Pub Date : 2025-10-28DOI: 10.1038/s44221-025-00520-w
Hui-Min Wang, Xiaogang He
Spatially synchronized hydroclimatic extremes—droughts, pluvials and drought–pluvial ‘seesaw’ dipoles—cause impacts far beyond where they occur. Adapting to these concurrent risks requires global-scale assessments that capture both remote and local dependencies, yet current approaches generally assume independence across locations, overlooking critical spatial dependencies that bias risk estimates. Moreover, most research treats droughts and pluvials in isolation, neglecting their antiphase co-occurrences. Here we develop a multilayer event-based complex climate network using a 67-year precipitation reanalysis dataset to analyse global synchronizations of hydroclimatic shocks across 0.66 trillion 0.25° pixel pairs. We find pronounced spatial asymmetries in teleconnected (>2,500 km) synchronizations, dominated by oceanic regions (90% of teleconnection links) and southern mid-latitudes. These spatial asymmetries are both event and hemisphere specific, revealed by our regional bundle analysis of 91 global breadbasket region pairs. Two-thirds of region pairs with significant drought or pluvial synchronization occur within the same hemisphere, while 40% of cross-hemisphere pairs exhibit seesaw synchronizations, affecting at least one-third of their areas. These findings highlight the need for integrated assessments of droughts and pluvials and their interconnections, as traditional agricultural trade practices relying on hemispheric diversification may face growing challenges in a warming, synchronized climate. Hydroclimatic extremes such as droughts and pluvials often occur in spatially synchronized patterns, causing widespread impacts that current risk assessments fail to capture due to assumptions of independence. This study presents a multilayer event-based complex climate network to examine global synchronizations, emphasizing the need for integrated assessments to address challenges in agricultural trade and climate adaptation.
{"title":"Spatially synchronized structures of global hydroclimatic extremes","authors":"Hui-Min Wang, Xiaogang He","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00520-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00520-w","url":null,"abstract":"Spatially synchronized hydroclimatic extremes—droughts, pluvials and drought–pluvial ‘seesaw’ dipoles—cause impacts far beyond where they occur. Adapting to these concurrent risks requires global-scale assessments that capture both remote and local dependencies, yet current approaches generally assume independence across locations, overlooking critical spatial dependencies that bias risk estimates. Moreover, most research treats droughts and pluvials in isolation, neglecting their antiphase co-occurrences. Here we develop a multilayer event-based complex climate network using a 67-year precipitation reanalysis dataset to analyse global synchronizations of hydroclimatic shocks across 0.66 trillion 0.25° pixel pairs. We find pronounced spatial asymmetries in teleconnected (>2,500 km) synchronizations, dominated by oceanic regions (90% of teleconnection links) and southern mid-latitudes. These spatial asymmetries are both event and hemisphere specific, revealed by our regional bundle analysis of 91 global breadbasket region pairs. Two-thirds of region pairs with significant drought or pluvial synchronization occur within the same hemisphere, while 40% of cross-hemisphere pairs exhibit seesaw synchronizations, affecting at least one-third of their areas. These findings highlight the need for integrated assessments of droughts and pluvials and their interconnections, as traditional agricultural trade practices relying on hemispheric diversification may face growing challenges in a warming, synchronized climate. Hydroclimatic extremes such as droughts and pluvials often occur in spatially synchronized patterns, causing widespread impacts that current risk assessments fail to capture due to assumptions of independence. This study presents a multilayer event-based complex climate network to examine global synchronizations, emphasizing the need for integrated assessments to address challenges in agricultural trade and climate adaptation.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 12","pages":"1376-1388"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s44221-025-00520-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145766412","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 : 2025-10-23DOI: 10.1038/s44221-025-00528-2
Henrique M. J. Barbosa
Forests are more than carbon sinks and biodiversity hotspots — they are also water pumps that sustain global agriculture. Research now shows how tropical and extratropical forests alike support crops and trade far beyond their borders.
