research topics related to water

• Global Warming Paper Topics Topics: 184
• Pollution Research Topics Topics: 236
• Air Pollution Essay Topics Topics: 119
• Recycling Topics Topics: 123
• Biodiversity Paper Topics
• Climate Change Essay Topics Topics: 317
• Earthquake Essay Topics Topics: 107
• Climate Essay Topics Topics: 260
• Renewable Energy Paper Topics Topics: 118
• Ecosystem Essay Topics Topics: 71
• Alternative Energy Paper Topics Topics: 92
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168 Water Essay Topics & Research Questions about Water

Looking for a research title about water shortage, conservation, pollution, or treatment? Whatever your area of interest is, you will definitely find a good writing idea in this list of titles for water essays! Topics we’ve collected here are fresh, unique, and current. Go ahead and read them below!

🏆 Best Essay Topics on Water

💡 simple water essay titles, 👍 good water research topics & essay examples, 📌 easy water essay topics, 🎓 most interesting water topics for project, ❓ research questions about water.

• The Water Cycle and the Impact of Human Activity on It
• Effects of Water Pollution on Human Health
• Water and Soil Management
• The Importance of Water for Body
• Don’t Ship Air and Don’t Ship Water Strategies
• Water Quality and Contamination Experiment Report
• Food and Water Security Management
• Fiji Water Quality: Biology Lab Experiment Since Fiji water is among the popular brands in the US, it is essential to evaluate whether it is clean, that is, safe for human consumption.
• Impact of Food Waste and Water Use on Earth The paper explores how food waste and water use affect the food system and how agriculture affects the environment.
• Water and Its Properties Water is the most abundant liquid on the universe comprising over 70% of earth’s composition. It exists in three forms namely liquid, solid, and gaseous states.
• All About Water: Problems and Solutions In addition to explaining water benefits, the paper has also shown that many people globally struggle with water shortages or exposure to contaminated water.
• Climate Change and Accessibility to Safe Water The paper discusses climate change’s effect on water accessibility, providing graphs on water scarcity and freshwater use and resources.
• Water Accessibility and Quality The following case study explores the effect of negligence towards water stewardship and provides recommendations on the roles of stakeholders in the process.
• The Environmental Impact of Bottled Water This paper examines the real situational effects on production of the bottled water to environmental degradation.
• Water Recycling: Why Is It Important? Different countries face varying challenges in as far as provision of clean water to its population is concerned depending with its economic development level and geographic location.
• Water in the Atmosphere The relative humidity of air can be changed by changing either the temperature of the thermodynamic system in question or the pressure in the system under consideration.
• Fresh Water Toxins: Serious Threat to Health This paper discusses fresh water toxins as a serious threat to health, analyzes Los Angeles drinking water, access to clean water and sanitation.
• Fiji Water Case Study Analysis Brandon Miller aims to establish a business that is the distribution of Fiji water for Monroe and Wayne market areas.
• Water Scarcity as Effect of Climate Change Climate change is the cause of variability in the water cycle, which also reduces the predictability of water availability, demand, and quality, aggravating water scarcity.
• How Access to Clean Water Influences the Problem of Poverty Since people in some developing countries have insufficient water supply even now, they suffer from starvation, lack of hygiene, and water-associated diseases.
• The Issue of Food and Water Security The global issue for the analysis is food and water security. This is a topical problem nowadays, especially in light of climate change and population growth.
• Solutions for Food and Water Security Issue With many nations encountering food and water security problems, the consequences of such events have become global, giving rise to multiple outcomes this insecurity.
• Is Bottled Water Safe for Public Health? Bottled water is just water but is marketed in such a way that makes it appear as healthy because it is positioned as “bottles water is healthy”.
• Combating Arsenic Contamination in Water The well known fact is that water is the most valuable natural resource that exists and without which survival of life is impossible.
• Pressurized Water Reactors: An Analysis The paper describes the operations of a Pressurised Water Reactors (PWR) plant in-depth, discusses the functions of PWR plants, their advantages and disadvantages.
• The Global Water Crisis: Issues and Solutions The water crisis has now been associated with the reduction in food quantity besides the scarcity of safe drinking water.
• Water Pollution Causes, Effects and Solutions This essay seeks to examine the concept of water pollution, its causes, effects and solutions to water pollution. Water pollution takes place in various water bodies all over the world.
• Bottled Water Impacts on Environment As the use of bottled water continue to rise steadily around the world, many critics have focused on its impacts on the environment, economy and other social implications related to the use.
• Bottled Water Impact on Environment This paper seeks to amplify the need for regulation of the used water bottles. It is quite obvious that water bottles are the highest in a number of all bottles thrown away after use.
• Addressing the Urgent Challenge of Water Pollution The essay addresses the pressing issue of water pollution, highlighting its widespread impact on communities and the environment.
• The Problem of Water Scarcity The paper states that although the problem of scarcity of water is severe, it is crucial to take measures to solve it since they can improve the situation.
• Resolutions to Fight Water Scarcity The World Health Organization outlines water scarcity as a global crisis affecting more than 2.8 billion people.
• Assessment: Dubai Electricity and Water Authority As a key component of Dubai’s economy, DEWA is critical in assisting the Emirate’s growth and transition to a zero-economy economy.
• Effects of Climate Variability on Water Resources, Food Security, and Human Health Evaluating the effects of climate variability on water, food, and health will help identify the areas for improvement and offer solutions to current environmental challenges.
• Water Management in Sustainable Engineering The current essay demonstrates the significance of sustainable engineering on the example of wastewater treatment and consequent water reuse.
• Lake Mattoon: Recreational Site and Water Reservoir Lake Mattoon remains one of Coles county’s best recreation sites and major water reservoirs; it is a big, man-made lake with lush green shores and big fish populations.
• Baxter Water Treatment Plants and Public Health The Baxter Water Treatment Plant is the largest water treatment facility in Philadelphia, supplying about 60 percent of the city’s drinking water.
• Benefits of Water Birth Overview Waterbirth remains to be a controversial approach. The studies examined in this paper provide some evidence for the benefits that waterbirth has.
• Water Scarcity in the Middle East The Arab region has always had issues with the water supply but as the population continues to grow steadily, this issue has become even more alarming
• Activation Energy for Viscous Flow of Water, Acetone, Toluene, and o-Xylene The aim of the research was to investigate the hypothesis that the activation energy of a substance depends on intermolecular forces that arise in this substance.
• Water Treatments and Maximum Plant Height The first research question was how different water treatments affect maximum plant height. The experiment involved 12 plants – 6 plants for each type of water.
• Water Resources in Australia: Usage and Management Australia is one of the driest continents in the world. Various governmental and non-governmental institutions have teamed up to face the challenges facing people as far as water is concerned.
• Water Management in the “Flow” Documentary The documentary “Flow” discusses and describes two significant things that are preventing people from having access to freshwater.
• Environmental Legislation: Clean Water Act Clean Water Act determines water quality standards, serves as a basis for the enactment of pollution control programs, and regulates the presence of contaminants in surface water.
• Water Management and Ecology Issues The paper studies water management, its various implications and explains why this area is important on examples of environmental issues.
• Biogeochemical Cycles: Carbon, Nitrogen, and Water The most common biogeochemical cycles are carbon, nitrogen, and water cycles. The purpose of this paper was to summarize these three cycles.
• Water Intake and Output: Mechanisms of Regulation For healthy function, the human body requires water balance as one of the key mechanisms, where the average daily water intake and output are relatively equal.
• Studying the Venturi Effect Through Water Flow Calculation The Venturi effect is of particular importance in fluid dynamics, characterizing the pressure drop of a fluid as it flows through narrow spaces.
• The Water Shortage Supply in Las Vegas The water shortage supply in Las Vegas is a major problem due to the city’s reliance on Lake Mead and Colorado Rivers, which are drying up due to droughts.
• Exploring the Agenda for Fresh Water Supply in Remote Regions The fundamental thesis of this entire paper is that scientific and technological advances catalyze the development of technologies to deliver fresh water to remote areas of Texas.
• Land Usage and Water Quality in Saudi Arabia The effect of land use in Saudi Arabian water quality has intensified the region’s water crisis, causing economic, ecological, and social challenges.
• Essentials of Water in Supporting Biological Systems Water is essential in supporting the biological system in various ways; the properties of water help in understanding its importance.
• The Problem of Environmental Water Pollution This paper discusses a public health concern by explaining the causes of water pollution, how it affects human communities, and the possible strategies.
• First Nations Communities Water Resources Drinking water is by no means an infinite resource, but there are places in the world where women and children spend hours each day just to collect it.
• Water Quality and Supply The main problem on the way to the solution of environmental issues is a violation of generally accepted rules.
• Water Quality Improvement for Global Health This proposal determines the necessity of water quality from the perspective of global health. The funding will be provided by the government and non-governmental organizations.
• “Erin Brockovich” Film and 2014 Flint Water Crisis This paper analyzes the movie “Erin Brockovich” and compares it with the current situation in Flint, which started in April 2014.
• Third-Party Logistics, Water Transportation, Pipelines Transportation plays a crucial role in today’s business world. This work shows the benefits and limitations of third-party logistics providers, water transportation, and pipelines.
• Water Crisis in Nigeria: Project Management As Africa’s most populous and largest economy, Nigeria faces various water-related challenges, from water scarcity in the north to water pollution in the south.
• Harmonie Water: Bottled Water Production in the U.S. The global market for bottled water is a highly competitive supply environment. The frequent introduction of several firms into the market is the primary cause of this.
• Human Energy Consumption and Water Power Human energy use is significantly low compared to natural energy flow. Waterpower is not significant in energy flow because it is renewable energy.
• Agriculture, Water, and Food Security in Tanzania This paper evaluates the strategies applicable to the development and further maintenance of agriculture, water, and food security in Tanzania.
• Relocation of Solar Power System to Easy Life Water Ventures The paper states that having an effective power source will help the organization operate smoothly and sustainably and increase its reputation.
• Aspects of Global Pollution of Water Global pollution of water resources has devasting effects on the environment that include the destruction of the ocean ecosystem and biodiversity.
• Water Pollution in the Florida State The researchers claimed that plastic pollution was caused by the tourists and citizens who live along the coastline and dumping from the industries.
• Hyponatremia: How Much Water Do You Actually Need? Some schools, like Mississippi State, do hydration tests before each practice to ensure their players are adequately hydrated.
• Analyzing the Use of Water in Danticat, Roumain, and Marshall The use of water in the three novels Roumain’s “Masters of the Dew,” Danticat’s “Krik? Krak!” and Paul’s “Praise Song for the Widow” has a symbolic meaning.
• Water Pollution and How to Address It A person must protect nature – in particular water resources. After all, the possibilities of water resources are not unlimited and sooner or later, they may end.
• Water Pollution: Effects and Treatment Pollution of water bodies is a serious hazard to humans and the aquatic ecology, and population growth is hastening climate change.
• Examining Solutions for Mitigating the Food and Water Security Issue Hunger, malnutrition, and decreased resource distribution manifest in communities having issues with food and water security, which decreases the well-being of individuals.
• Garbage Pollution’s Impact on Air, Water and Land Garbage pollutes the planet, and to stop this adverse effect, the authorities’ involvement is needed. One solution lies in the plane of economics and politics.
• Impact of Water Pollution: Water Challenges of an Urbanizing World Water is a source of life on Earth, and it is one of the very first needs of living beings. It is a vital resource for the development of the economic and social sectors.
• Environment: There’s Something in the Water Environmental racism hurts the natural image of landscapes and negatively affects the atmosphere and reduces the quality and duration of life for minorities.
• New Evian Water Product and Customers Analysis As the new Evian water product is a more ecological option, customers concerned about the environment could also represent the client base of the product.
• Evaluation of Articles on Food and Water Security The two resources chosen for this discussion pertain to food and water security solutions. The scholarly source is visually distinct from the popular source due to its structure.
• The Clean Water Network Support Statement Fresh water has become one of the most valuable resources in the world, around which regional or even global wars may occur in the future.
• Water Scarcity Due to Climate Change This paper focuses on the adverse impact that water scarcity has brought today with the view that water is the most valuable element in running critical processes.
• Global Societal Issue: Food and Water Security According to research, food and water security is a pertinent global problem in the current decade, with access to food and water becoming scarce in certain world regions.
• The High Heat Capacity of Water The heat capacity of water greatly affects the planet’s climate. At high temperatures, water absorbs heat, and when it gets colder, it gives it away.
• Food and Water Security as Globalization Issues Globalization has several implications for the business environment, among which are the expanded access to resources, and the interdependence of international companies.
• What Is Water-Related Terrorism and How to Cope With It? Water-related terrorism includes damaging government facilities, and since water resources are vital for human existence, it is profitable for terrorists to attack them.
• Whirlpool in the Sea off the Coast of Scotland Near Ayrshire Due to Waste Water Stunning drone images near Lendalfoot in South Ayrshire captured a glimpse of a mammoth whirlpool off the Scottish west coast.
• Causes and Risks of Water Pollution The paper describes the effects of water pollution on human health from the perspective of existing findings on this topic and the assessment of information.
• Safe Drinking Water: Current Status and Recommendations The study proposes the usage of agricultural waste as a sustainable biosorbent for toxic metal ions removal from contaminated water.
• The Problem of Environmental Pollution: Fresh Water One of the more important concerns that are fast becoming a major threat is pollution and no form of pollution seemed to be bigger than that of freshwater pollution.
• Underground Water Contamination in St. Louis Mo City In St. Louis Mo City of Missouri State, contamination of underground water is most likely and that is why the water supply is a subject to government policies.
• Basic Functions of Minerals and Water in the Body This paper discusses the functions and sources of minerals, the function of water in the body, and the general effect of dehydration on the body.
• Twitter Campaign: Impact of Water Runoff Water runoff can cause flooding, which means property damage and mold formation in damp basements and more. This paper is a twitter campaign about the impact of water runoff.
• Water Pollution of New York City Rivers The aim of the analysis was to assess the effects of CSOs on water quality and the environment at different sites along the Harlem River.
• Multidisciplinary Approach to Water Pollution This paper shows how the multidisciplinary approach addresses water pollution as a public health issue. It is important to understand what the model entails.
• Water Cooling Tower Construction Site’s Problems The paper highlights three major problems at the construction site. They are security, scheduling, and safety problems.
• Cooling Water System Overview Water towers can reduce temperatures more than any other devices using air only to reject heat hence are more cost-effective.
• Recent Water Treatment and Production Developments This study attempts to investigate whether inorganic filters are more suitable for industrial and water treatment processes when compared to organic filters.
• Chemistry: Partitioning Coefficient of the Water The partitioning coefficient of the water solutions with of diuron, decadienal, atrazine, fluoranthene, and desethylatrazine compounds are calculated in accordance with the formula.
• Study of Local Water Resources Quality This laboratory report aims to summarize the results obtained during the study oxygen consumption, BOD, and detecting dissolved suspended solids in Hong Kong water.
• Developing Suspension Carbon Nano-Tubes in Water This paper has discussed nano-tubes and suspension as well as stabilization which make use of Multi-Wall-Carbon-Nanotubes by the function of concentrated SDS.
• Is Bottled Water Dangerous for People and the Environment? The purpose of this paper is to discuss alternative perspectives on bottled water and whether it is dangerous for people and the planet.
• A Cartographic History of Water Infrastructure and Urbanism in Rome The freshwater available to the city was a huge cultural and economic boon to Roman citizens. Some of this ancient water infrastructure is operational to this day.
• Integrated Water Strategies From Website Water Recycling The website http://waterrecycling.com/ is a front-end of their company showing various services that the company offers in the field of water recycling.
• The Causes of Water Pollution Water pollution is a significant decrease in water resources’ quality due to the ingress of various chemicals and solid waste. The causes of pollution are related to human activities.
• Bottle Water Industry in Current Economic UK Climate The research question is whether bottled water is a necessity or a luxury with regard to the current economic climate in the United Kingdom.
• Water Quality Assessment. Environmental Impact Maintaining good water quality is essential to human health; thus, the recent decades have outstandingly worsened the water across communities worldwide by pollution.
• Political Ecology and Water Wars in Bolivia The given critical assessment will primarily focus on bringing a new perspective to the issue from the standpoint of political ecology.
• The Influence of Water on the Growth of Popcorn Plants The information from the study would aid farmers in identifying appropriate seasons to cultivate popcorn plants based on data of meteorological forecasts.
• Boiling Is a Process That Cools the Water This paper tells that bringing water to a boil while making tea is a progression that cools it since the process lessens the overall temperature.
• Water Conservation Practice in Olympia Olympia city has a comprehensive water conservation program that involves many projects. The city puts much effort into the conservation of water.
• Protecting the Current and Future Water Supply for Rio de Janiero In the current rate of use, as well as the consensus reached by the governing officials in Rio de Janeiro, there will be enough potable water until 2025.
• Water Conservation Practice in Houston From the treatment of wastewater to the reduction of the consumption of the same Houston is an epitome of the increasing need to conserve resources, especially water.
• Burning Issue of Water Pollution in Washington The problem of polluted drinking water in Washington should be solved immediately despite various obstacles, such as pressure for money, etc.
• Drinking-Water in Third World Countries The shortage of drinking water in countries of Third World and the public controversy, surrounding the issue, illustrates the validity of this thesis better then anything else.
• Water: An Often Overlooked Essential Element in Our Environment The freshwater required for growing food and livestock is also in great demand by the large numbers of inhabitants in the world’s cities and towns.
• Bottled Water: Environmental and Cultural Impact The consumption of bottled water has an impact on society. Appropriate strategies must be implemented to ensure that the hazards associated with bottled water are reduced.
• Bottled Water Status in the UK With the current economic climate in the UK, the issue of whether bottled water has become a luxury or a necessity.
• Changes in the Global Water Cycle Changes in the climate brought about by global warming have a much bigger likelihood of impacting negatively on the global hydrological cycle.
• Water and Soil Pollution: Effects on the Environment Water and soil pollution is the process of contaminating water and soil. In this project, we will investigate the apparent main pollutants of the Spring Mill Lake.
• Bottled Water: Culture and Environmental Impact Bottled water as a particular branch of industrial growth in countries throughout the world represents the source of environmental pollution.
• Alternative Energy Sources: A Collaborative Approach in Water Management With the increasingly high prices of gasoline in particular and fossil fuels in general there is a need to find an alternative source of energy.
• Water Sector Privatisation in Saudi Arabia The paper explores the decision by the Ministry of Water and Electricity in Saudi Arabia to form the National Water Company to facilitate the privatization process and oversee the regional operations.
• Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Effect on Water Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) constitute one of the largest groups of compounds that produce widespread organic environmental pollution posing a risk to marine biota
• Lack of Water in California as an Environmental Issue California can run out of water because of technological and social problems that affected the region. Defining water resources’ “development” is critically important.
• Potential Threats to Water Supplies in Ottawa The purpose of the research is to identify the distribution of threats to drinking water in the city and determine who might benefit and who might be harmed in the process.
• Water Quality in Savannah, Georgia The City of Savannah Water Supply and Treatment Department conducts numerous annual tests to ensure that drinking water in the region is safe for human consumption.
• Water Pollution Index of Batujai Reservoir, Central Lombok Regency-Indonesia Despite having 6% of the world’s water resources, Indonesia’s environmental policies have not only been raising concerns but also pushed the country to the brink of water crisis.
• Dream Water Company’s Product Marketing The core product is the main benefit that the product brings to the consumer. For Dream Water, the core product is the medication against insomnia.
• Water Sanitation Program in Saudi Arabia In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as the demand for water continues to increase without an equivalent increase in the supply, the level of hygiene may soon become a problem.
• “Bling H2O” Bottled Water in the Australian Market Bling H2O water is the world’s most expensive bottled water. The brand’s creator targeted to sell it to the celebrities who highly esteem their bottled water.
• FIJI Water Company’s Success The business owners of FIJI Water embarked on a very active marketing campaign aimed at the promotion of the water, as well as the establishment and maintenance of FIJI Water’s brand.
• Virtual Water Content and Global Water Savings The Virtual Water Content concept was the byproduct of discussions regarding the need to provide food in countries suffering from drought or plagued with perpetual water scarcity.
• Active Remediation Algorithm for Water Service in Flint The Active Remediation algorithm aims to inspect the water service in Flint, Michigan, and identify those lead pipes that need to be replaced by copper pipes.
• Water Savings and Virtual Trade in Agriculture Water trade in agriculture is not a practice that is unique to the modern generation. The practice was common long before the emergence of the Egyptian Empire.
• Virtual Water Trade and Savings in Agriculture This essay discusses the savings associated with virtual water trade in agriculture and touches on the effects of a shift to local agricultural production on global water savings.
• Glacéau Company: Vitamin Water Ethics The business practice of this paper is the production and sale of vitamin water by Glacéau in which the company states that the water being sold has been “enriched” with vitamins.
• Virtual Water Trade of Agricultural Products Virtual water trade is a concept associated with globalization and the global economy. Its rise was motivated by growing water scarcity in arid areas around the world.
• Substances Influence on Water The objective of the experiment will be to find if the freezing rate of water changes when different substances are added.
• Virtual Water Savings and Trade in Agriculture The idea of virtual water was initially created as a method for assessing how water-rare nations could offer food, clothing, and other water-intensive products to their residents.
• Green Infrastructure in Water Management This paper evaluates the utility of water management in urban areas from the aspect of perception and interpretation of green infrastructure in water management.
• Water Quality and Contamination In this paper, carries out detailed experiments on the bottled and tap water available to consumers to establish whether it is worthwhile to purchase bottled water.
• Water Buffalo Days: Growing Up in Vietnam by Nhuong The book Water Buffalo Days: Growing Up in Vietnam by Nhuong tells the story of a young boy in a central village in Vietnam. The story presents unique characteristics of Vietnam society and culture.
• Oil, Water and Corruption in Central Asian States The region of Central Asia has been a focus of the world’s political and economic attention due to its rich oil and gas resources. Corruption is the main curse of Central Asian states.
• Water Scarcity Issue and Environment The paper answers the question why to be worried about running out of drinking water even though the earth’s surface is mostly made of water.
• Environmental Studies: Water Recycling Different countries face varying challenges in as far as the provision of clean water to its population is concerned depending on its economic development level and geographic location.
• How Does Water Pollution Affect Human Health?
• Are Sports Drinks Better for Athletes Than Water?
• What Happens if You Don’t Filter Your Water?
• Can Game Theory Help to Mitigate Water Conflicts in the Syrdarya Basin?
• How Can We Reduce Water Scarcity?
• Are Water Filters Really That Important?
• How Much Water Do We Need to Feed the World?
• Why Is Water Important for Food Production?
• Can Markets Improve Water Allocation in Rural America?
• How Can We Reduce Water Consumption in Food Industry?
• Can Public Sector Reforms Improve the Efficiency of Public Water Utilities?
• What Are the Modern Technologies Used to Treat Water?
• How Does Water Pollution Affect Global Warming?
• Can Sea Water Generate Usable Energy?
• What Are the Steps Taken by the Government to Reduce Water Pollution?
• Can Sugar Help Lower the Freezing Point of Water?
• Do We Need More Laws to Control Water Pollution?
• Can the Global Community Successfully Confront the Global Water Shortage?
• What Is the Government Doing to Save Water?
• Can Virtual Water ‘Trade’ Reduce Water Scarcity in Semi-arid Countries?
• Does Urbanization Improve Industrial Water Consumption Efficiency?
• How Has Technology Helped Us Save Water?
• Does Piped Water Improve Household Welfare?
• Can Water Pollution Policy Be Efficient?
• How Does Green Infrastructure Improve Water Quality?

