Pub Date : 2025-10-08DOI: 10.1038/s44221-025-00527-3
Anna Thomasson
From property-owner-only votes to full public enfranchisement, the governance of local water systems can significantly impact the effectiveness with which the human right to water is delivered.
从只有财产所有者才能投票到完全的公共选举权，地方水系统的治理可以显著影响实现用水人权的有效性。
{"title":"Water democracy and the unequal right to water","authors":"Anna Thomasson","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00527-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00527-3","url":null,"abstract":"From property-owner-only votes to full public enfranchisement, the governance of local water systems can significantly impact the effectiveness with which the human right to water is delivered.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 10","pages":"1098-1099"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145317890","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Scholars regularly associate fragmentation with drinking water disparities. Here, however, we consider the potential role of another consequence: variable levels of water democracy. We characterize voter enfranchisement across 2,405 California water systems and evaluate their performance with respect to three tenants of the human right to water: access to safe, affordable and accessible drinking water. Most systems limit enfranchisement beyond US government election standards. Systems with enfranchisement limited to property owners are more likely to be at risk for unaffordability. Systems with no residential enfranchisement, located in the poorest communities with higher proportions of African Americans, are far more likely to rely on a single water source. The results highlight associations between water democracy and affordable, accessible drinking water, with uneven impacts across the population. Understanding the role of governance in shaping inequities is essential for designing effective interventions to advance environmental justice. Access to safe, affordable and accessible drinking water is influenced by various socioeconomic factors. A survey of a large number of California water systems shows how different levels of enfranchisement are linked to uneven access to drinking water in terms of affordability and accessibility.
{"title":"Linking variation in water democracy to system performance on the human right to water","authors":"Kristin Babson Dobbin, Amanda Fencl, Justin McBride","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00504-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00504-w","url":null,"abstract":"Scholars regularly associate fragmentation with drinking water disparities. Here, however, we consider the potential role of another consequence: variable levels of water democracy. We characterize voter enfranchisement across 2,405 California water systems and evaluate their performance with respect to three tenants of the human right to water: access to safe, affordable and accessible drinking water. Most systems limit enfranchisement beyond US government election standards. Systems with enfranchisement limited to property owners are more likely to be at risk for unaffordability. Systems with no residential enfranchisement, located in the poorest communities with higher proportions of African Americans, are far more likely to rely on a single water source. The results highlight associations between water democracy and affordable, accessible drinking water, with uneven impacts across the population. Understanding the role of governance in shaping inequities is essential for designing effective interventions to advance environmental justice. Access to safe, affordable and accessible drinking water is influenced by various socioeconomic factors. A survey of a large number of California water systems shows how different levels of enfranchisement are linked to uneven access to drinking water in terms of affordability and accessibility.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 10","pages":"1155-1162"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145317893","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-08DOI: 10.1038/s44221-025-00479-8
Mei Bai, Zhiyao Wang, Dilini Seneviratne, James Lloyd, Pieter De Jong, Liu Ye, Deli Chen
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are major sources of gaseous nitrogen (N) emissions. The nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions have been extensively studied, however, how ammonia (NH3) emissions contribute to N2O emissions, soil acidification and particulate matter (PM2.5) formation, have been largely overlooked. This study quantified NH3 and N2O emissions from a sludge drying pan (SDP), using inverse-dispersion modelling coupled with open-path Fourier infrared spectroscopic techniques. Here we show low N2O emissions (<0.001 g m−2 h−1) and mean NH3 emissions that are much higher in summer (0.293 g m−2 h−1) than in winter (0.060 g m−2 h−1). A mechanistic process model, correlating NH3 emissions with wind speed and temperature, predicts total NH3 emissions over the SDP cycle (634 days) at 43 t of NH3‒N. This represents 30% of total N in the SDP and 6–9% of total N in the WWTPs influent. This study highlights that the use of SDPs by WWTPs is a substantial NH3 emission source, offering new perspectives for mitigating global N emissions. Although N2O emissions from wastewater treatment plants have been studied extensively, emissions of NH3 have been largely considered irrelevant. Analysis of such emissions from a sludge drying pan, a commonly used method, shows that NH3 emissions are in fact substantial and should not be overlooked.