{"title":"Forests sustain crops worldwide through flying rivers of recycled moisture","authors":"Henrique M. J. Barbosa","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00528-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00528-2","url":null,"abstract":"Forests are more than carbon sinks and biodiversity hotspots — they are also water pumps that sustain global agriculture. Research now shows how tropical and extratropical forests alike support crops and trade far beyond their borders.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 11","pages":"1220-1221"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145538104","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 : 2025-10-23DOI: 10.1038/s44221-025-00518-4
Agnes Pranindita, Adriaan J. Teuling, Ingo Fetzer, Lan Wang-Erlandsson
Anomalous precipitation patterns associated with climate change increasingly threaten global crop supply. Forests, as major moisture source, could potentially buffer these risks, yet their specific role in sustaining agriculture and global crop supply remains underexplored. We investigate global forests’ contribution to crop production and export by estimating moisture flows from forests to agricultural areas and pairing them with traded crop flows. We find that agricultural areas in 155 countries rely on transboundary forests for up to 40% of annual precipitation, whereas in 105 countries, as much as 18% of precipitation is recycled from forests nationally. Moisture from forests globally supports 18% of crop production and 30% of crop export studied. We show that crop producers, exporters and importers are directly and indirectly dependent on upwind forested countries through three typologies. Our study implies that strategically conserving forests located upwind of agricultural areas could be leveraged to safeguard global crop supply. This study investigates the contribution of global forests to crop production and export by linking moisture flows from forests to agricultural areas with traded crop flows. Moisture from forests supports 18% of studied crop production and 30% of export, highlighting the need to conserve upwind forests to safeguard global food supply chains.
{"title":"Forests support global crop supply through atmospheric moisture transport","authors":"Agnes Pranindita, Adriaan J. Teuling, Ingo Fetzer, Lan Wang-Erlandsson","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00518-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00518-4","url":null,"abstract":"Anomalous precipitation patterns associated with climate change increasingly threaten global crop supply. Forests, as major moisture source, could potentially buffer these risks, yet their specific role in sustaining agriculture and global crop supply remains underexplored. We investigate global forests’ contribution to crop production and export by estimating moisture flows from forests to agricultural areas and pairing them with traded crop flows. We find that agricultural areas in 155 countries rely on transboundary forests for up to 40% of annual precipitation, whereas in 105 countries, as much as 18% of precipitation is recycled from forests nationally. Moisture from forests globally supports 18% of crop production and 30% of crop export studied. We show that crop producers, exporters and importers are directly and indirectly dependent on upwind forested countries through three typologies. Our study implies that strategically conserving forests located upwind of agricultural areas could be leveraged to safeguard global crop supply. This study investigates the contribution of global forests to crop production and export by linking moisture flows from forests to agricultural areas with traded crop flows. Moisture from forests supports 18% of studied crop production and 30% of export, highlighting the need to conserve upwind forests to safeguard global food supply chains.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 11","pages":"1243-1255"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s44221-025-00518-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145538097","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 : 2025-10-17DOI: 10.1038/s44221-025-00522-8