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• Published: 19 January 2023

A journal for all water-related research

Nature Water volume  1 ,  page 1 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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Nature Water aims to be a venue for all research on the evolving relationship between water resources and society.

In the series of notes now commonly known as the Codex Leicester, Leonardo da Vinci described water as ‘vetturale della natura’, the driving force of all nature. Da Vinci was fascinated by water and by its motion. His studies focussed specifically on the way water flows, especially in rivers, the way it goes around obstacles, the way it erodes rocks, and more broadly on how everything in nature progresses through the motion of water.

Although Da Vinci was mostly referring to the physical properties of water, it would be fair to extend his words to take into consideration that water resources are also the engine of human society. Since the origin of civilization, people have settled around rivers, lakes and along coastal areas. Water was essential for drinking of course, but also for sanitation, transportation and for agriculture. Throughout history, the relationship between water and society has evolved primarily thanks to scientific and technological progress. Aqueducts, sewages, irrigation and transportation canals and eventually water and wastewater treatment systems have improved how water is distributed, and helped prevent damage to the environment and the spreading of pathogens and pollutants.

All the scientific and technological progress of the past has however not been enough to prevent the water-related challenges of modern society. According to the United Nations (UN), as of 2020, 26% of the world population still lacked access to safely managed drinking water and 46% did not have safely managed sanitation. Water and sanitation are in fact the focus of the 6 th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of the UN, which aims at ensuring access to clean water and sanitation for all by 2030. Furthermore, water is central to the achievements of most of the other SDGs, including zero hunger, sustainable cities, gender equality, climate action and responsible consumption.

Although the most significant problems with water and sanitation are in the poorest countries, the richer countries also suffer from water inequalities and water injustice. At a global level, rising temperatures and extreme weather events like floods and droughts drastically reduce water quantity and quality. Furthermore, increasing population and technological progress generate higher demands for clean water on the one hand, and severe water contamination on the other.

Facing the challenges related to water requires changes in the current technological and social infrastructure, in order to achieve environmentally sustainable use of water resources and a more equal and just water access. This will be possible through the combination of concurrent and diverse actions, including improvements in technological infrastructure, behaviour, governance, laws and regulations.

The launch of Nature Water originates from the desire to create a venue where all researchers working towards a more equitable and sustainable relationship between water and society can find the most significant contributions from natural sciences, social sciences and engineering. Our aim to report significant contributions from all water-related research is clearly expressed in the Viewpoint published in this first issue, which showcases the contribution of nine experts covering some of the challenges and prospects in a range of areas of water research.

The rest of the content also covers a variety of topics. The Review by Rodell and Reager and the Article by Schilling et al. focus on hydrology; the Analysis by Zeng et al. is about the water–energy nexus; the Perspective by Schipanski is about governance of groundwater resources; the Article by Mueller and Gasteyer and the Article by Rachunok and Fletcher analyse water-related economic inequalities in different communities; finally the Perspective by Elimelech and co-authors, the Article by Xie and co-authors and the Article by Liu and co-authors, focus on water and wastewater treatment.