污水处理厂是气态氮(N)排放的主要来源。一氧化二氮（N2O）排放已被广泛研究，然而，氨（NH3）排放如何促进N2O排放、土壤酸化和颗粒物（PM2.5）形成，在很大程度上被忽视了。本研究利用反色散模型和开路傅立叶红外光谱技术对污泥干燥锅（SDP）的NH3和N2O排放进行了量化。在这里，我们发现低N2O排放量（<0.001 g m−2 h−1）和平均NH3排放量在夏季（0.293 g m−2 h−1）远高于冬季（0.060 g m−2 h−1）。一个将NH3排放与风速和温度相关的机制过程模型预测了43 t NH3 - n下SDP周期（634天）的NH3总排放量。这占SDP总氮的30%，占污水处理厂总氮的6-9%。该研究强调，污水处理厂对sdp的使用是NH3的重要排放源，为减少全球氮排放提供了新的视角。虽然废水处理厂的N2O排放已被广泛研究，但NH3的排放在很大程度上被认为是无关紧要的。对污泥干燥锅（一种常用的方法）的这种排放进行分析表明，NH3排放实际上是大量的，不应忽视。
{"title":"Substantial ammonia emissions from sludge drying pans in wastewater treatment plants","authors":"Mei Bai, Zhiyao Wang, Dilini Seneviratne, James Lloyd, Pieter De Jong, Liu Ye, Deli Chen","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00479-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00479-8","url":null,"abstract":"Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are major sources of gaseous nitrogen (N) emissions. The nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions have been extensively studied, however, how ammonia (NH3) emissions contribute to N2O emissions, soil acidification and particulate matter (PM2.5) formation, have been largely overlooked. This study quantified NH3 and N2O emissions from a sludge drying pan (SDP), using inverse-dispersion modelling coupled with open-path Fourier infrared spectroscopic techniques. Here we show low N2O emissions (<0.001 g m−2 h−1) and mean NH3 emissions that are much higher in summer (0.293 g m−2 h−1) than in winter (0.060 g m−2 h−1). A mechanistic process model, correlating NH3 emissions with wind speed and temperature, predicts total NH3 emissions over the SDP cycle (634 days) at 43 t of NH3‒N. This represents 30% of total N in the SDP and 6–9% of total N in the WWTPs influent. This study highlights that the use of SDPs by WWTPs is a substantial NH3 emission source, offering new perspectives for mitigating global N emissions. Although N2O emissions from wastewater treatment plants have been studied extensively, emissions of NH3 have been largely considered irrelevant. Analysis of such emissions from a sludge drying pan, a commonly used method, shows that NH3 emissions are in fact substantial and should not be overlooked.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 10","pages":"1125-1132"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145317899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-08DOI: 10.1038/s44221-025-00490-z
Daniel P. Moore, Nathan P. Li, Cuihong Song, Jun-Jie Zhu, Hongming Yi, Lei Tao, James McSpiritt, Vladislav I. Sevostianov, Lars P. Wendt, Nidia E. Rojas-Robles, Francesca M. Hopkins, Zhiyong Jason Ren, Mark A. Zondlo
Population growth and urbanization are driving the demand for centralized wastewater treatment, a primary source of N2O and CH4 emissions. We have conducted the first comprehensive assessment of CH4, N2O and NH3 emissions across diurnal, day-to-day and seasonal scales at 96 US water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) that collectively treat 9% of US centralized wastewater. Facility-level emissions were scaled to the national level using a probabilistic approach. Here we show that the measured emissions were 1.9 times higher for N2O (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.3–2.6) and 2.4 times higher for CH4 (CI: 1.9–2.9) than current US inventories. Considering the cumulative climate impacts of CH4 and N2O, the top 10% of emitters contributed 74% of the carbon footprint, with the top half contributing 98%, highlighting priorities for mitigation. Although detected at only a small fraction of facilities, measurements of NH3 emissions (86 kt yr−1 in the USA) suggest WRRFs are an overlooked source of urban NH3. Finally, the contribution of centralized wastewater treatment to global greenhouse gas emissions will increase 2- to 17-fold by 2100 under future scenarios. Overall, greater consideration of wastewater treatment emissions is needed to reach sustainability targets. Extensive measurements of the emissions of methane, nitrous oxide and ammonia from wastewater treatment facilities in the USA present higher values than are currently stated in national inventories. The results of this analysis show that greenhouse gas and nitrogenous emissions from the wastewater sector are often overlooked and that their impact on climate should be reassessed.