Clément Duvert, Alberto V. Borges, Elisa Calamita, Gerard Rocher-Ros, Annika Linkhorst, Judith A. Rosentreter, Shaoda Liu, Pierre Taillardat, Katrin Attermeyer, Tonya DelSontro, Loris Deirmendjian, Alicia A. Dixon, Charlotte Grasset, Allison M. Herreid, Luke C. Jeffrey, Lediane Marcon, Ricky M. Mwanake, José R. Paranaíba, Lishan Ran, Adam T. Rexroade, Vanessa Solano, Francesco Ulloa-Cedamanos, Jilong Wang, Keridwen M. Whitmore, Liwei Zhang, Carla López-Lloreda, Marcia N. Macedo, Diana Oviedo-Vargas, Diego A. Riveros-Iregui, Nicholas S. Marzolf
(Sub)tropical inland waters are important greenhouse gas (GHG) sources, yet limited observations have long hindered broad analyses of GHG variability across this diverse region. Here, through a meta-analysis, we have examined the rates and drivers of GHG emissions from flowing and standing (sub)tropical inland waters. We find considerable spatial variation in fluxes, largely related to differences in hydroclimate, geomorphology, land cover and human disturbance. Flowing waters emit more carbon dioxide (3,387 2,121 5,702 TgCO2 yr−1, expressing median first quartile third quartile ), methane (10.6 0.1 28.8 TgCH4 yr−1) and nitrous oxide (0.62 0.35 1.10 TgN2O yr−1) than standing waters (114 73 219 TgCO2 yr−1, 5.4 2.1 9.1 TgCH4 yr−1 and 0.03 0.02 0.05 TgN2O yr−1, respectively). (Sub)tropical inland waters release 4,238 2473 7375 TgCO2-equivalents annually, with first- to third-order streams contributing 75% of riverine emissions and lakes larger than 100 km2 contributing 59% of standing water emissions. Our results suggest emissions from (sub)tropical waters are 29–72% lower than earlier estimates, a downward revision with important implications for global GHG budgets. This meta-analysis assesses the rates and drivers of greenhouse gas emissions from flowing and standing (sub)tropical inland waters, finding that emissions are lower than previous estimates. Considerable spatial variation in fluxes arises mainly from differences in hydroclimate, geomorphology, land cover and human disturbance.
（亚热带）内陆水域是重要的温室气体（GHG）来源，但有限的观测长期以来阻碍了对这一多样化地区温室气体变异性的广泛分析。在这里，我们通过一项元分析，研究了流动和静止（亚）热带内陆水域温室气体排放的速率和驱动因素。我们发现通量的空间差异很大，主要与水文气候、地貌、土地覆盖和人为干扰的差异有关。流动水体排放的二氧化碳（3,387 2,121 5,702 TgCO2 yr - 1，表示中位数第一四分位第三四分位）、甲烷（10.6 0.1 28.8 TgCH4 yr - 1）和氧化亚氮（0.62 0.35 1.10 TgN2O yr - 1）均高于静水（分别为114 73 219 TgCO2 yr - 1、5.4 2.1 9.1 TgCH4 yr - 1和0.03 0.02 0.05 TgN2O yr - 1）。（亚热带）内陆水域每年释放4,238 2473 7375 tgco2当量，其中一至三级河流排放占河流排放的75%，大于100 km2的湖泊排放占静水排放的59%。我们的研究结果表明，（亚）热带水域的排放量比以前的估计低29-72%，这一向下修正对全球温室气体预算具有重要意义。本荟萃分析评估了流动和静止（亚热带）热带内陆水域温室气体排放的速率和驱动因素，发现排放量低于以前的估计。通量的空间差异主要来自水文气候、地貌、土地覆盖和人为干扰的差异。
{"title":"Hydroclimate and landscape diversity drive highly variable greenhouse gas emissions from tropical and subtropical inland waters","authors":"Clément Duvert, Alberto V. Borges, Elisa Calamita, Gerard Rocher-Ros, Annika Linkhorst, Judith A. Rosentreter, Shaoda Liu, Pierre Taillardat, Katrin Attermeyer, Tonya DelSontro, Loris Deirmendjian, Alicia A. Dixon, Charlotte Grasset, Allison M. Herreid, Luke C. Jeffrey, Lediane Marcon, Ricky M. Mwanake, José R. Paranaíba, Lishan Ran, Adam T. Rexroade, Vanessa Solano, Francesco Ulloa-Cedamanos, Jilong Wang, Keridwen