ACS ES&T water最新文献

In the face of escalating climate change impacts, Southeast Asia is witnessing a growing urgency to fortify regional cities against extreme temperatures and the exacerbating effects of El Niño events. This work delves into the role of urban water technologies in bolstering heat-resilient infrastructure across the region. This work also assesses urban water technologies that can contribute to the development of heat-resilient infrastructure in urban areas. This involves examining innovative approaches that can help mitigate the impacts of extreme temperatures on water infrastructure and enhance its resilience to climate change. They include green infrastructure, decentralized water systems, and advanced cooling technologies that have the potential to improve the resilience of urban water infrastructure to heat stress and extreme temperatures. Through empirical studies, this study underscores the imperative for proactive measures to enhance urban resilience in the region. The implications of this work offer practical insights for policymakers, urban planners, and stakeholders to bolster climate resilience in the region, emphasizing the role of water technologies in mitigating risks and enhancing adaptive capacity. By integrating urban technologies such as advanced cooling systems and green infrastructure, cities in the southeast Asia region not only can mitigate heat-related risks but also foster sustainable development pathways.

Pesticide pollution of surface water is a global threat to drinking water safety. The need for improved drinking water treatment methods is discussed by using Brazil as a case study. Brazil’s agriculture is intensive, and pesticide consumption is high, while current drinking water treatment methods are inadequate for effectively removing pesticides. Available data on surface water contamination in Brazil show widespread occurrence of pesticides in natural waters, thereby putting pressure on the water treatment system and threatening the quality and safety of drinking water. Pesticide concentrations in drinking water frequently exceeded the maximum permissible concentrations if EU regulations (0.1 μg/L) were applied, highlighting the need for improvements in drinking water treatment. (Advanced) drinking water treatment for the removal of pesticides has been intensely researched over the past decade. However, challenges such as high cost and energy intensity, as well as the production of hazardous byproducts, must be assessed critically. Safely managed drinking water is crucial to the sustainable development of low- and middle-income countries and can be achieved only through appropriate technology. Engineered biofiltration has been put forward as a sustainable alternative to conventional and advanced drinking water treatment. This review highlights the promising potential of engineered biofiltration and its associated challenges.

The presence of multidrug-resistant bacteria in Malaysian waters and farmed aquatic species in its estuarine environment suggests contamination due to pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). However, this issue has lacked serious attention. This study performed suspect screening to identify tentative PPCPs in water and mussels located at the Melayu River during high and low tides, followed by a public awareness survey to understand the public behavior toward handling PPCPs. In total, 75 PPCPs were tentatively identified. Four and six compounds were found in surface water during low and high tides, respectively, while mussel samples showed 50 compounds during low tide and 35 compounds during high tide. Interestingly, 7 pharmaceuticals and 4 personal care products appeared in both tides in mussel samples. Survey findings revealed that while respondents understood PPCP pathways entering the environment and associated threats, they were unaware of relevant laws and proper disposal methods for unused pharmaceuticals, which are often discarded together with domestic wastes. The findings highlight the urgent need for detailed suspect screening with targeted analysis in order to establish relevant regulatory measures apart from providing public education on the proper disposal of PPCPs to mitigate contamination.

Despite decades of effort, progress in safely managed sanitation─a public sector mandate─is stalling due to limited public funding and poor governance, among other reasons. As a result, public health has suffered and environmental degradation has continued. Social enterprises that use innovative business models to provide on-site sanitation services, also known as sanitation enterprises, are considered an emerging solution. However, sanitation enterprises have not yet successfully replaced public provision at scale. This work explores the barriers that sanitation enterprises encounter in lower- and middle-income countries. Q-Method, a mixed-methods approach that assesses social perspectives on an issue, is used to evaluate major barriers and groups of dominant perception for 19 sanitation enterprises operating across 20 countries. A total of 25 mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive barriers are identified, ranging from affording capital expenses to navigating political corruption. The results show that most of the identified barriers fall into the financial barrier category, with reaching economies of scale being the greatest obstacle for sanitation enterprises. On the basis of these results, the premise of independent profitability underlying the sanitation enterprise value proposition should be reevaluated. Four enterprise types are proposed and can explain half of the variance among the sanitation enterprises studied. The context of a sanitation enterprise, including its countries of operation, size, customer base, sources of revenue, and section of the sanitation value chain, influences the barriers that the enterprise encounters. This research underscores the crucial role of context in influencing barriers for sanitation enterprises, emphasizing the need for investment and for policy makers to take these contextual dimensions into account.

This study asks sanitation enterprises in lower- and middle-income countries what are the barriers they face in becoming financially sustainable.