人口增长和城市化推动了对集中污水处理的需求，这是N2O和CH4排放的主要来源。我们对96个美国水资源回收设施（WRRFs）的CH4、N2O和NH3的日、日和季节排放进行了首次综合评估，这些设施总共处理了美国9%的集中式废水。使用概率方法将设施级排放量按比例调整到国家一级。在这里，我们表明，与目前的美国库存相比，N2O（95%置信区间（CI）： 1.3-2.6）和CH4 （CI: 1.9 - 2.9）的测量排放量分别高出1.9倍和2.4倍。考虑到CH4和N2O的累积气候影响，前10%的排放者贡献了74%的碳足迹，而前一半贡献了98%，突出了减缓的优先事项。虽然仅在一小部分设施中检测到，但对NH3排放的测量（美国为86 kt yr - 1）表明，wrrf是一个被忽视的城市NH3来源。最后，在未来情景下，到2100年，集中式废水处理对全球温室气体排放的贡献将增加2至17倍。总体而言，为了实现可持续发展目标，需要更多地考虑废水处理排放。对美国废水处理设施排放的甲烷、氧化亚氮和氨的广泛测量显示，这些排放物的数值高于目前国家清单中所列的数值。这一分析的结果表明，废水部门的温室气体和氮排放往往被忽视，它们对气候的影响应该重新评估。
{"title":"Comprehensive assessment of the contribution of wastewater treatment to urban greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions","authors":"Daniel P. Moore, Nathan P. Li, Cuihong Song, Jun-Jie Zhu, Hongming Yi, Lei Tao, James McSpiritt, Vladislav I. Sevostianov, Lars P. Wendt, Nidia E. Rojas-Robles, Francesca M. Hopkins, Zhiyong Jason Ren, Mark A. Zondlo","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00490-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00490-z","url":null,"abstract":"Population growth and urbanization are driving the demand for centralized wastewater treatment, a primary source of N2O and CH4 emissions. We have conducted the first comprehensive assessment of CH4, N2O and NH3 emissions across diurnal, day-to-day and seasonal scales at 96 US water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) that collectively treat 9% of US centralized wastewater. Facility-level emissions were scaled to the national level using a probabilistic approach. Here we show that the measured emissions were 1.9 times higher for N2O (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.3–2.6) and 2.4 times higher for CH4 (CI: 1.9–2.9) than current US inventories. Considering the cumulative climate impacts of CH4 and N2O, the top 10% of emitters contributed 74% of the carbon footprint, with the top half contributing 98%, highlighting priorities for mitigation. Although detected at only a small fraction of facilities, measurements of NH3 emissions (86 kt yr−1 in the USA) suggest WRRFs are an overlooked source of urban NH3. Finally, the contribution of centralized wastewater treatment to global greenhouse gas emissions will increase 2- to 17-fold by 2100 under future scenarios. Overall, greater consideration of wastewater treatment emissions is needed to reach sustainability targets. Extensive measurements of the emissions of methane, nitrous oxide and ammonia from wastewater treatment facilities in the USA present higher values than are currently stated in national inventories. The results of this analysis show that greenhouse gas and nitrogenous emissions from the wastewater sector are often overlooked and that their impact on climate should be reassessed.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 10","pages":"1114-1124"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s44221-025-00490-z.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145317886","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-08DOI: 10.1038/s44221-025-00524-6
Qidong Yin, Chuanqi Liu, Bo Li, Yan Dang, Guangxue Wu
Methanogens have key roles in wastewater treatment, coupling water quality control and bioenergy recovery. However, our understanding of direct interspecies electron transfer via extracellular electron transfer (EET)—a newly discovered methanogenic pathway for CO2 reduction—remains limited because pure-culture cultivation is difficult and few strains are confirmed. Here we show that a survey of 378 methanogen genomes reveals key methanogenesis-related genes and widespread EET-associated structures, including proton-pumping Fpo complexes, conductive flagellin, conductive sheaths and multihaem c-type cytochromes. We identify 84 strains with genomic potential for EET, greatly expanding the candidate pool. Analysis of over 500 anaerobic digestion samples, including those from wastewater treatment systems, revealed that putative EET-capable methanogen genera are widespread, environmentally correlative and central to syntrophic networks. These findings deepen our understanding of methanogenic diversity in advancing wastewater treatment and sustainability while also broadening insights into methanogenesis across diverse aquatic ecosystems. This study screens microorganisms that have genetic potential for extracellular electron transfer capabilities in anaerobic wastewater treatment.