M. Whitmore, Liwei Zhang, Carla López-Lloreda, Marcia N. Macedo, Diana Oviedo-Vargas, Diego A. Riveros-Iregui, Nicholas S. Marzolf","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00522-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00522-8","url":null,"abstract":"(Sub)tropical inland waters are important greenhouse gas (GHG) sources, yet limited observations have long hindered broad analyses of GHG variability across this diverse region. Here, through a meta-analysis, we have examined the rates and drivers of GHG emissions from flowing and standing (sub)tropical inland waters. We find considerable spatial variation in fluxes, largely related to differences in hydroclimate, geomorphology, land cover and human disturbance. Flowing waters emit more carbon dioxide (3,387 2,121 5,702 TgCO2 yr−1, expressing median first quartile third quartile ), methane (10.6 0.1 28.8 TgCH4 yr−1) and nitrous oxide (0.62 0.35 1.10 TgN2O yr−1) than standing waters (114 73 219 TgCO2 yr−1, 5.4 2.1 9.1 TgCH4 yr−1 and 0.03 0.02 0.05 TgN2O yr−1, respectively). (Sub)tropical inland waters release 4,238 2473 7375 TgCO2-equivalents annually, with first- to third-order streams contributing 75% of riverine emissions and lakes larger than 100 km2 contributing 59% of standing water emissions. Our results suggest emissions from (sub)tropical waters are 29–72% lower than earlier estimates, a downward revision with important implications for global GHG budgets. This meta-analysis assesses the rates and drivers of greenhouse gas emissions from flowing and standing (sub)tropical inland waters, finding that emissions are lower than previous estimates. Considerable spatial variation in fluxes arises mainly from differences in hydroclimate, geomorphology, land cover and human disturbance.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 11","pages":"1303-1317"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145538100","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/s44221-025-00485-w
Sahar H. El Abbadi, Jianan Feng, Abigayle R. Hodson, Maryam Amouamouha, Margaret M. Busse, Christina Polcuch, Pengxiao Zhou, Jordan Macknick, Jeremy S. Guest, Jennifer R. Stokes-Draut, Jennifer B. Dunn
Here, to assess the national climate impact of wastewater treatment and inform decarbonization, we assembled a comprehensive greenhouse gas inventory of 15,863 facilities in the contiguous USA. Considering location and treatment configurations, we modelled on-site CH4, N2O and CO2 production and emissions associated with energy, chemical inputs and solids disposal. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we estimated median national emissions at 47 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, with on-site process CH4 and N2O emissions exceeding current government estimates by 41%. Treatment configurations with anaerobic digesters are responsible for 16 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year of fugitive methane, outweighing benefits achieved through on-site electricity generation. Systems designed for nutrient removal have the highest greenhouse gas emissions intensity, attributable to energy requirements and N2O production, demonstrating current trade-offs between meeting water quality and climate objectives. We analysed key sensitivities and included a geospatial analysis to highlight the scale and distribution of opportunities for reducing life cycle greenhouse gas emissions. Benchmarking greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment plants is an essential step in developing mitigation strategies. This is now achieved for the USA by modelling over 15,000 facilities using Monte Carlo simulations to obtain a national baseline.