As a journal covering a thematic research area, there are two essential aspects that Nature Water will endorse from the outset. The first one, which is beautifully illustrated by Julia Martin-Ortega in her World View , is that when looking at the interaction between people and water, social sciences must be an integral part of research, on par with natural sciences and engineering. Improving our understanding of natural resources or developing new and efficient technologies will not be enough if we do not take into account how behaviours, perceptions, laws and regulations can lead to a more just, less expensive and more environmentally sustainable access and use of water resources.

The second is that the results of water research should be open to all. Nature Water is a transformative journal, which means that authors of primary research have the option of open-access publication. We are also fully committed to open and FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reproducible) data, as well as the sharing of code. The Comment by Emma Schymanski and Stanislaus Schymanski, and the Comment by Rhea Verbeke illustrate the importance of open science as well as the obstacles that seem to limit the data and code sharing at this stage. At Nature Water , we explicitly encourage our authors to deposit their data and codes in public repositories, and we shall work with the research community to ensure that open science becomes common practice for all areas of water-related research.

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Faster and Safer: Research Priorities in Water and Health

Karen setty.

a The Water Institute at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, 166 Rosenau Hall, CB #7431, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7431;

Jean-Francois Loret

b Suez, Centre International de Recherche sur l’Eau et l’Environnement (CIRSEE), 38 rue du President Wilson, 78230, Le Pecq, France;

Sophie Courtois

Charlotte christiane hammer.

c Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK;

Philippe Hartemann

d Université de Lorraine, Faculté de Médecine, EA 7298, ERAMBO, DESP, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy, France;

Michel Lafforgue

e Suez Consulting, Le Bruyère 2000 - Bâtiment 1, Zone du Millénaire, 650 Rue Henri Becquerel, CS79542, 34961, Montpellier Cedex 2, France;

Xavier Litrico

f Suez, Tour CB21, 16 Place de l’Iris, 92040 Paris La Defense Cedex, France;

Tarek Manasfi

g Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland;

Gertjan Medema

h KWR Watercycle Research Institute, Groningenhaven 7, 3433 PE, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands;

i Delft University of Technology, Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN, Delft, The Netherlands

Mohamed Shaheen

j School of Public Health, University of Alberta, 3-300 Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, 11405 - 87 Ave, Edmonton, AB T6G 1C9, Canada;

Vincent Tesson

k French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), UMR 1114 EMMAH, 228 route de l’Aérodrome, CS 40 509, 84914 Avignon Cedex 9, France;

Jamie Bartram

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals initiated in 2016 reiterated the need for safe water and healthy lives across the globe. The tenth anniversary meeting of the International Water and Health Seminar in 2018 brought together experts, students, and practitioners, setting the stage for development of an inclusive and evidence-based research agenda on water and health. Data collection relied on a nominal group technique gathering perceived research priorities as well as underlying drivers and adaptation needs. Under a common driver of public health protection, primary research priorities included the socioeconomy of water, risk assessment and management, and improved monitoring methods and intelligence. Adaptations stemming from these drivers included translating existing knowledge to providing safe and timely services to support the diversity of human water needs. Our findings present a comprehensive agenda of topics at the forefront of water and health research. This information can frame and inform collective efforts of water and health researchers over the coming decades, contributing to improved water services, public health, and socioeconomic outcomes.

Introduction

To promote public health and wellbeing, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 seeks to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” by 2030 ( UN Water, 2018 ). Many entities are scaling up efforts to address this challenge, including responses to the new aspects of SDG 6 as compared to the earlier Millennium Development Goals (1990–2015). These aspects include universality, inclusivity, cooperative participation, and “safely managed” services, as well as improved coordination with environmental protection efforts to support integrated water resource management. Evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) is a common goal in many service provision sectors, including water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH). Barriers to the use of EIDM in WaSH policy and practice have included a weak enabling environment, bounded by relatively low political priority, lack of mutual accountability, poor coordination, insufficient financing, and limited data availability or relevance ( SWA, 2018 ). Because the transition to SDG 6 is accompanied by new evidence needs, it requires review of corresponding research priorities ( Setty et al., 2018b ).

Research on water and health involves both quantitative and qualitative studies, generating and matching data from a complex mixture of disciplines, such as environmental science, engineering, epidemiology, economics, hydrology, chemistry, microbiology, toxicology, human biology, sociology, anthropology, statistics, and geospatial mapping. Interventions to change processes or behaviors to improve public health are often complex. Unlike medical trials, it can be difficult to implement WaSH interventions in a controlled way, or to blind researchers and participants to randomized assignment. Some of these challenges are exacerbated in low-income settings, leading to weak main effects and strong contextual influences ( Hamilton and Mittman, 2017 ). The resulting evidence base is characterized by heterogeneity with highly variable effects dependent on site-specific characteristics. The state of evidence in WaSH may exasperate decision-makers, who look for clear, usable, and immediate guidance when policy windows open ( Brocklehurst, 2013 ; Rose et al., 2017 ).

A number of international events focus on water and health topics, including World Water Week in Stockholm, the rotating International Water Association World Water Congress and Exhibition, and the Water and Health conference in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. These events draw hundreds to thousands of participants. Since 2009, the multinational utility company Suez has likewise organized an International Water and Health Seminar annually in Cannes, France to promote meaningful exchange between researchers and practitioners. It invites senior academic experts and junior scientists (typically finishing PhD students) into a smaller forum with greater contact time. Participating experts form a standing scientific committee, and new student participants apply to attend each year. Typically, the scientific committee selects 16–20 PhD students to maximize geographical and topic diversity. Attendees have come from countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, England, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, the United States, and Wales.

We set out to explore water and health research priorities by harvesting the perspectives of participants at the 2018 International Water and Health Seminar. All participants joined a simplified nominal group technique (NGT) exercise that explored drivers, adaptation needs, and perceived research priorities. Ideally, research priority setting should be transparent, consider context, take a comprehensive stance, establish focal criteria, and include multiple categories of stakeholders ( Viergever et al., 2010 ). The NGT approach is often used in quality improvement, business, and other group settings to engender active and equal participation, and to achieve prioritization and consensus ( CDC, 2006 ; Tague, 2004 ).

We applied a simplified and slightly modified NGT ( CDC, 2006 ; Tague, 2004 ) including all participants at the 2018 International Water and Health Seminar held in Cannes, France. This in-person, participatory method was selected as a structured and inclusive way to develop consensus among a fairly large and mixed group of researchers and practitioners (water and sanitation service providers). It aimed to achieve theoretical saturation (comprehensive exploration of research themes) by not limiting the number of submissions per person and triangulating concepts through multiple rounds of inquiry ( Saunders et al., 2018 ). The technique was adapted because of time constraints, and used a color indicator for paper submissions to confidentially record, and permit analysis of, differences in perceptions among the three types of participants: academics, students, and practitioners. We also examined past programs and prepared summary statistics to compare results to presentation topics from the first ten years of the seminar (2009–2018). Owing to the expansive topic, data interpretation included a group-based narrative review ( Dijkers, 2009 ) focused on the most pertinent literature relevant to each research theme.

Data collection

Thirty-three participants (8 senior academic researchers, 10 Suez research staff members, and 15 doctoral or postdoctoral scholars) attended the seminar. All agreed to participate in the NGT exercise. No compensation was offered, nor any penalty for choosing not to participate. Most participants came from Europe, with representatives from the US, Canada, and Australia; names, classifications, and institutions of participants are listed in the acknowledgements. The students were at an advanced trainee level in their careers, pursuing pre- or postdoctoral research, while the academics held advanced degrees and professorships and were generally late career. Professional attendees ranged from early- to mid- to late-career and were permanent or contract employees of research and development branches within Suez, a large multinational utility group headquartered in France. The seminar and NGT sessions were conducted in English, which was a second language for some participants. In consultation with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Office of Human Research Ethics, the study was not submitted for formal IRB approval because the information gathered related to the research needs assessment rather than the participants themselves.

Five days before the seminar, all participants received an email with written instructions concerning the exercise. Participants were asked to consider questions about water and health research priorities, but not to share their ideas with others. The scope of “water and health” was deliberately not defined, as the scope of understanding of the term was itself of interest. The instructions requested feedback at the seminar on research themes separately from research questions, but during the exercise these categories were merged and a new question was added on adaptations to the underlying drivers.

At the seminar, two sessions of NGT were conducted. In each, no prior knowledge of the instructions was assumed and participants were briefly introduced to the question(s) to be tackled. Ten to twelve minutes were dedicated to “silent idea generation” in which participants recorded each of their ideas on sticky note paper, with different colors to differentiate ideas from different participant groups (students, academics, and practitioners). The practice of writing responses before sharing ensured accountability to the original idea and equal participation, to prevent cognitive “anchoring and adjustment” or reporting bias based on what others shared with the group. The facilitator (JB) served as a participant in accordance with good practice for NGT.

Method modifications of standard NGT ( CDC, 2006 ; Tague, 2004 ) included (a) accepting clustered contributions after the first round, and (b) performing counting for prioritization afterwards, following electronic data entry. One round of round-robin idea presentation was conducted in which each participant described one idea from their sticky notes and the note was added to a display board. Notes were loosely organized into categories, typically proposed by the person who first raised a new idea, and grouped by joining similar submissions as themes emerged. Subsequent rounds proceeded similarly, except that to conserve time, individuals were permitted to offer up notes duplicative of or similar to an idea being presented at any time, without waiting for their next turn, keeping them in the same grouping with the original idea. Rounds continued until all ideas were exhausted. Participants then checked the results on the boards, discussed, and modified the idea organization and groupings. The outcome was adopted by informal consensus and transcribed into an electronic record.

The first round involved all groups of participants (students, academics, and practitioners) and lasted approximately two hours. It addressed two questions (drivers and research questions), and participants indicated at the time of presentation whether the idea they were presenting was a driver or a research question/theme. The second session took place two days after the first, and lasted approximately two hours. It addressed practical adaptations to the drivers and involved only the academics and practitioners, as students were assumed to have less applied experience.

Data processing

We inductively compared responses based on the three different approaches using different questions ( Figure 1 ) to identify prominent research priorities, underlying drivers, and adaptations. A research agenda was constructed primarily using input on research questions, with cross-comparison for sensitivity to drivers and adaptations. The participant input was similarly cross-compared with prior program topics gleaned from annual programs from 2009–2018. This data triangulation helped to ensure missing topics and perspectives were covered. Several authors separately assessed data via conventional qualitative content analysis ( Hsieh and Shannon, 2005 ), using line-by-line (in vivo) coding in most cases, to evaluate the frequency of subthemes as a basis for presentation of findings and discussion.

Relationship between three lines of inquiry pursued using the NGT method to support data triangulation and comprehension.

The relatively rapid sorting into themes at the in-person sessions was supplemented with follow-up checks involving two authors (JB and KS). Using the submitted research priorities and categorical organization as the primary input, category wording was harmonized to create a set of distinct concepts related to the umbrella of water and health. First, alternative categorization schemes were explored to determine which best fit the data. Second, categories with three or fewer nominated research topics were merged into other larger categories, and dominant subcategories were elevated to categories to create a relatively even distribution of topics. Third, each category assignment was reviewed and some research topics were reassigned, using the original wording of the submission and giving deference to the original category assignment if wording was unclear. Categories were ordered by frequency of topic nomination, counting each entry as one “vote,” as a means to convey overall prominence. Finally, the wording of each submission was revised to correct minor spelling and grammar errors, to help clearly convey the intended topic. In some cases, for example when inferring the meaning of acronyms, the most probably meaning in common use was assigned, although alternative meanings were possible.

Input based on submitted drivers and adaptations were reviewed and cross-compared with the research priorities, to identify gaps and novel insights. Additionally, the research priorities were compared with topics from the 10-year history of the Cannes seminar, to offer insight as to trends over time. This involved assignment of topics to themes by year by a third author (JFL). All participants were offered a follow-up opportunity to help with data interpretation and contribute to manuscript preparation. As a result, the draft results were shared with a sub-group of participants who volunteered, to continue to validate and refine understanding of the results in a participatory manner. This team-based approach engendered a narrative literature review of the most relevant references on each topic, to aid communication and uptake of the findings.

Participation

We tracked participant type, numbers of submitted “ideas,” and average per-person idea generation rates to characterize representation ( Table 1 ). Since no limit was assigned, the estimated number of submissions per individual ranged from approximately five to 25.

Number of participants and responses submitted at the seminar workshop by respondent type and round of questioning

Research priorities

Refinement of the draft topic categorization initiated at the in-person sessions helped to solidify eleven major themes capturing water and health research priorities ( Figure 2 ). A somewhat broad category about the social, political, economic and other context in which people use water was of greatest concern, reflecting increased attention toward sustainable global development and soft science in addition to engineering approaches. Next, some traditional disciplines such as water quality, water treatment, and water microbiology were prominent. Risk assessment and management, sanitation, and water resources held a moderate position. Less frequent emergent categories included information and artificial intelligence, real-time or rapid methods, water reuse, and the water-energy nexus. Some key subthemes also emerged across categories or nested within categories. These included technological innovation, metagenomics, “one health,” and disinfection.