{"title":"Expanding methanogens with genetic potential for extracellular electron transfer capabilities in anaerobic wastewater treatment ecosystems","authors":"Qidong Yin, Chuanqi Liu, Bo Li, Yan Dang, Guangxue Wu","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00524-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00524-6","url":null,"abstract":"Methanogens have key roles in wastewater treatment, coupling water quality control and bioenergy recovery. However, our understanding of direct interspecies electron transfer via extracellular electron transfer (EET)—a newly discovered methanogenic pathway for CO2 reduction—remains limited because pure-culture cultivation is difficult and few strains are confirmed. Here we show that a survey of 378 methanogen genomes reveals key methanogenesis-related genes and widespread EET-associated structures, including proton-pumping Fpo complexes, conductive flagellin, conductive sheaths and multihaem c-type cytochromes. We identify 84 strains with genomic potential for EET, greatly expanding the candidate pool. Analysis of over 500 anaerobic digestion samples, including those from wastewater treatment systems, revealed that putative EET-capable methanogen genera are widespread, environmentally correlative and central to syntrophic networks. These findings deepen our understanding of methanogenic diversity in advancing wastewater treatment and sustainability while also broadening insights into methanogenesis across diverse aquatic ecosystems. This study screens microorganisms that have genetic potential for extracellular electron transfer capabilities in anaerobic wastewater treatment.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 11","pages":"1318-1330"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145538096","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-07DOI: 10.1038/s44221-025-00525-5
Corey A. Krabbenhoft
Hydrologic data from stream gauges are critical for understanding water resources. However, our ability to predict water availability beyond gauged stream locations is a fundamental barrier to water resource planning and conservation management.
{"title":"The critical role of water information infrastructure","authors":"Corey A. Krabbenhoft","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00525-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00525-5","url":null,"abstract":"Hydrologic data from stream gauges are critical for understanding water resources. However, our ability to predict water availability beyond gauged stream locations is a fundamental barrier to water resource planning and conservation management.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 10","pages":"1094-1095"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145317903","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-07DOI: 10.1038/s44221-025-00496-7
Jeil Oh, Matt Bartos
Stream monitoring networks are essential for understanding and managing Earth’s water resources, yet their deployment is rarely coordinated at the system scale to meet these objectives. We present a data-driven framework for the design of streamflow monitoring networks that improves hydrological predictions while also accommodating socio-environmental constraints. This approach uses a rank-revealing QR decomposition to isolate monitoring sites that best capture the spatiotemporal structure of hydrological time series obtained from retrospective simulations. Evaluated using 44 years of reanalysis data, we find that our sensor placement approach enables better reconstructions of streamflow at ungauged locations compared with existing methods. Our approach accommodates incremental expansion of existing gauge networks and integrates operational priorities, such as flood risk, without compromising the accuracy of hydrological predictions. Demonstrated across diverse hydrological regimes, this framework provides a scalable and robust method for gauge network design that will empower water managers to make more informed decisions. This study presents a data-driven framework for the design of streamflow monitoring networks across various scales that improves hydrological predictions while also accommodating socio-environmental constraints.