{"title":"Benchmarking greenhouse gas emissions from US wastewater treatment for targeted reduction","authors":"Sahar H. El Abbadi, Jianan Feng, Abigayle R. Hodson, Maryam Amouamouha, Margaret M. Busse, Christina Polcuch, Pengxiao Zhou, Jordan Macknick, Jeremy S. Guest, Jennifer R. Stokes-Draut, Jennifer B. Dunn","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00485-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00485-w","url":null,"abstract":"Here, to assess the national climate impact of wastewater treatment and inform decarbonization, we assembled a comprehensive greenhouse gas inventory of 15,863 facilities in the contiguous USA. Considering location and treatment configurations, we modelled on-site CH4, N2O and CO2 production and emissions associated with energy, chemical inputs and solids disposal. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we estimated median national emissions at 47 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, with on-site process CH4 and N2O emissions exceeding current government estimates by 41%. Treatment configurations with anaerobic digesters are responsible for 16 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year of fugitive methane, outweighing benefits achieved through on-site electricity generation. Systems designed for nutrient removal have the highest greenhouse gas emissions intensity, attributable to energy requirements and N2O production, demonstrating current trade-offs between meeting water quality and climate objectives. We analysed key sensitivities and included a geospatial analysis to highlight the scale and distribution of opportunities for reducing life cycle greenhouse gas emissions. Benchmarking greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment plants is an essential step in developing mitigation strategies. This is now achieved for the USA by modelling over 15,000 facilities using Monte Carlo simulations to obtain a national baseline.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 10","pages":"1133-1143"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s44221-025-00485-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145317900","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/s44221-025-00526-4
Meifang Zhong, Inés Barrenechea Angeles, Kuldeep D. More, Maïlys Picard, Stefan Bertilsson, Andrea G. Bravo, Erik Björn, Marco J. L. Coolen, Eric Capo
Deoxygenation in aquatic ecosystems threatens biodiversity at all levels of functional and genetic diversity. Recent studies have shown the prevalence of microorganisms that transform mercury into neurotoxic methylmercury (mercury methylators—hgcA+ prokaryotes) in oxygen-deficient water columns. As climate warming expands coastal oxygen minimum zones, ongoing and near-future changes may ultimately lead to increased methylmercury formation. However, little is known about the presence of aquatic mercury methylators before the Industrial Revolution, marked by increased mercury emissions and deposition in the environment. Here we have detected hgcA genes in Black Sea sedimentary archives, with the highest abundance 9,000–5,500 years ago when anoxic conditions were documented in the water column. Historical sedimentary and modern water column data on mercury methylators provide valuable insights for projecting future methylmercury production in aquatic ecosystems impacted by ongoing deoxygenation. It also underscores the potential impacts of climate change on human exposure to methylmercury from mercury-contaminated seafood. The sedimentary DNA signal obtained from Black Sea sedimentary archives revealed the past dynamics of microorganisms able to transform mercury into the neurotoxin methylmercury. Water column anoxia during the mid-Holocene Climate Optimum appeared to be the main driver of potential methylmercury production in the Black Sea.
{"title":"Climate-driven deoxygenation promoted potential mercury methylators in the past Black Sea water column","authors":"Meifang Zhong, Inés Barrenechea Angeles, Kuldeep D. More, Maïlys Picard, Stefan Bertilsson, Andrea G. Bravo, Erik Björn, Marco J. L. Coolen, Eric Capo","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00526-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00526-4","url":null,"abstract":"Deoxygenation in aquatic ecosystems threatens biodiversity at all levels of functional and genetic diversity. Recent studies have shown the prevalence of microorganisms that transform mercury into neurotoxic methylmercury (mercury methylators—hgcA+ prokaryotes) in oxygen-deficient water columns. As climate warming expands coastal oxygen minimum zones, ongoing and near-future changes may ultimately lead to increased methylmercury formation. However, little is known about the presence of aquatic mercury methylators before the Industrial Revolution, marked by increased mercury emissions and deposition in the environment. Here we have detected hgcA genes in Black Sea sedimentary archives, with the highest abundance 9,000–5,500 years ago when anoxic conditions were documented in the water column. Historical sedimentary and modern water column data on mercury methylators provide valuable insights for projecting future methylmercury production in aquatic ecosystems impacted by ongoing deoxygenation. It also underscores the potential impacts of climate change on human exposure to methylmercury from mercury-contaminated seafood. The sedimentary DNA signal obtained from Black Sea sedimentary archives revealed the past dynamics of microorganisms able to transform mercury into the neurotoxin methylmercury. Water column anoxia during the mid-Holocene Climate Optimum appeared to be the main driver of potential methylmercury production in the Black Sea.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 12","pages":"1389-1396"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s44221-025-00526-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145766420","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/s44221-025-00527-3
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。
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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}
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