Identified water and health research priorities, with themes and subthemes in order of frequency of research question submissions (in parentheses)

Triangulation

Using three different approaches (i.e., requesting research priorities directly versus asking indirectly about prevalent drivers and adaptations) allowed triangulation of the data from multiple perspectives. Similarities and differences among responses contributed to the framing of the research agenda. Overall, they revolved around protecting human health in the face of global changes as a critical underlying concept. Pure environmental (including wildlife and domestic animal) protection played a lesser role. Although deemed important by a number of participants, ecological sustainability represents a newer aspect of WaSH development goals. In many cases, environmental science, agriculture, and public health fields have traditionally had separate regulatory and research-funding structures, which may fail to promote disciplinary overlap. Shifts toward unified planetary health were recognized during participatory review of the study as a newer paradigm that will ultimately affect research drivers.

Drivers fell into seven categories: demographic change, climate, chemicals, microbes, infrastructure, nexus systems, and socio-political demands. In comparing drivers to the research themes, the perspective of drivers emphasized the health concerns underlying the research topics, which largely focused on water and sanitation services. Some categories overlapped with the research questions and themes. For instance, nexus-related topics captured energy ( Figure 2 ) as well as trends in food production, soil conditions, and shifting plant life. Climate change appeared as a prominent driver for weather-related risks, and was also mentioned under risk assessment and management ( Figure 2 ). Shifts in chemical production, especially of micropollutants, likewise linked to research questions under risk assessment and management, water quality, and water treatment.

Other driver topics were less prominent among the research questions. Sociopolitical shifts, such as increasing attention to equity and changing international relations, indirectly matched with the socioeconomy of water category, and thus might underlie all research themes. Commonly-referenced drivers for changes in service needs and water-related health vulnerabilities included demographic trends, such as population growth, aging populations, and migration (especially to urban areas). The research themes overlooked some drivers such as antimicrobial resistance and emerging diseases, both of which should fall under the water microbiology category. Aging infrastructure appeared as a prominent driver, but was mentioned less frequently as a research need, relative to information and artificial intelligence as well as water treatment.

Adaptations

Due to the smaller group size, the adaptations had fewer submitted ideas and in-seminar groupings. The main overlap with the research questions was a category called knowledge management and data science, corresponding to the information and artificial intelligence research category. Additional analysis revealed that the draft groupings of adaptations could be broken down further, and all research categories related to at least one adaptation idea submission. Secondary groupings related to the use of science to inform policy and regulations, as well as improved service provision. Subthemes included integration across systems, sectors, and exposures (e.g., engineering for complex systems with interdependencies and trade-offs); decentralization (e.g., of treatment infrastructure and monitoring capabilities); safety and surveillance, and responsiveness (e.g., to crises or situations of increased demand like migration or local droughts). In connection with sanitation, human biomonitoring (e.g., via sewage) emerged as a human health-oriented complement to established environmental health monitoring approaches. Such bridges address traditional divides between environmental protection and human health regulations. Surveillance responsibilities may be siloed among different entities, though, limiting rapid and effective communication and response.

Topics from prior seminar programs

Though presentation topics varied widely over the past ten years of the seminar (2009–2018), four primary categories could be identified: microbiology, chemistry, general topics (e.g., policies, modeling, risk management), and technology ( Figure 3 ). Subcategories further broke down these classifications. For water microbiology, Legionella , amoeba, and intra-amoebal pathogens were the most popular topics. For water quality, occurrence and treatment of micropollutants were prevalent in past seminars. Epidemiology and public health surveillance took the lead for the general category, mirroring the NGT adaptation topics. Biofiltration and biodegradation took the lead under technology. Additional prominent subcategories included pharmaceuticals and endocrine disruptors, antimicrobial resistance, nanomaterials, virus occurrence and treatment, perfluorates, and biofilms. Many of these topics matched those raised in the NGT sessions in 2018, although the prevalent terminology may have evolved over time. For instance, the microbiome and metagenomics appear more frequently in recent years, building on concepts prominent in earlier years such as biofilms and “viable but not culturable” bacterial cells.

Broad categorization of past seminar topics (2009–2018, inclusive)

Some previous presentation topics not mentioned in the NGT included specific viruses (e.g., Ebola, adenovirus, norovirus), parasites (e.g., Cryptosporidium ), and bacteria (enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli , Shigella , Helicobacter ), as well as perfluorinated chemicals, biofiltration, biodegradation, advanced oxidation, and recreational waters. These might reflect oversights, actual shifts in attention, or the wider stance requested for the exercise versus the specificity of individual research presentations, as these topics remain globally prominent. The focus on single pathogens, contaminants, or treatment approaches may also have given way to more holistic approaches to water safety, with the understanding that biological and chemical threats are constantly evolving. Surprisingly, the SDGs were not explicitly mentioned in the NGT, perhaps because they were recognized implicitly. Terrorism was a more prominent topic in past years, but in 2018 was included as one type of risk under risk assessment and management.

Contributors

The classification of submissions as coming from students, academics, or practitioners permitted observations about similarities and differences in perspective among stakeholder groups. In general, practitioners submitted more ideas than the academics or students, who provided roughly the same number of submissions. Past seminar topics were not broken down by contributor type, but came predominantly from academic and student attendees at the seminar, and reflected somewhat narrower topic specificity than the NGT.

Regarding drivers , students did not raise infrastructure issues. Among adaptations , few trends or contrasts were apparent in the diversity of suggestions by practitioners and academics. Within the knowledge management and data science category, practitioners dominantly raised real-time security. Within the research questions , all submissions on development of rapid or real-time monitoring methods and most submissions on the water-energy nexus and water reuse came from practitioners. Few students at the NGT expressed ideas about risk assessment and management or sanitation, although former students covered these topics in past seminars. Few academics addressed the socioeconomy of water, which may reflect a greater degree of specialization in other areas.

Within the umbrella topic of water and health, we present discussion around key themes and subthemes in order of decreasing frequency of participant submissions ( Figure 2 ). Aspects introduced through the data triangulation methods are integrated within the same thematic areas. The scope of participants’ understanding of “water and health” appeared to match the scope of the event itself, which focused on natural, social, and health sciences connected to water and wastewater services. It delved less frequently into water policy. Due to the natural overlap among these thematic categories, some topics were assigned to the closest fit while others appear in multiple contexts.

Socioeconomy of water

The socioeconomy of water concerns interactions of sociology, behavior, culture, and economics with water needs. Socioeconomic issues underlie many other water usage and safety concerns, as they make up the wider contextual structures in which water systems operate. This theme presents an opportunity to identify synergies among topics and issues, and traverse traditional disciplinary fields of research. Integration of different fields and novel combinations of viewpoints such as political ecology, international security, and anthropology can enhance understanding of the complexities of socioeconomic, socio-cultural, and broader water research questions, as well as their impacts on water safety and resilience. Integrated approaches can help to model complex systems ripe with interdependencies and trade-offs. Within this topic, contributions from participants broadly fit into three key subthemes: human factors, governance, and interdisciplinarity. Based on drivers, this theme must consider shifting international relations, demographic trends, and transboundary issues, such as increased migration. Considering the drivers and adaptations, aging infrastructure was another reality that will require added long-term investment and efficient planning ( Value of Water Campaign, 2017 ).

Human factors consist of attitudes, cultures, and practices. They include broad philosophical approaches towards the meaning of water ( Lycan, 2010 ) as well as applied issues such as perceptions and attitudes towards water conservation ( Tarlock, 1987 ; Hermanowicz, 2008 ) and wastewater reuse ( Po et al., 2003 ; Hartley, 2006 ). Further research in these fields should accompany future technological advances and socio-political changes, considering both their empirical and ethical implications for complex water systems. For instance, community-based and public participation in research processes may help redress inequities perpetuated by prevalent power dynamics in science ( Kemmis et al., 2016 ). Equity and social and environmental justice topics were underrepresented at the seminar, but may be a vital component of research context in both low- and high-income settings (e.g., Stillo and MacDonald Gibson, 2017 ). These contextual factors are likely to affect the selection and implementation of water and public health system interventions.

Governance issues include diverse settings from industrialized smart cities to resource-poor settings such as slums. In this field, research has focused on issues such as equitable and affordable access to safe water, which remains integral to accomplishing global development goals ( Onda et al., 2012 ). This subtheme spans access to piped water and wastewater disposal, as well as the health outcomes of limited access, for instance stemming from water carriage over large distances ( Geere et al., 2018 ; Sorenson et al., 2011 ). Water governance broadly encompasses situations of limited water ( Kummu et al., 2010 ) and increasing pressures from climate change across different world regions as diverse as Australia ( Dijk et al., 2013 ), the Middle East ( Hadadin et al., 2010 ), South Africa ( Mukheibir, 2008 ), China ( Cheng et al., 2009 ), and North America ( Gober and Kirkwood, 2010 ). Associated challenges for water conservation thus interact with many of the human factors mentioned above.

The third field concerns interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, and the integration of social sciences, natural sciences, engineering, and operational research. This is at the forefront of many fields, especially in the context of “One Health” ( Min et al., 2013 ; Manlove et al., 2016 ), planetary health ( Galway et al., 2016 ), nutrition ( Picchioni et al., 2017 ), and other fields ( Morillo et al., 2003 ). Brown et al. (2015) mapped out how such an approach can lead to fruitful collaboration within and beyond the field of water research by forging a shared mission, developing “T-shaped” researchers, nurturing constructive dialogue, offering institutional support, and bridging research, policy, and practice. These approaches are especially important in water and health research due to the inherent integration of scientific inquiry with applied solutions in a complex socio-political environment. One example is the relationship between water and wastewater pricing and human behavior, where microeconomics (traditionally a business field) informs good water provision practices ( Nauges and Whittington, 2017 ).

Water quality

The notion of water quality, defined as measurement and understanding of how compounds and organisms in water can influence human and environmental health, has evolved alongside scientific and technical progress. It was essentially limited to organoleptic descriptors (color, odor, taste and temperature) until the early 19 th century ( Symons, 2006 ). The emergence of epidemiology and bacteriology resulted in the development of water disinfection and microbial indicators as new quality parameters, representing substantive public health achievements ( CDC, 1999 , Sedlak, 2014 ). Developments in analytical chemistry during the second half of the 20 th century led to an increasing number of new chemical parameters ( Trussel, 2006 ). The consciousness raised by a series of popular works (e.g., Carson, 1962 ; Colborn et al., 1996 ) likewise contributed to expanding the lists of quality parameters to encompass pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and endocrine disruptors. To measure and understand how compounds and organisms in water can influence human health, NGT participants recommended continued improvement in analytical methods for chemical and microbial contaminants. Subthemes raised by participants included microplastics, disinfection byproducts (DBPs), antimicrobial resistance, perfluorinated chemicals, toxicity detection, Water Safety Plans, and security issues. Microplastics have recently been an area of intense activity, especially in marine waters, but questions regarding their potential health effects on humans and the significance of waterborne exposure remain unanswered ( Rocha-Santos, 2018 ). DBPs remain major concern in drinking and recreational waters, with increased attention on understanding formation from different precursors, toxicity, and strategies to reduce or eliminate formation ( Li and Mitch, 2018 ; Manasfi et al., 2018 ). Antimicrobial resistance represents a major and increasing threat to public health, and the role of waste and drinking waters in the transmission of resistance genes needs to be clarified ( Manaia, 2017 , Wuijts, et al., 2017 ). Perfluorinated compounds such as PFOA and PFOS have gained increased public attention due to the potential health effects of levels found in source water and drinking water ( Morrison, 2016 ).

In-vitro bioassays for toxicity detection used for more than half a century to assess the safety of water reuse schemes have demonstrated their usefulness for the assessment of complex mixtures of pollutants. Their application, however, is still limited by lack of demonstration of the linkages between in-vitro and in-vivo response, and difficulty in interpreting results ( Leusch & Snyder, 2015 ). Water Safety Plans (incorporating water quality and security issues) have been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) since 2004 ( WHO, 2004 ) and are being deployed worldwide. Their application should lead to improved ways of assessing water quality using real-time parameters and on-line sensors for operational control (e.g., turbidity at filter outlet or intrusion detection), in addition to typically lengthier time-to-result laboratory analyses used for compliance.

Water treatment

Water treatment includes technology, infrastructure, and methods for ensuring safe water supply. Since water treatment technologies may be tailored to a range of sources including surface water, groundwater, marine water, stormwater, and recycled wastewater, this thematic area overlaps with water resources, water reuse, and sanitation. Ensuring safe water supply requires a holistic perspective and attention to four main subthemes: cost-effectiveness of treatment and treatment upgrades (e.g., membranes); avoidance or removal of chemical additives, DBPs, and emerging contaminants; alternatives for pathogen removal or disinfection; and ecological sustainability (e.g., safe disposal of brine waste from seawater desalination). An additional participant contribution focused on updating treatment technologies for distributed (cellular) systems and water reuse. In reference to drivers and adaptations, much of the world’s water treatment infrastructure was constructed in the latter half of the twentieth century, and is increasingly in need of repair or replacement ( Moe and Rheingans, 2006 ).