{"title":"Scalable, adaptive and risk-informed design of hydrological sensor networks","authors":"Jeil Oh, Matt Bartos","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00496-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00496-7","url":null,"abstract":"Stream monitoring networks are essential for understanding and managing Earth’s water resources, yet their deployment is rarely coordinated at the system scale to meet these objectives. We present a data-driven framework for the design of streamflow monitoring networks that improves hydrological predictions while also accommodating socio-environmental constraints. This approach uses a rank-revealing QR decomposition to isolate monitoring sites that best capture the spatiotemporal structure of hydrological time series obtained from retrospective simulations. Evaluated using 44 years of reanalysis data, we find that our sensor placement approach enables better reconstructions of streamflow at ungauged locations compared with existing methods. Our approach accommodates incremental expansion of existing gauge networks and integrates operational priorities, such as flood risk, without compromising the accuracy of hydrological predictions. Demonstrated across diverse hydrological regimes, this framework provides a scalable and robust method for gauge network design that will empower water managers to make more informed decisions. This study presents a data-driven framework for the design of streamflow monitoring networks across various scales that improves hydrological predictions while also accommodating socio-environmental constraints.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 10","pages":"1144-1154"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145317901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Single-atom catalysts (SACs) demonstrate exceptional catalytic activity, yet their practical deployment in water treatment remains hindered by instability, scalability barriers and incompatibility with existing infrastructure. Here we present a hierarchical cross-scale assembly of manganese SACs confined within the nanopores of a ZrO2 ceramic membrane (Mn-SA@CM), enabling scalable deployment for advanced water treatment. Validated in a pilot-scale device treating 1,200 litres of real hospital wastewater, Mn-SA@CM achieves an exceptionally high decontamination rate (9.8 × 104 min−1) and ultrahigh permeability (150 l m−2 h−1 bar−1), overcoming the permeability–reactivity trade-off. This hierarchical design integrates metal–organic framework-derived micropores to stabilize atomic sites, membrane nanopores to drive advection-enhanced mass transfer and macroporous ceramic supports to ensure mechanical durability. Nanoconfinement inside the membrane pores concentrates reactants near catalytic sites, boosting degradation kinetics by 105-fold compared with bulk systems. The membrane also exhibits self-cleaning functionality, sustaining >97% removal of emerging contaminants over 168 h with negligible flux decline or metal leaching. By bridging atomic-scale catalysis with macroscale engineering via cross-scale assembly, this work establishes a viable, infrastructure-compatible platform for deploying SACs in real-world environmental remediation and beyond. By hierarchically assembling single-atom catalysts within the nanopores of ceramic membranes, this cross-scale strategy achieves rapid pollutant removal and exceptional permeability, providing a highly effective platform for advanced wastewater treatment.
单原子催化剂（SACs）表现出卓越的催化活性，但其在水处理中的实际应用仍然受到不稳定性、可扩展性障碍和与现有基础设施不兼容的阻碍。在这里，我们提出了一种分层跨尺度的锰SACs组装，限制在ZrO2陶瓷膜的纳米孔内（Mn-SA@CM），使高级水处理的可扩展部署成为可能。在处理1200升真实医院废水的中试设备中进行验证，Mn-SA@CM实现了极高的去污率（9.8 × 104 min - 1）和超高渗透率（150 l m - 2 h - 1 bar - 1），克服了渗透率和反应性之间的权衡。这种分层设计集成了金属有机框架衍生的微孔来稳定原子位置，膜纳米孔来驱动平流增强的传质，大孔陶瓷支撑来确保机械耐久性。膜孔内的纳米限制将反应物集中在催化位点附近，与散装系统相比，降解动力学提高了105倍。该膜还具有自清洁功能，在168小时内保持97%的新污染物去除率，通量下降或金属浸出可以忽略不计。通过跨尺度组装将原子尺度催化与宏观尺度工程连接起来，这项工作建立了一个可行的、基础设施兼容的平台，用于在现实世界的环境修复及其他领域部署sac。通过在陶瓷膜的纳米孔内分层组装单原子催化剂，这种跨尺度策略实现了快速去除污染物和优异的渗透性，为高级废水处理提供了一个高效的平台。
{"title":"Large-scale deployment of single-atom catalysts via cross-scale confinement in ceramic membranes for advanced water treatment","authors":"Yulong Yang, Hao Li, Wanyi Fu, Zhiwen Hu, Ruiqiang Yang, Hui Xu, Qibing Chang, Qikun Wang, Yongqing Wang, Xixi Chen, Bingcai Pan","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00512-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00512-w","url":null,"abstract":"Single-atom catalysts (SACs) demonstrate exceptional catalytic activity, yet their practical deployment in water treatment remains hindered by instability, scalability barriers and incompatibility with existing infrastructure. Here we present a hierarchical cross-scale assembly of manganese SACs confined within the nanopores of a