These toxins can also bioaccumulate in shellfish and oysters. Eat enough seafood seasoned with these toxins, and you are at risk too.

    What’s causing these algal blooms?

    Natural waters contain small amounts of nutrients (mostly nitrate and phosphate). Under normal conditions, planktons and algae grow using these nutrients, fish feed on the plankton, and things are in balance.

    But excess nutrients in the water can skew the balance in favour of the algae, allowing them to spread unchecked like weeds. Even if they don’t produce toxins the algae block light as they sun themselves on the water surface. These harmful algal blooms alter marine and freshwater habitats, smothering other forms of aquatic life. This map gives an idea of how bad the situation has become.

    Why are nutrient concentrations increasing?

    Excess nutrients enter the water when rain washes fertilizers from agricultural land into the nearby water bodies. Other major sources of nutrients are industrial and domestic wastewater. In short, the blame falls squarely on us humans – me and you.

    Water treatment and nutrient removal

    It is our mess and we have to clean it. Researchers have been actively developing more efficient ways for removing nutrients from drinking water and wastewater. In a recent article, Lalley et al. reported a novel method for removing phosphate (a growth-limiting nutrient).

    The authors present clever modifications of an absorptive medium (originally developed for removing arsenic from water) using silver and manganese nanoparticles. One of these modifications involves tea extract.

    What could the humble tea have to do with this method for phosphate removal? Find out by reading the full article for free*:

    Phosphate removal using modified Bayoxide® E33 adsorption media
    Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2015, Advance Article
    DOI: 10.1039/C4EW00020J

    —————-

    About the webwriter

    Paramjeet Pati is a PhD Candidate at the Virginia Tech Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology (@VTSuN).
    You can find more articles by him in the VTSuN blog, where he writes using the name
    coffeemug.

    —————-

    *Access is free through a registered RSC account – click here to register

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    Arsenic removal enhanced by humic acid

    Schematic diagram of humic acid coating

    Schematic diagram of humic acid coating on iron-based graphene composites

    After tragic events like the devastating arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh in 2010, the exposure of drinking water to arsenic is a very serious concern worldwide.

    Past studies have shown that removal of arsenic by nanoparticles in the presence of Humic Acid (HA) has a negative role. Now, for the first time, Blain Paul and colleagues have reported a positive influence of HA on graphene–Fe3O4 nano-composites for the removal of arsenic in water.

    Contradictory to the general belief that HA has a negative effect on the ability of any system to absorb arsenic from water, this remarkable study demonstrates a role reversal of HA where it actually enhances the ability of graphene-Fe3O4 nano-composite to remove arsenic from ground water.

    Researchers from the University of Johannesburg assembled Fe3O4 nanoparticles on graphene oxide sheets and coated with humic acid. The humic acid coating not only enhanced the nano-composites absorption ability, but almost doubled the removal efficiency of As(III) and As(V), opening a new dimension in the practical utilisation of nanotechnology in water research for arsenic removal.

    Download the full paper for free* to find out how humic acid coating could significantly alter mechanism through π–π interactions, positively enhancing the removal of arsenic from water:

    Graphene in the Fe3O4 nano-composite switching the negative influence of humic acid coating into an enhancing effect in the removal of arsenic from water
    Blain Paul, Vyom Parashara and Ajay Mishra
    Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2015, Advance Article
    DOI: 10.1039/ C4EW00034J

    *Access is free through a registered RSC account – click here to register

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    Energy positive treatment for fracking water

    $5 billion (£3 billion) is the estimated annual cost for disposing of contaminated water produced during shale gas extraction. Now, researchers in the US have developed a new technology that could reduce the cost of dealing with this water by 30–40%.

    Reclaimed fracking fluid is a significant environmental impediment to the energy industry © FLPA / Alamy

    Hydraulic fracturing, the process used to extract oil and gas from underground rock formations, produces over 20 billion barrels of contaminated water every year. Current methods, such as underground injection, to dispose of these vast quantities of contaminated water have risks, including a chance of initiating earthquakes. Reuse of this water avoids disposal issues, but requires multiple treatment processes to remove contaminants such as salts and organic hydrocarbons.

    Zhiyong Jason Ren and colleagues from the University of Colorado Boulder have developed a technique that can simultaneously remove organic pollutants and salinity from contaminated water whilst producing energy. ‘The beauty of this technology is that it can replace five or six current processes with one to kill multiple birds with one stone,’ he says.

    To read the full article please visit Chemistry World.

    Congratulations to the team at CU-Boulder who were recently awarded first place in the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps Program for the development of this technology.

    With energy companies eager to test the technology in the field, Ren’s team is now working to scale up the process. You can access their full research paper, which is part of our Fracking in Perspective web collection for free* by clicking the link below.

    Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2015, Advance Article
    DOI: 10.1039/C4EW00050A, Paper
    From themed collection Fracking in perspective

    *Access is free through a registered RSC account – click here to register.

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    Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology

    ES: Water Cover ImageWe are delighted to announce Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, a new peer-reviewed journal bringing together high quality research focused on all aspects of water science and technology, particularly water resource, security and sustainability. David Cwiertny, Associate Professor at the University of Iowa, USA, has been appointed Editor-in-Chief.

    Announcing the launch, Stephen Hawthorne, Executive Director of RSC Publishing said:“Water is one of the most significant concerns of the 21st century as it is essential for the basic survival of all species on earth. Many areas of the world are already water stressed and more will become so as the century progresses. This new journal aims to address some of the scientific, technological and engineering challenges that we face with respect to water in the coming century. With the launch of Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, the Royal Society of Chemistry continues to lead the scientific debate, providing insight into these challenges and focusing the efforts of a variety of disciplines to resolve these issues.”

    Research published in Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology will provide a comprehensive and relevant forum for the diverse communities working in areas associated with water research, engineering and technology. More information about the journal’s scope can be found on the website.

    “I’m delighted to serve as the Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology. It’s a tremendous opportunity, particularly because water resources are at such a critical juncture in today’s society.  Climate change, the energy-water nexus, and water reuse and sustainability are all emerging themes that will impact current and future generations.  I believe Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology will be a tremendous platform for the presentation and discussion of the latest, cutting-edge research in these areas, while also representing an exciting new alternative for research in more traditional areas of water”

    David Cwiertny, Editor-in-Chief, Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology

    The journal will be open for submission on 1st July 2014 via our online submission process.

    Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest journal news by registering your details to receive the regular Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology e-alert.

    You can follow the journal on Twitter @ESWater_RSC.

    Did you know…..? Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology is part of the RSC Publishing Environmental Science portfolio. Discover more today >

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