Updates to water treatment systems must take into account the best available technology, as well as cost, resilience, and environmental constraints. Cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses require accessible methods (e.g., Whittington and Hanemann, 2006 ) that consider costs and benefits accrued beyond the utility, for instance to the public and the environment. Such plans are especially pertinent when planning to replace or repair infrastructure that can flexibly meet needs (e.g., for a growing or declining population) over a multi-decadal lifespan. In addition to disinfection methods using chlorine, ozone, or ultraviolet light (UV), novel disinfection methods might include induction of autolysis of bacteria in water systems, for instance using quorum-sensing particles or bacteriophages. Limiting the formation of DBPs was recognized as a driver for this subtheme ( Li and Mitch, 2018 ). While new approaches are constantly under development, consideration of the health impacts of pathogen reduction by various methods and degrees would help to support decision-making. The extension of the SDGs to serve all, including remote populations in unique environments, requires added attention to water treatment decentralization and conservation via onsite reuse ( Insight et al., 2017 ).

Water microbiology

Water microbiology research concerns microbial communities and their effects on water resources and human or animal health. Microbes can float freely in water, attach to particles, aerosolize, or live in biofilms (slimy matrices that form on surfaces). Knowledge about pathogenic microorganisms in water and wastewater has saved millions of lives over the last century from enteric disease outbreaks such as cholera ( Rosen, 2015 ; Schlipköter and Flahault, 2010 ) and typhoid. The drinking water microbiome may comprise up to 40 phyla, which change during various stages of water treatment and distribution ( Proctor and Hammes, 2015 ). The primary global burden of disease is associated with enteric pathogens spread via water and food, particularly rotavirus, Cryptosporidium, Shigella, and Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) ( Kotloff, 2017 ). Microbes and their pathogenicity are constantly evolving in response to environmental stimuli, which can lead to antimicrobial resistance and emerging human diseases. Topics raised by participants included interaction within microbiomes and biofilms, community stability or regrowth (e.g., in distributed or stored water), and investigative tools such as metagenomics.

Among biological hazards to human health, water treatment processes have traditionally targeted enteric pathogens only ( Fewtrell and Bartram, 2001 ) and these continue to be critical for safety ( Setty et al., 2018a ). More recently, disease outbreaks associated with treated water and other water systems, such as cooling towers, show a significant increase in respiratory diseases caused by water-based opportunistic pathogens such as Legionella pneumophila ( Beer et al., 2015 ; Gargano et al., 2017 ). Effective and safe drinking water distribution systems and plumbing systems in large buildings ( Cunliffe et al., 2011 ) are crucial to protect and improve health. Water treatment processes, nutrients, disinfection residuals, DBPs, and the abiotic factors of distribution systems and on-premises plumbing (e.g., stagnation of water, temperature) have significant impacts on the microbial community of tap water and associated water quality ( Wang et al., 2018 ). Moreover, free-living amoebae and some other protozoa present in distribution systems protect certain bacterial pathogens from disinfectants and support intracellular growth of pathogens like Legionella ( Balczun and Scheid, 2017 ; Lu et al., 2014 ; Pagnier et al., 2015 ).

Microbial quality and chemical quality interact, especially where chemical disinfectants used for microbial inactivation give rise to added chemical hazards. One primary concern has been the health effects of DBPs, since many are considered carcinogenic ( Richardson et al., 2007 ). Some suggest adapting treatment processes to select for bacteria such as Rhodococcus and Mycobacterium , which are capable of biodegrading DBPs ( Sharp et al., 2010 ; Gerrity et al., 2018 ). Yet, another concern is inadvertent selection of disinfectant-resistant bacteria such as mycobacteria or antimicrobial resistant bacteria that can opportunistically cause infection in immunocompromised people ( Von Reyn et al., 1994 ; Whiley et al., 2012 ; Gerrity et al., 2018 ; Liu et al., 2018 ; Potgieter et al., 2018 ; Stüken et al., 2018 ). Thus, manipulation of microbial ecology to promote “beneficial” microbes is an important area of continuing research.

Advancement in gene sequencing methods provide exciting new insights and opportunities for water microbiology research, although the presence of nucleic acids does not translate directly to infectivity ( Tan et al., 2015 ). Future research might target biological processes in water treatment, use of metagenomics to characterize occurrence and fate of antimicrobial resistance genes, the virome of wastewater, or microbial ecology. Understanding microbial ecology is important to design sustainable and safe water systems. Some studies suggest that tap water bacterial composition depends primarily on treatment processes rather than source water ( Wang et al., 2013 ; Zhang et al., 2017 ). Thus, the microorganisms and DBPs present in treated drinking water could alter the microbiota in the human gut, which would ultimately influence human health (e.g., Von Hertzen et al., 2007 ). A better understanding these relationships could inform the best drinking water management approaches for achieving public health benefits.

Risk assessment and management

Risk assessment and management consists of technologies, methods, behaviors, and processes that support conversion of evidence about risk to planning and mitigation among stakeholders. This often involves ranking different hazards harmful to people at different life stages, taking into account mortality, illness (disability-adjusted life years or DALYs), and other types of consequences. Subthemes of participant contributions on this topic included: (a) management tools for combining multiple types or measures of risk under a common framework, (b) risks related to extreme weather events, (c) security in the face of political instability (e.g., war or terror attacks), and (d) accounting for uncertainties and unknown risks. An additional submission related to the water microbiology and information and artificial intelligence categories suggested using burgeoning data availability (e.g., metagenomics and other “omics”) to inform risk management. Changing demographics represented a relevant driver, as this may lead to shifts in the sensitivity or receptivity of populations to various hazards.

Multiple risk management tools and approaches were raised as potential options for water systems, including synthesis frameworks such as Water Safety Plans ( Bartram et al., 2009 ), quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA; Petterson and Ashbolt, 2016 ) for microbial pathogens, as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA; Lindhe et al., 2010 ) principles for contaminant reduction, and geospatial modeling (e.g., Lafforgue et al., 2018 ). One issue may be how to combine data-driven management of multiple risk categories (e.g., water quality, financial risk, reputational risk). Risk management programs such as Water Safety Plans have been actively piloted and evaluated in recent years ( WHO and IWA, 2017 ), demonstrating potential benefits to public health ( Gunnarsdóttir, et al., 2012 ; Setty et al., 2017 ), but work remains to facilitate an enabling implementation environment in both low-middle and high-income countries ( Baum and Bartram, 2018 ). While most efforts in past decades were dedicated to managing chemical hazards, emerging risks are more often linked to microorganisms ( Rusin et al., 1997 ). Based on prior seminar topics, risk assessment related to nanotechnology is needed as compounds may be more or less toxic at the nanoscale ( Rocha-Santos, 2018 ). Climate extremes are expected to become more severe in coming decades ( IPCC, 2014 ), leading to a great deal of research among water suppliers, environmental managers, and public health officers around mechanisms for planning, adaptation, and resilience ( Deere, 2017 ).

Regarding security, the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 led to greater awareness around water supply vulnerabilities ( Camarillo et al., 2014 ). Safety largely requires responsiveness to both urgent and subtle water crises, including those with non-malevolent causes such as long-term drought or shifting water demands. In the NGT exercise, hospitals were mentioned as a particularly vulnerable type of institution, mirroring newer findings of poor attention to water, sanitation, and hygiene systems in settings with greater-than-average immunocompromised populations at risk of infectious diseases ( WHO & UNICEF, 2015 ). Loss of hospital water supplies (e.g., due to a crisis or intermittent service) puts patients at greater risk and often requires compromises in sanitary procedures or physiologically stressful patient transfers. Approach and methodology options for addressing uncertainty and unknown risks include the precautionary principle, expert consultation, probabilistic inference, sensitivity tests, fuzzy-set theory, value-based weighting preferences, or conditional rules ( Almaarofi et al., 2017 ; Dominguez-Chicas and Scrimshaw, 2010 ; Petterson and Ashbolt, 2016 ). Automated data production, management, and decision-support systems may aid in earlier detection of risks, enabling faster response times.

Sanitation considers management of human excreta, wastewater, and solid waste to lessen negative human, animal, and environmental consequences. Within this area, key subthemes raised by participants included access to sanitation services and improving their quality, especially using decentralized wastewater treatment systems (DEWATS). Priorities also included improving knowledge of pathogens and micropollutants in liquid and solid waste disposal, particularly for risks associated with their persistence, removal from wastewater, and the sanitary, environmental, and occupational implications. In sum, these topics complement the water resources and socioeconomic subthemes, and create synergies for enhancing usability of freshwater and marine resources.

Ensuring availability and improvement of sanitation systems has been an area of intense activity. The WHO and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP) reported that more than 2.1 billion people gained access to improved sanitation between 1990 and 2015 ( WHO and UNICEF, 2017 ). Still, more than 2.4 billion people had no access to improved sanitation and 1 billion remained without any sanitation system. Taking into account the ambitious new service norm of “safely managed” sanitation, meaning a household has an improved facility with in-situ excreta disposal or transport and treatment offsite, a whopping 5.3 billion people lacked coverage ( WHO and UNICEF, 2017 ). Decentralization appears as a logical evolution for handling increasing loads of wastewater and urban stormwater. A study published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) demonstrated the potential for sustainable decentralized water resource management in urban environments, with better flexibility and at a lower cost than current sanitation systems ( OECD, 2015 ). In addition, many urban centers continue to seek solutions for managing concentrated urban runoff, in some cases by facilitating treatment of discharge collected by separate or combined sewer systems ( Barbosa et al., 2012 ).

Better knowledge of the fate of pathogens and micropollutants from wastewater represents a valuable addition to the research docket, as it will improve understanding and management of subsequent risks to public health ( Campos et al., 2016 ; Gavrilescu et al., 2015 ). Along with molecular and chromatographic methods, high-throughput sequencing and mass spectrometry have enabled more rapid analysis of their transport, dissemination, and persistence in the environment. Still, researchers have limited information on both the long-term effects of micropollutant cocktails and their relationship with the emergence of new bacterial and viral pathogens ( Jekel et al., 2013 ; Sano et al., 2016 ). Concerning the implications of waste disposal, some studies have addressed wastewater reuse and solid waste disposal ( Kellis et al., 2013 ; Kinnaman, 2017 ; Maimon et al., 2010 ), but more attention is needed to determine method effectiveness and pollutant persistence. Seminar participants felt that wastewater reusability (e.g., for water, energy, nutrients) and mastery of pollutant removal were critical components of waste management for the next 5–10 years. Forward-looking commentary on adaptations and the potential use of wastewater revolved around public health surveillance via human biomonitoring ( Joas et al., 2017 ).

Water resources

Water resources refers to conservation of existing and potential new ambient water supplies for human and ecological use. Research priorities primarily fell into two subthemes: (a) water supply quantity and quality stressors and (b) water management solutions. Quantity stressors included shortage, drought, and water loss. Quality stressors related to industrial, agricultural, and other pollutant sources that lead to groundwater contamination and fecal pollution in watersheds. Regarding management solutions, participants cited protection, conservation, improved management planning at the watershed level, and attention to irrigation practices. To achieve SDG 6, the 2018 United Nations’ world water development report emphasizes nature-based solutions tapping wastewater as an underused resource ( WWAP/UN-Water, 2018 ), consistent with the sanitation theme above.

Water resources planning and accounting will require projection of suspected stressors, such as climate change ( Olmstead, 2014 ). Accounting concepts include a water footprint, defined as the total volume of freshwater used directly and indirectly by a nation or a company, or in the provision of a product or service ( Chenoweth et al., 2014 ). Economic approaches such as payment for environmental services (PES) represents a potential option to protect water quality at the watershed scale ( Lafforgue, 2016 ). Bioremediation and source tracking methods were similarly raised as management tools to address pollutant fate and movement within surface and groundwater. Overlapping with the water reuse category, an additional submission had to do with considering the circular economy of water resources in which uncontaminated water circulates in closed loops, allowing repeated use ( Eneng et al., 2018 ) rather than traditional collection, use, and disposal into the environment.

Information and artificial intelligence

This category revolves around data collection and processing to enable EIDM. Few submissions were repetitive or demonstrative of trends, suggesting a wide array of needs in this research area. Data modeling was a research need for holistically considering contaminant sources, pathways, effects on water quality, and control options at a systems level inclusive of the watershed, infrastructure, and receptors (e.g., Lafforgue et al, 2018 ). Other needs included management, transmission, integration, and safe storage of large amounts of data from diverse sources (e.g., watershed, water supply and treatment, public health, open data, video streams, social media). Appropriate instrumentation and centralized management systems should be developed to accomplish these tasks. Speed was of key concern, for example using artificial intelligence as an alternative to long, difficult, and costly epidemiology studies.

Experts recognize care should be taken in communicating the potential for artificial intelligence to replace existing methods. For instance, Google Flu Trends ( Ginsberg, 2009 ) was released in 2006, but withdrawn after a few years due to its tendency to over-predict influenza infections based on Google search data. Despite some limitations, data analytics and artificial intelligence will be considered useful and necessary tools to explore data and contribute to better management of water systems in the future. Participants recommended data systems both to survey ongoing performance shifts and to detect or diagnose abnormalities (e.g., in infrastructure integrity). Optimization exercises can help to solve complex water network design or health hazard problems, taking into account many different criteria, and leading to better solutions than manual design (e.g., Maier et al., 2014 ).