ZrO2 ceramic membrane (Mn-SA@CM), enabling scalable deployment for advanced water treatment. Validated in a pilot-scale device treating 1,200 litres of real hospital wastewater, Mn-SA@CM achieves an exceptionally high decontamination rate (9.8 × 104 min−1) and ultrahigh permeability (150 l m−2 h−1 bar−1), overcoming the permeability–reactivity trade-off. This hierarchical design integrates metal–organic framework-derived micropores to stabilize atomic sites, membrane nanopores to drive advection-enhanced mass transfer and macroporous ceramic supports to ensure mechanical durability. Nanoconfinement inside the membrane pores concentrates reactants near catalytic sites, boosting degradation kinetics by 105-fold compared with bulk systems. The membrane also exhibits self-cleaning functionality, sustaining >97% removal of emerging contaminants over 168 h with negligible flux decline or metal leaching. By bridging atomic-scale catalysis with macroscale engineering via cross-scale assembly, this work establishes a viable, infrastructure-compatible platform for deploying SACs in real-world environmental remediation and beyond. By hierarchically assembling single-atom catalysts within the nanopores of ceramic membranes, this cross-scale strategy achieves rapid pollutant removal and exceptional permeability, providing a highly effective platform for advanced wastewater treatment.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 11","pages":"1281-1290"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145538098","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-01DOI: 10.1038/s44221-025-00519-3
Langming Bai, Heng Liang
A hierarchical membrane design combines atomic-level catalytic precision and industrial-scale water treatment. This design achieves an unprecedented implementation of single-atom catalysts for real-world wastewater treatment at pilot scale.
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Pub Date : 2025-09-29DOI: 10.1038/s44221-025-00514-8
Liguan Li, Bing Li, Xiaole Yin, Yu Xia, Yu Yang, Xiaoqing Xu, Tommy Tsan-Yuk Lam, Kenneth M. Y. Leung, Fujie Xu, Xuxiang Zhang, Jianhua Guo, Heike Schmitt, Gerard D. Wright, Janet Midega, Carlos Bezuidenhout, Renata C. Picão, Shaikh Z. Ahammad, Kornelia Smalla, Steven P. Djordjevic, Amy Pruden, Peter Vikesland, Dominic Frigon, Fiona Walsh, Thomas U. Berendonk, Gianluca Corno, Despo Fatta-Kassinos, Chang-Jun Cha, Nicholas Ashbolt, Guangguo Ying, Yi Luo, Yang Wang, Jianzhong Shen, Yu Zhang, Min Yang, Xiangdong Li, Baolan Hu, Lizhong Zhu, Yongning Wu, Song Tang, Biao Kan, Yong-Guan Zhu, Barth F. Smets, David Graham, Ryo Honda, Eddie Cytryn, Erica Donner, Per Halkjær Nielsen, Mark van Loosdrecht, Michael R. Gillings, William Gaze, Célia M. Manaia, Pedro J. J. Alvarez, Martin J. Blaser, Edward Topp, Tong Zhang
The first therapeutic use of antimicrobial agents initiated their endless arms race with antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Although the genes encoding antimicrobial resistance are ancient and ubiquitous in various environmental compartments, including aquatic environments, over eight decades of exposure to selective pressure has changed the way antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) emerge and transmit among the three One Health sectors (that is, the intersected sectors of humans, animals and the environment). The dissemination of ARGs has been facilitated by the widespread use of antimicrobials, along with direct and secondary pollution pathways. Current global consensus dictates that AMR should be addressed under a One Health framework. AMR National Action Plans have frequently been formulated. However, the capacity for implementation is not ready in most countries, especially in low- and middle-income regions. This is in part due to the substantial challenges in documenting and controlling cross-sector AMR connectivity. Here we describe the past and current status of AMR, emphasizing the contribution of connectivity to global AMR burden. We discuss connectivity at ecological, microbial and genetic levels; propose an approach based on genomics and metagenomics to assess connectivity; and finally advocate for cross-sector studies to better understand AMR connectivity and mitigate dissemination. We believe that such harmonized connectivity studies will facilitate coordinated actions and investments across sectors and regions to scale up AMR management globally. Antimicrobial resistance has evolved over decades due to widespread antimicrobial use, with resistance genes now circulating across humans, animals and the environment, creating complex cross-sector connectivity challenges. This Perspective advocates for genomics-based studies of AMR connectivity to enable coordinated global action and investment under the One Health framework.