In this study, we conducted quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-based wastewater surveillance for 12 prominent respiratory pathogens in two northeastern cities of China, Dalian, and Benxi, to understand the cocirculation patterns between COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases from October 2022 to July 2023. Wastewater surveillance revealed that Influenza A virus (IAV) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) sewage concentrations exhibited an upward trend from October 2022 in both cities but with distinct epidemic trajectories. In Dalian, IAV and RSV sewage concentrations both peaked in early December, followed by a rapid decline since the emergence of COVID-19 on November 23, 2022. In Benxi, two bell-shaped curves were observed for IAV and RSV sewage concentrations, both peaking in mid-December of 2022, even though severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in wastewater on December 8, 2022. After a rapid decline in SARS-CoV-2 sewage concentrations in January 2023, a new wave of IAV in wastewater occurred between February and early April in both cities, followed by a surge of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in early May. Meanwhile, an out-of-season epidemic of RSV from March to May was observed in Benxi based on the cities’ sewage concentrations. This study highlights the impact of the timing of COVID-19 on the epidemic trajectories of other respiratory diseases.

Biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC) in rivers is crucial for regulating organic carbon degradation and greenhouse gas emissions during carbon transport from land to ocean. BDOC is closely linked to the biolability of riverine dissolved organic matter (DOM). However, the bioavailability of allochthonous DOM, the dominant source of DOM in large rivers, remains unclear. In this study, stable carbon isotope, excitation–emission matrix fluorescence, and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry analyses were performed to investigate the effects of DOM sources on DOM bioavailability in the Yangtze River. The results indicate that BDOC is an important fraction of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the Yangtze River (29.82 ± 15.30%). Autochthonous source contributed 38.21 ± 25.42% to total biolabile DOM, exhibited saturated characteristics, and primarily comprising CHOP and CHOS compounds. Surprisingly, allochthonous biolabile DOM accounted for 34.41 ± 27.53%, emphasizing relatively high oxidation state and aromaticity with enriched heteroatomic contributions. Prolonged water retention in the Three Gorges Dam region promotes allochthonous biolabile DOM degradation, whereas increased human activity downstream leads to autochthonous biolabile DOM accumulation. This study highlights allochthonous contributions to DOM biolability and indicates that continued increases in terrigenous inputs can enhance riverine BDOC, thereby influencing CO₂ release from rivers.

Vibrio pathogens in marine estuaries pose significant human health risks through recreational water use and seafood contamination. This study used the Ala Wai Canal in Honolulu, Hawaii, as a model tropical urban marine estuary to understand the Vibrio population’s composition and associated environmental health risks. Vibrio-specific 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing identified diverse Vibrio populations. Among the 62 major amplicon sequencing variants (ASVs) detected, V. parahaemolyticus-clustered ASVs were significantly more prevalent than those clustered with V. cholerae and V. vulnificus. Spatial distribution of the Vibrio ASVs showed that V. parahaemolyticus-clustered ASVs were highly abundant toward the stagnant end of the canal with higher turbidity and BOD₅ than sites near the freshwater inlets and the ocean outlet. DNA fingerprinting of V. parahaemolyticus isolates obtained from the water showed significant genetic diversity, corresponding to the ASV-based diversity and indicating the presence of diverse environmental niches. The V. parahaemolyticus population in the canal water exhibited a low detection frequency of the virulence factor tdh and an antibiotic resistance profile typical of environmental isolates. The identification of V. parahaemolyticus as the most prevalent Vibrio pathogen and its enrichment within the stagnant terminus of the canal suggest that increased water circulation may change Vibrio ecology and alleviate potential health risks.

Rivers play a non-negligible role in global methane (CH₄) emissions. However, little research has focused on CH₄ emissions from rivers with high suspended sediment (SPS) concentrations, and how SPS influences riverine CH₄ emissions is still unclear. In this study, significant CH₄ emissions were observed in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, despite the extremely low organic-C level (DOC = 2.2 mg/L). The average value of CH₄ flux was 107.7 μmol m^–2 d^–1, which was even higher than that of urban rivers with high organic pollution. The CH₄ emission pattern in the Yellow River differed from that of typical rivers; SPS rather than sediment plays an important role. In the upper reaches, anaerobic/aerobic microenvironments are more easily established on SPS under lower DO conditions, resulting in a high abundance of methanogens and functional genes. The genus Methanobacterium, typically found in sediments, was dominant in the water column and positively related to SPS concentrations. The strong winds and water flow further enhanced the mass transfer from the SPS surface to the atmosphere. Overall, this study demonstrates the significant potential of low-organic-country rivers to act as CH₄ hotspots in the presence of SPS.