Real-time/rapid methods

Real-time monitoring of drinking water systems includes the technologies and data systems that help managers to maintain safety and respond quickly to accidental or malevolent incidents. Participant feedback dealt with early, real-time, online, and point-of-use contaminant detection, spanning both chemical and biological parameters. In addition to informing water treatment processes, participants anticipated deployment of sensors in source water, distribution systems, and at the point of use to maintain active surveillance and problem detection.

Research interest has been growing in online monitoring for both chemical and biological water quality, including harmful algal bloom (HAB) toxins ( Storey et al. 2011 ; Lopez-Roldan et al. 2013 ). Online monitoring equipment can be installed as an early warning system for the water intake, treatment process monitoring and main entry points to the distribution system. In ambient waters, real-time and rapid methods also concern water-contact and other recreational uses. Complexity derives from the current impossibility of constructing a single sensor to detect all contaminants or pathogens. Studies investigating the performance of various water quality sensors on different contamination patterns suggest monitoring changes to conventional parameters, such as pH, temperature, turbidity, electrical conductivity, and free chlorine concentration, may sufficiently address concerns associated with health risk, customer perceptions (aesthetic taste and odor), and asset management ( Hall et al. 2007 ).

Such monitoring systems should distinguish abnormal changes from normal variations. Thus, event detection models are required for exploring the time series of each water quality parameter and detecting anomalies in water supply systems and networks ( Housh & Ostfeld 2015 ). The cost for sensor deployment and operation limits the number of locations that can be monitored in real time. Future studies will likely aim to develop low-cost and miniaturized sensor technologies to make continuous and complete monitoring possible throughout a water system. In addition to treatment facilities, participants raised installing sensors in distribution pipes (such as sensor chips attached to pipe walls), consumer taps, and individual water meters.

Water reuse

Water reuse refers to safe reuse and recycling to enable sustainable water supplies for human and ecological use. Increasing water supply challenges, aggravated by human population growth and climate change, have driven interest in water reuse as a main component of the new era of water management ( Hering et al., 2013 ). Within this area, key subthemes raised by participants included: technologies for the treatment and reuse of wastewater or alternative water sources, health risks associated with water reuse in particular for potable purpose, and public perception and acceptance of water reuse for potable and non-potable (e.g., agriculture, industry, toilet flushing) purposes.

Research into engineered treatment technologies has been intense, including membrane filtration and oxidation treatment to eliminate microbial and chemical contaminants ( Tang et al., 2018 ; Zodrow et al. 2017 ). Recent advances in membrane technology, particularly reverse osmosis (RO), have played a key role in producing highly purified recycled water and driving an increase in water reuse projects worldwide. This research aims to achieve cost-effectiveness and reliability in removing microbial and chemical contaminants ( Tang et al., 2018 ). Since some chemical contaminants (e.g., certain DBPs, pharmaceuticals) can cross RO membranes, post-RO oxidation treatments capable of removing these contaminants have been integrated into treatment schemes. Traditionally, advanced oxidation processes that generate hydroxyl radicals have been used, and electrochemistry-based oxidation treatment has been attracting increasing attention ( Feng et al., 2016 ). The degree of adoption of any technology will depend on its effectiveness, energy demands, feasibilty, and integration into future water treatment systems ( von Gunten, 2018 ). Nature-based solutions such as managed aquifer recharge (MAR) and biofiltration similarly show promise for promoting water reuse ( Water JPI, 2016 ).

To enhance understanding around the safety of water reuse, further toxicological and epidemiological studies are warranted ( NRC, 2012 ). In exposure circumstances where toxicological and epidemiological dose-response data are lacking, risk assessment can account for uncertainty and use the best available knowledge to support design of safe reuse systems ( NRC, 2012 ). Further, quality assurance of treatment schemes with regard to elimination of chemical and biological contaminants, economic effectiveness, and feasibility of integration into water systems must be resolved to demonstrate usefulness of novel treatment approaches, for example via studying the scaled-up engineering designs ( Lazarova et al, 2013 ). Water reuse may be an especially efficient option in water-scarce contexts, where regulation permits reuse and other options cost more ( Lafforgue and Lenouvel, 2015 ).

In sum, water reuse complements other efforts to increase water availability (e.g., conservation, desalination) and appears as a critical component of ongoing sustainable water management. Some participants mentioned public perception of water reuse, which overlaps with the socioeconomy of water. Public acceptance of water reuse is a prominent factor in determining the future of water reuse, as it significantly influences political decisions on water reuse projects ( Dolnicar et al., 2011 ).

Water-energy nexus

The water-energy nexus refers to the study of how energy use interacts with provision of sustainable water services. Within this area, key subthemes raised by participants included resource rarefaction (water, energy, raw materials) and how to counteract this phenomenon by developing synergies between water-energy-waste cycles, redefining water and sanitation using decentralized and renewable energy-based solutions, safe water treatment at a low energy cost, and microbial fuel cells for sustainable energy production.

Water rarefaction is increasing due to long-term increases in water abstraction, declining resource availability ( Damania et al., 2017 ; 2030 Water Resources Group, 2009 ), and the projected effects of climate change. Research focuses on three main options: increasing water production by desalination, reducing abstraction by recycling urban waters, and reducing water consumption and water losses. However, desalination and water recycling frequently use energy-intensive membrane filtration, replacing a problem by another one. Singapore, for example, is an island city-state faced with this issue ( Lenouvel et al., 2014 ). An integrated perspective would account for such risk substitution.

For instance, the Water and Wastewater Companies for Climate Mitigation (WaCCLIM) roadmap to carbon neutrality in urban water recommends research into low-energy options to produce, transfer and purify water ( Ballard et al., 2018 ). One option is to recover or produce energy from water (e.g., hot water recycling, energy-neutral wastewater treatment, hydropower production in water networks, microbial fuel cells). Another option is to save energy (e.g., low-energy membrane filtration, pumping and pressure optimization, reduction of water consumption, early leak detection). Water recycling in short loops using nature-based solutions may improve water management and save energy ( WWAP/UN-Water, 2018 ; Lafforgue and Lenouvel, 2015 ; Kavvada et al., 2016 ). OSMOSUN® solar desalination units are one example of a technology combining renewable energy and water production. Similar recommendations are included in the International Water Association Principles for Water-Wise Cities being adopted around the world ( IWA, 2016 ).

In sum, NGT participants felt that water-energy synergies, water short loops, and renewable energy emerged as prominent options to investigate resource rarefaction. Flexible solutions require time and development, as they are very context dependent ( Lafforgue et al., 2014 ). Investigative tools for structuring and testing potential water-energy option combinations (e.g., Urb’Advanced) may be useful.

Comparison to other studies

With increased activity around the SDGs, WaSH professionals have renewed efforts to examine high-priority research areas ( UN Water, 2018 ; WHO and UNICEF, 2017 ). Needs assessments are a valuable step in structuring research, policy, and practice responses. This study is one of several efforts to gather data on water and health knowledge needs, for instance via literature review ( Hutton and Chase, 2016 ), electronic survey ( Setty et al., 2018b ), review of meeting abstracts ( Kogevinas, 2017 ), and knowledge translation activities ( USAID, 2017 ). While the framing differs among agenda-setting methods and studies, these synergistic efforts contribute to capacity building to support global goals toward safe water and sanitation for all.

In connection with WHO-Europe efforts to set priorities for environmental health research, Kogevinas (2017) recommended dialogue between researchers and stakeholders rather than algorithms or semi-quantitative grading to non-prescriptively assess potential research topics against novelty, importance to people, impact on policy, and technical innovation and development. The WaSH research prioritization survey in collaboration with the Sanitation and Water for All partnership ( Setty et al., 2018b ) was structured around SDG 6 targets, with heavy representation from African partners, whereas the present effort garnered representation primarily from high-income regions. The literature review ( Hutton and Chase, 2016 ) looked retrospectively at peer-reviewed and gray literature, in contrast to the forward-looking expert elicitation used here. Both the literature review, which is subject to publication bias, and our in-person approach, requiring costly travel, likely underrepresent researchers from lowand middle-income countries.

While the results of these studies overlap in many ways, research policy and the financing of research were not considered in this study. Similarly, while hygiene and associated behavior change were not excluded topics, they did not emerge as a substantive focus during the NGT exercises. Though not explicitly discussed during the NGT sessions, the context for the study was set in an era of shifting priorities, as the SDGs set out more challenging expectations for water and health professionals, and unlike similar development initiatives in preceding decades, the SDGs explicitly apply to countries at all stages of development. The targets for SDG 6 ( UN, 2018 ) comprise:

• Achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all
• Achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations
• Improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally
• Substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity
• Implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate
• Protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes
• Expand international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water- and sanitation-related activities and programs, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies
• Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management

Equity represents a central component of SDG 6 and also appeared as an underlying driver of research needs in this study. Many aspects of SDG 6, such as “safe,” “affordable,” and “participation” were mentioned using similar wording under the socioeconomy of water category, which dominated the research priorities; however, subthemes addressed neither transboundary management nor capacity building. Untreated wastewater management features in both the SDG 6 targets and the sanitation category of the research priorities, although the SDG 6 focus on ending open defecation was reflected as increasing access to sanitation. The water resources and water reuse categories corresponded well to the SDG 6 targets, including remediation of polluted ecosystems and desalination, respectively. The research agenda presented here paid less heed to the specific needs of women and girls (e.g., for physical safety and menstrual hygiene management).

Limitations

The NGT approach was appropriate for including all ideas (rather than just the majority), accommodating heterogeneity of experience in the group, and ensuring equal footing for underrepresented voices in research planning ( CDC, 2006 ; Tague, 2004 ). Although the results provided sufficient information for the study’s purposes and saturation was achieved via subsequent data triangulation, limitations to internal validity include adaptations of the process used to fit time constraints. Limitations of NGT include the need for conformity within a somewhat mechanical process. The group sizes (33 or 18 participants) were large by NGT standards ( Taylor et al., 1958 ). While unlikely to have restricted idea generation, this might have hampered full-group discussion and clustering of ideas. We sought to overcome this by more thoroughly reviewing the categorization afterward, using multiple reviewers. Normally, NGT includes scoring and ranking after grouping ( CDC, 2006 ), but we accomplished this afterward using simple frequencies and requested member checking remotely several months following the sessions.

While an effort was made to consider ten years of data and multiple categories of water and health professionals, the methods inherently rely on a sample of professionals, which limits external validity and generalizability. As is the case with focus groups, the viewpoints captured may not represent all members of a certain demographic. Since participants need to travel to attend the conference in person, representation skewed toward a small number of high-income countries especially in vicinity of France. Furthermore, the scientific committee and practitioners were invited, and this method of “sampling” is more likely to result in a cohesive group that shares similar viewpoints. The student participants, in contrast, can openly apply to attend, and are intentionally selected to increase diversity. Water and health topics specified on the event announcement aim to attract student expertise in the area of emerging waterborne pollutants and pathogens, epidemiology, microbiology, toxicology, analytical chemistry, risk assessment, water treatment, water hygiene, public health, and sociological aspects of risk management. Advertisement and marketing is generally limited and likely does not reach all possible candidates.

Recommendations

Research planning processes often stem from independent primary investigators, either in isolation or in collaboration with others, typically with a goal of achieving publication in a peer-reviewed journal. In many cases, research planning and execution is closely determined by funding availability on specific topics, for example via requests for proposals ( Setty et al., 2018b ). Mechanisms for accountability to the public, governments, and practitioners are less well established in academia, although applied, translational, and implementation research has gained traction in recent decades ( Hering, 2018 ). Setty et al. (2018b) found stakeholders outside of academia (e.g., governmental and civil society organizations) sought but perceived fewer opportunities to engage in learning and training events. Making research relevant to potential end users and decision makers recommends cross-sector communication about research priorities ( Kogevinas, 2017 ; Roux et al., 2006 ). Although not inclusive of all possible stakeholder types, this project offered one approach to eliciting practitioner and potentially other stakeholder group perspectives on research planning.

Broad, inclusive processes are recommended for research planning ( Setty et al., 2018b ), including scientists as well as other stakeholder types, with attention to underrepresented voices. Such processes are more likely to identify a mix of short- and long-term priorities as well as diverse perspectives and needs. The SDG process, for instance, provide an example of inclusive priority setting, which can be used to justify research efforts from 2016–2030 ( UN General Assembly, 2015 ). Another example comes from the US National Science Foundation’s Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education in 2018, which invited input from members of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, an international group of professors educating on environmental protection, science, and technology topics ( NSF, 2018 ). They sought to identify environmental research and education directions that would further advance national security and economic competitiveness. This direct solicitation took place in tandem with a public comment period over about two months.

Conscientious, structured exercises such as NGT can bolster equity, transparency, and inclusivity of research planning processes ( Viergever et al., 2010 ). This and other approaches may be adapted to fit case-specific constraints and needs, although users should document adaptations to consider how they might alter effectiveness ( Allen et al., 2017 ; Bartunek and Murninghan, 1984 ). Depending on organizational needs, periodic reflective exercises can be timed to fit into research planning cycles ( Weichselgartner and Kasperson, 2010 ). In practical terms, participation in research prioritization exercises can be time-consuming. At a macro level, doing an exercise in conjunction with an existing collaborative event created minimal additional cost and labor. At a micro level, grouping similar responses together as they came up likewise offered a time advantage.