{"title":"Assessing antimicrobial resistance connectivity across One Health sectors","authors":"Liguan Li, Bing Li, Xiaole Yin, Yu Xia, Yu Yang, Xiaoqing Xu, Tommy Tsan-Yuk Lam, Kenneth M. Y. Leung, Fujie Xu, Xuxiang Zhang, Jianhua Guo, Heike Schmitt, Gerard D. Wright, Janet Midega, Carlos Bezuidenhout, Renata C. Picão, Shaikh Z. Ahammad, Kornelia Smalla, Steven P. Djordjevic, Amy Pruden, Peter Vikesland, Dominic Frigon, Fiona Walsh, Thomas U. Berendonk, Gianluca Corno, Despo Fatta-Kassinos, Chang-Jun Cha, Nicholas Ashbolt, Guangguo Ying, Yi Luo, Yang Wang, Jianzhong Shen, Yu Zhang, Min Yang, Xiangdong Li, Baolan Hu, Lizhong Zhu, Yongning Wu, Song Tang, Biao Kan, Yong-Guan Zhu, Barth F. Smets, David Graham, Ryo Honda, Eddie Cytryn, Erica Donner, Per Halkjær Nielsen, Mark van Loosdrecht, Michael R. Gillings, William Gaze, Célia M. Manaia, Pedro J. J. Alvarez, Martin J. Blaser, Edward Topp, Tong Zhang","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00514-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00514-8","url":null,"abstract":"The first therapeutic use of antimicrobial agents initiated their endless arms race with antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Although the genes encoding antimicrobial resistance are ancient and ubiquitous in various environmental compartments, including aquatic environments, over eight decades of exposure to selective pressure has changed the way antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) emerge and transmit among the three One Health sectors (that is, the intersected sectors of humans, animals and the environment). The dissemination of ARGs has been facilitated by the widespread use of antimicrobials, along with direct and secondary pollution pathways. Current global consensus dictates that AMR should be addressed under a One Health framework. AMR National Action Plans have frequently been formulated. However, the capacity for implementation is not ready in most countries, especially in low- and middle-income regions. This is in part due to the substantial challenges in documenting and controlling cross-sector AMR connectivity. Here we describe the past and current status of AMR, emphasizing the contribution of connectivity to global AMR burden. We discuss connectivity at ecological, microbial and genetic levels; propose an approach based on genomics and metagenomics to assess connectivity; and finally advocate for cross-sector studies to better understand AMR connectivity and mitigate dissemination. We believe that such harmonized connectivity studies will facilitate coordinated actions and investments across sectors and regions to scale up AMR management globally. Antimicrobial resistance has evolved over decades due to widespread antimicrobial use, with resistance genes now circulating across humans, animals and the environment, creating complex cross-sector connectivity challenges. This Perspective advocates for genomics-based studies of AMR connectivity to enable coordinated global action and investment under the One Health framework.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 10","pages":"1100-1113"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145317905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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