Conclusions

High-priority research areas (in order of frequency) included the socioeconomy of water, water quality, water treatment, microbiology, risk assessment and management, sanitation, water resources, real-time and rapid methods, water reuse, and the water-energy nexus. Each of these themes housed a range of more detailed research subthemes and questions. Underlying drivers of water and health research included social inequity, shifting international relations, demographic trends, aging infrastructure, antimicrobial resistance, and emerging diseases. To support attainment of the SDG targets for water and sanitation, water and health professionals will need to integrate efforts across environmental and health systems, sectors, and exposures; decentralize infrastructure and monitoring capabilities; and adopt more advanced processes for safety, surveillance, and responsiveness. The study methods and findings may prove useful for planning research funding offerings, projects, practicums, and quality improvement efforts among a variety of organizational types focused on water and health issues.

• Expert elicitation technique ranked water and health research priorities.
• A prime concern centered on the socioeconomics of meeting water needs.
• Team-based narrative review provided commentary on all research priorities.
• Dialogue among scientists and practitioners is needed to progress toward SDGs.

Acknowledgements

Our gratitude extends to all participants in the 2018 International Water and Health Seminar in Cannes for their enthusiastic collaboration. We are especially indebted to the meeting coordinators for arranging the session logistics. Suez provided financial sponsorship for the meeting, and student travel was in many cases made possible by their respective sponsors and institutions. Additional financial support for research (KS) was provided by the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (grant T32ES007018), and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Royster Society of Fellows.

Declaration of interest

Authors include employees and contractors of Suez, who received remuneration for their time and travel expenses to attend work functions such as the seminar where this study took place. Senior academics on the scientific committee were similarly reimbursed for travel expenses to attend the seminar. Students accepted to the seminar received accommodations and meals for the duration of the seminar. Some participant institutions have received separate funding from Suez for specific research projects.

Workshop participants

Jamie Bartram, The Water Institute at UNC

Elke Dopp, IWW Water Center

Martin Exner, University of Bonn

Philippe Hartemann, University of Lorraine

Paul Hunter, University of East Anglia

Gertjan Medema, KWR Water Cycle Research Institute

Mark Wiesner, Duke University

Michael Wilhelm, Ruhr-University Bochum

Practitioners

Reynald Bonnard, Suez

Sophie Courtois, Suez

Jerome Enault, Suez

Michel Lafforgue, Suez Consulting

Xavier Litrico, Suez

Jean-François Loret, Suez

Pierre Pieronne, Suez

Olivier Schlosser, Suez

Daniel Villessot, Suez

Flavia Zraick, Suez

Claire Bertelli, University of Lausanne*

Helena Bielak, IWW Water Center

Nadratun Chowdhury, Duke University

Christina Fiedler, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna

Charlotte Christiane Hammer, University of East Anglia

Tarek Manasfi, University of Aix-Marseille*

Manon Michaut, University of Rouen

Laura Palli, University of Florence

Yoann Perrin, University of Poitiers

Nicholas Rogers, Duke University

Sydney Rudko, University of Alberta

Mohamed Shaheen, University of Alberta

Sohan Shrestha, University of Queensland

Esther Sib, University of Bonn

Vincent Tesson, French National Institute for Agricultural Research

* postdoctoral scholar

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Research Topics & Ideas: Environment

100+ Environmental Science Research Topics & Ideas

Finding and choosing a strong research topic is the critical first step when it comes to crafting a high-quality dissertation, thesis or research project. Here, we’ll explore a variety research ideas and topic thought-starters related to various environmental science disciplines, including ecology, oceanography, hydrology, geology, soil science, environmental chemistry, environmental economics, and environmental ethics.

NB – This is just the start…

The topic ideation and evaluation process has multiple steps . In this post, we’ll kickstart the process by sharing some research topic ideas within the environmental sciences. This is the starting point though. To develop a well-defined research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , along with a well-justified plan of action to fill that gap.

If you’re new to the oftentimes perplexing world of research, or if this is your first time undertaking a formal academic research project, be sure to check out our free dissertation mini-course. Also be sure to also sign up for our free webinar that explores how to develop a high-quality research topic from scratch.

Overview: Environmental Topics

• Ecology /ecological science
• Atmospheric science
• Oceanography
• Soil science
• Environmental chemistry
• Environmental economics
• Environmental ethics
• Examples  of dissertations and theses

Topics & Ideas: Ecological Science

• The impact of land-use change on species diversity and ecosystem functioning in agricultural landscapes
• The role of disturbances such as fire and drought in shaping arid ecosystems
• The impact of climate change on the distribution of migratory marine species
• Investigating the role of mutualistic plant-insect relationships in maintaining ecosystem stability
• The effects of invasive plant species on ecosystem structure and function
• The impact of habitat fragmentation caused by road construction on species diversity and population dynamics in the tropics
• The role of ecosystem services in urban areas and their economic value to a developing nation
• The effectiveness of different grassland restoration techniques in degraded ecosystems
• The impact of land-use change through agriculture and urbanisation on soil microbial communities in a temperate environment
• The role of microbial diversity in ecosystem health and nutrient cycling in an African savannah

Topics & Ideas: Atmospheric Science

• The impact of climate change on atmospheric circulation patterns above tropical rainforests
• The role of atmospheric aerosols in cloud formation and precipitation above cities with high pollution levels
• The impact of agricultural land-use change on global atmospheric composition
• Investigating the role of atmospheric convection in severe weather events in the tropics
• The impact of urbanisation on regional and global atmospheric ozone levels
• The impact of sea surface temperature on atmospheric circulation and tropical cyclones
• The impact of solar flares on the Earth’s atmospheric composition
• The impact of climate change on atmospheric turbulence and air transportation safety
• The impact of stratospheric ozone depletion on atmospheric circulation and climate change
• The role of atmospheric rivers in global water supply and sea-ice formation

Topics & Ideas: Oceanography

• The impact of ocean acidification on kelp forests and biogeochemical cycles
• The role of ocean currents in distributing heat and regulating desert rain
• The impact of carbon monoxide pollution on ocean chemistry and biogeochemical cycles
• Investigating the role of ocean mixing in regulating coastal climates
• The impact of sea level rise on the resource availability of low-income coastal communities
• The impact of ocean warming on the distribution and migration patterns of marine mammals
• The impact of ocean deoxygenation on biogeochemical cycles in the arctic
• The role of ocean-atmosphere interactions in regulating rainfall in arid regions
• The impact of ocean eddies on global ocean circulation and plankton distribution
• The role of ocean-ice interactions in regulating the Earth’s climate and sea level

Tops & Ideas: Hydrology

• The impact of agricultural land-use change on water resources and hydrologic cycles in temperate regions
• The impact of agricultural groundwater availability on irrigation practices in the global south
• The impact of rising sea-surface temperatures on global precipitation patterns and water availability
• Investigating the role of wetlands in regulating water resources for riparian forests
• The impact of tropical ranches on river and stream ecosystems and water quality
• The impact of urbanisation on regional and local hydrologic cycles and water resources for agriculture
• The role of snow cover and mountain hydrology in regulating regional agricultural water resources
• The impact of drought on food security in arid and semi-arid regions
• The role of groundwater recharge in sustaining water resources in arid and semi-arid environments
• The impact of sea level rise on coastal hydrology and the quality of water resources

Topics & Ideas: Geology

• The impact of tectonic activity on the East African rift valley
• The role of mineral deposits in shaping ancient human societies
• The impact of sea-level rise on coastal geomorphology and shoreline evolution
• Investigating the role of erosion in shaping the landscape and impacting desertification
• The impact of mining on soil stability and landslide potential
• The impact of volcanic activity on incoming solar radiation and climate
• The role of geothermal energy in decarbonising the energy mix of megacities
• The impact of Earth’s magnetic field on geological processes and solar wind
• The impact of plate tectonics on the evolution of mammals
• The role of the distribution of mineral resources in shaping human societies and economies, with emphasis on sustainability

Topics & Ideas: Soil Science

• The impact of dam building on soil quality and fertility
• The role of soil organic matter in regulating nutrient cycles in agricultural land
• The impact of climate change on soil erosion and soil organic carbon storage in peatlands
• Investigating the role of above-below-ground interactions in nutrient cycling and soil health
• The impact of deforestation on soil degradation and soil fertility
• The role of soil texture and structure in regulating water and nutrient availability in boreal forests
• The impact of sustainable land management practices on soil health and soil organic matter
• The impact of wetland modification on soil structure and function
• The role of soil-atmosphere exchange and carbon sequestration in regulating regional and global climate
• The impact of salinization on soil health and crop productivity in coastal communities

Topics & Ideas: Environmental Chemistry

• The impact of cobalt mining on water quality and the fate of contaminants in the environment
• The role of atmospheric chemistry in shaping air quality and climate change
• The impact of soil chemistry on nutrient availability and plant growth in wheat monoculture
• Investigating the fate and transport of heavy metal contaminants in the environment
• The impact of climate change on biochemical cycling in tropical rainforests
• The impact of various types of land-use change on biochemical cycling
• The role of soil microbes in mediating contaminant degradation in the environment
• The impact of chemical and oil spills on freshwater and soil chemistry
• The role of atmospheric nitrogen deposition in shaping water and soil chemistry
• The impact of over-irrigation on the cycling and fate of persistent organic pollutants in the environment

Topics & Ideas: Environmental Economics

• The impact of climate change on the economies of developing nations
• The role of market-based mechanisms in promoting sustainable use of forest resources
• The impact of environmental regulations on economic growth and competitiveness
• Investigating the economic benefits and costs of ecosystem services for African countries
• The impact of renewable energy policies on regional and global energy markets
• The role of water markets in promoting sustainable water use in southern Africa
• The impact of land-use change in rural areas on regional and global economies
• The impact of environmental disasters on local and national economies
• The role of green technologies and innovation in shaping the zero-carbon transition and the knock-on effects for local economies
• The impact of environmental and natural resource policies on income distribution and poverty of rural communities

Topics & Ideas: Environmental Ethics

• The ethical foundations of environmentalism and the environmental movement regarding renewable energy
• The role of values and ethics in shaping environmental policy and decision-making in the mining industry
• The impact of cultural and religious beliefs on environmental attitudes and behaviours in first world countries
• Investigating the ethics of biodiversity conservation and the protection of endangered species in palm oil plantations
• The ethical implications of sea-level rise for future generations and vulnerable coastal populations
• The role of ethical considerations in shaping sustainable use of natural forest resources
• The impact of environmental justice on marginalized communities and environmental policies in Asia
• The ethical implications of environmental risks and decision-making under uncertainty
• The role of ethics in shaping the transition to a low-carbon, sustainable future for the construction industry
• The impact of environmental values on consumer behaviour and the marketplace: a case study of the ‘bring your own shopping bag’ policy

Examples: Real Dissertation & Thesis Topics

While the ideas we’ve presented above are a decent starting point for finding a research topic, they are fairly generic and non-specific. So, it helps to look at actual dissertations and theses to see how this all comes together.

Below, we’ve included a selection of research projects from various environmental science-related degree programs to help refine your thinking. These are actual dissertations and theses, written as part of Master’s and PhD-level programs, so they can provide some useful insight as to what a research topic looks like in practice.

• The physiology of microorganisms in enhanced biological phosphorous removal (Saunders, 2014)
• The influence of the coastal front on heavy rainfall events along the east coast (Henson, 2019)
• Forage production and diversification for climate-smart tropical and temperate silvopastures (Dibala, 2019)
• Advancing spectral induced polarization for near surface geophysical characterization (Wang, 2021)
• Assessment of Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter and Thamnocephalus platyurus as Tools to Monitor Cyanobacterial Bloom Development and Toxicity (Hipsher, 2019)
• Evaluating the Removal of Microcystin Variants with Powdered Activated Carbon (Juang, 2020)
• The effect of hydrological restoration on nutrient concentrations, macroinvertebrate communities, and amphibian populations in Lake Erie coastal wetlands (Berg, 2019)
• Utilizing hydrologic soil grouping to estimate corn nitrogen rate recommendations (Bean, 2019)
• Fungal Function in House Dust and Dust from the International Space Station (Bope, 2021)
• Assessing Vulnerability and the Potential for Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) in Sudan’s Blue Nile Basin (Mohamed, 2022)
• A Microbial Water Quality Analysis of the Recreational Zones in the Los Angeles River of Elysian Valley, CA (Nguyen, 2019)
• Dry Season Water Quality Study on Three Recreational Sites in the San Gabriel Mountains (Vallejo, 2019)
• Wastewater Treatment Plan for Unix Packaging Adjustment of the Potential Hydrogen (PH) Evaluation of Enzymatic Activity After the Addition of Cycle Disgestase Enzyme (Miessi, 2020)
• Laying the Genetic Foundation for the Conservation of Longhorn Fairy Shrimp (Kyle, 2021).

Looking at these titles, you can probably pick up that the research topics here are quite specific and narrowly-focused , compared to the generic ones presented earlier. To create a top-notch research topic, you will need to be precise and target a specific context with specific variables of interest . In other words, you’ll need to identify a clear, well-justified research gap.

Need more help?

If you’re still feeling a bit unsure about how to find a research topic for your environmental science dissertation or research project, be sure to check out our private coaching services below, as well as our Research Topic Kickstarter .

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12 Comments

research topics on climate change and environment

Researched PhD topics on environmental chemistry involving dust and water

I wish to learn things in a more advanced but simple way and with the hopes that I am in the right place.

Thank so much for the research topics. It really helped

the guides were really helpful

Research topics on environmental geology

Thanks for the research topics….I need a research topic on Geography

hi I need research questions ideas

Implications of climate variability on wildlife conservation on the west coast of Cameroon

I want the research on environmental planning and management

I want a topic on environmental sustainability

It good coaching

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Research Topics

The 2nd International Congress on Water and Sustainability is divided into four main lines of research in which you can find different topics to include your research, project and / or experience.

Abstracts submission finishes on February 27, 2021 . Confirmation of accepted abstracts will be before March 1, 2021 . Those who want to apply for special issues in journals must send the complete manuscript before March 10, 2021 . The congress is multilingual, therefore abstracts in Catalan, Spanish or English are accepted for review. Once selected, the author will be responsible for putting it in the format and language of the journal, for formal review in it. Final acceptance is not guaranteed until the journal make the final review.

The research lines are:

Water Treatment:

• Purification
• Waste management and treatment
• Waste water
• Environmental management
• Integral management of water resources

This line includes the use of natural products, membranes processes and innovative technologies for the treatment of water. Also includes the analysis of water quality in rivers, aquifers and seas as well as the life cycle assessment of systems and processes and other types of environmental studies. Finally, the integral management of water resources includes topics such as the management of hydrographic basins, data collection, data transmission or processing, etc.

Cooperation:

• Water and cooperation
• Water management
• Technology and cooperation for development
• Case studies and innovative and sustainable cooperation projects

The cooperation line allows the analysis and presentation of case studies of water treatment, both potable and wastewater, in countries with difficulties. In addition, the analysis of the agents that participate in cooperation in water and studies focused on human rights.

Sustainability and LCA:

• Technology for sustainability
• Innovation and ecodesign
• Life Cycle Assessment and Water Footprint

This line aims to incorporate all environmental aspects related to water, from strictly scientific-practical points of view. Finally, there is a technological aspect with three different approaches, the economic and social development of the beneficiaries, sustainability and explanation of how innovation and eco-design can participate in it. 

Water Management Models:

• Legal aspects
• Transition models
• Partnership experiences
• Participation and transparency

This last line of research includes all those aspects that refer to water management models, taking into account all relevant aspects in transition processes and the strengths and weaknesses of each model, such as decision-making systems, the transmission of information, participation and transparency, etc.

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NWQP Water-Quality Topics

Curious about water-quality science, learn more about these topics and how they relate to groundwater quality and surface-water quality and ecology.

From chloride to corrosivity, from pesticides to PAHs, find the most recent National Water Quality Program (NWQP) science on these topics and effects on surface water, groundwater, and ecology.  Informative web pages provide an overview and links to related web pages, publications, maps, news, and data.

RELATIONS BETWEEN LAND USE AND WATER QUALITY       Urban       Agricultural  

CONTAMINANTS IN WATER       Arsenic       Chloride and salinity       Emerging contaminants  (including pharmaceuticals and hormones)       Mercury       Metals       Nutrients       National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP)       Pesticides       Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and coal-tar sealant       Radionuclides       Sediment-associated contaminants       Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including MTBE  

DRINKING WATER ISSUES       Corrosivity       Domestic (private) supply wells       Public-supply wells       Drinking-water taste and odor       Water-quality benchmarks       Drinking-water and source-water research  

RELATIONS TO AQUATIC LIFE       Stream ecology       Mercury in stream ecosystems       Flow alteration       Harmful algal blooms (HABs)  

TRENDS IN WATER QUALITY       Water-quality trends       Water-quality trends from lake sediment cores  

PROCESSES       Oxidation/Reduction (Redox)

►    Confused by some of the water-quality terms?  Find the definitions and explanations you're looking for in the  Water-Quality Glossary .    

Drinking Water Quality and Public Health

• Exposure and Health 11(4):1-7

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Research Paper Topics on Environment & Water

Persuasive Speech Topics on Water

"The planet is in distress," according to Al Gore, and his statement reflects our abiding responsibilities for the care of the environment and the viability of our water supply. There is perhaps no more important task than grounding our students in these responsibilities. Research papers that create student ecological awareness are therefore essential, and the topics for those papers should create and encourage concerned citizenship about our natural resources.

Global Warming: Hoax or Truth?

The debate over global warming is still one of the most contested topics in recent years. Is it real or based only on seasonal or anecdotal observations? A valuable research paper topic can address this question, attempt to prove global warming as a viable concern or debunk it as a "Chicken Little" fear. Either way, your students will find a spectrum of evidence that supports either view and good research material for their essays.

Water Pollution is Still with Us

Water pollution, once thought a vanished concern of the 1970s, is still very much with us, and the groundwater quality of various locations is still of great concern to experts. Student research essays can select water quality as a topic, researching the current extent of water pollution as well as our efforts to overcome it. For instance, what challenges are present in municipal water systems built near businesses that pollute, such as factories or agricultural corporations? What is being done to control this problem? How might local water supplies or private wells be impacted by this situation?

Man-Made Intrusions

Environmental research often uncovers the idea that man-made intrusions reduce the viability of the ecosystem. Wetlands areas were cut in half by man's building and "civilizing" the land, and dams have intruded on the natural water flow in areas where they are constructed. One good research topic would take a single structure, such as Three Gorges Dam in China, and research its ecological impact or compare and contrast that structure with another such as Hoover Dam. Similar topics could address how other man-made structures impact the land they are built on or damage the raw materials used to build them.

Natural Healing of the Environment?

There is fascinating new evidence that Al Gore's "distress" quote may not be entirely accurate. Recent studies indicate that oceanic oil spills, both of recent memory and historically significant events such as the Exxon Valdez catastrophe, are actually cleaning themselves naturally. The Exxon site, for example, is believed to have cleaner water now than before the spill occurred, and human cleanup efforts may have done more harm than good. These would make fascinating research topics and perhaps give a more balanced view to mankind's role as ecological damage controller.

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• Wordpress.com: Eco Preservation Society
• ProCon.org: Climate Change: Is Human Activity a Substantial Cause of Global Climate Change?
• The Property and Environment Research Center: Climate Change and Chicken Little
• The Environmental Protection Agency: Water Quality Standards History
• The United States Geological Survey: The USGS Water Science School: Groundwater Quality
• Phys.org: Half of All Wetlands Destroyed Since 1900, Report Says
• Scientific American: China's Three Gorges Dam: An Environmental Catastrophe?
• The Environmental Protection Agency: Emergency Management: Exxon Valdez

About the Author

Michael Stratford is a National Board-certified and Single Subject Credentialed teacher with a Master of Science in educational rehabilitation (University of Montana, 1995). He has taught English at the 6-12 level for more than 20 years. He has written extensively in literary criticism, student writing syllabi and numerous classroom educational paradigms.

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From The Editor | September 26, 2014

The 10 hottest topics in wastewater—what you need to know.

By Laura Martin

Behind on what's hot in the wastewater industry? Get up-to-date with this list of Water Online articles on the industry trends and challenges that everyone is talking about. Read on and you'll be sure to impress your colleagues.

1) Energy Production And Conservation

Finding the ideal balance between energy and water consumption has always been a challenge. Energy use at a water or wastewater utility can be 30 percent to 50 percent of the municipality’s total electricity consumption. In addition, the energy industry itself requires a significant amount of water to operate. But a water-energy nexus solution is on the horizon, as more energy-efficient technologies and alternative energy production methods are developed. 

Stories On  Energy From Water Online:

Can Co-Locating Utilities Solve The Water-Energy Nexus?  

5 Reasons To Harvest The Power Of Biogas

2) Nutrient Management

Changing regulations and increasingly stringent effluent limits have brought nutrient management to the forefront of the wastewater industry. 

Stories On Nutrient Management From Water Online

'Peecycle' Please: Will Urine Separation For Nutrient Recovery Take Off?

3 Alternative Nutrient-Removal Techniques

What Everyone Should Know About Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal

3) Residuals and Biosolids

The management and removal of residuals, sludge, and biosolids, has historically been a burden on wastewater utilities, accounting for nearly 50 percent of treatment costs. But this “waste” may hold the key to additional revenue if reclaimed and sold. 

Stories On   Residuals and Biosolids From Water Online:

Revolutionary Sludge Management Comes To America

Bio-Dredging: Cost-Saving Sludge Digestion For Lagoons

4) Water Reclamation And Reuse

There is a growing trend of reusing treated wastewater effluent for both drinking water and industrial applications. On the drinking water side, water shortages have made direct potable reuse (DPR) and indirect potable reuse applications a necessity in parts of the country. Pressure to use less water on the industrial sector has resulted in innovative reuse applications as well. 

Stories On  Water Reuse From Water Online:

Texas Leads The Way With First Direct Potable Reuse Facilities In U.S.

Fit-for-Purpose Water Reuse And The Road Toward Water Security

New Indirect Potable Reuse Regulations — What To Expect

5) Water Supply And Water Management

In water-scarce areas, managing water supply can be challenging. First, it can be difficult to even determine how much water is available, via groundwater, surface water, reuse, and other sources. Then, there is the challenge of figuring out how water should be allocated between consumers and industrial applications, and how much needs to remain untouched for the sake of the environment. If there isn’t enough to go around, conservation techniques or usage restrictions may have to be considered. 

Stories On  Water Supply And Management From Water Online:

Tackling The Drought: The Relationship Between Water Law And Water Budget

Why Engineers Can't Solve The Water Shortage With Supply-Side Solutions

6) Stormwater, Green Infrastructure, And Wet Weather Management

Stormwater management is a growing focus for the wastewater industry. Heavy wet-weather events often overwhelm wastewater systems — which are often too small for a growing population — and untreated sewage ends up overflowing into local water bodies. Green infrastructure solutions and growing regulation offer solutions. 

Stories On  Stormwater From Water Online:

EPA Stormwater Ruling: How Will It Impact Utilities?

Save The Rain: Preventing Combined Sewer Overflows

7) ‘Flushable’ Wipes And Collection Systems

Recently, collection systems have been in the spotlight. The increased attention is thanks (or no thanks) to “flushables,” non-dispersible cleansing cloths that are wreaking havoc on headworks all over the country. 

Stories On  “Flushables” From Water Online:   

Nondispersibles' Turning Sewers Into Nightmares Nationwide  

Looming In The Sewers: Nonwovens Are Weaving A Tangled Web

8) Industrial Wastewater

Oil and gas, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, mining, food and beverage processing—the list of industries with growing wastewater challenges goes on and on. Water Online has reported on the modeling, design, and operation of industrial wastewater treatment systems, anaerobic and biological industrial treatment processes, regulatory impacts, and more.  

Stories On  Industrial Wastewater From Water Online:

The Importance Of An Industrial Water Treatment Program

Has Fracking Gone ‘Green'?

9) Utility Management

Utility executives and managers have a wide range of challenges to overcome. Their workforce is aging and their budgets are shrinking. Public outreach is more important than ever before, and regulations and government oversight are increasing.  

Stories On  Utility Management From Water Online

New Standard Applies To Every Water Manager, Everywhere

How To Deliver Better Water And Increase Consumer Confidence Simultaneously

10)  Innovative Technology

Change is needed in the wastewater industry. Cutting-edge products and services focused on everything from resource recovery and big data management, to innovative green infrastructure solutions are coming to the forefront.

Stories On Innovation From Water Online:

The Top 12 Water Technology Hotspots In America

Ontario's Water Tech Acceleration Project: Fighting For The Future Of Water

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What the History of Boston’s Harbor Can Teach Us about Its Uncertain Future

Rising tides threaten boston’s waterfront, but bu phd candidate genna kane says the city has a history of adaptation and resilience.

Andrew Thurston

Cydney scott.

The Great Molasses Flood is one of history’s unlikeliest disasters. On Wednesday, January 15, 1919, a giant wave of sticky, sweet syrup ripped through the streets of Boston at 35 mph, destroying buildings, throwing vehicles, drowning animals, and killing 21 people and injuring 150.

The wave started on the edge of Boston Harbor, when a massive molasses storage tank—58 feet tall and 98 feet in diameter—burst.

“It’s sometimes regarded like a joke or punchline, or a one-off tragedy,” says Boston University historian Genna Kane.

But she views the flood as more than a gooey quirk in the history books. A PhD candidate in BU’s American & New England Studies Program, Kane (GRS’27) is researching the history of the waterfront for her dissertation and has come to see the tragedy as an important moment in Boston Harbor’s past, emblematic of its shift from a shipping hub to a base for industry. And, she says, its aftermath symbolizes the waterfront’s resiliency and ability to rebuild and adapt—traits the city may need to draw on again to take on future climate change–fueled disasters, like the rising tides that threaten to inundate coastal neighborhoods.

“Even though the explosion was not a ‘natural’ disaster in the way we would think of hurricanes, tornadoes, etc., it caused horrific and unexpected damage to the North End’s infrastructure and built environment,” says Kane. “And the immediate recovery involved reconstruction in ways similar to other environmental disasters.”

In spring 2025, she’ll teach a course on the environmental history of Boston from the 19th century to the present day—and she will lead with the story of the Great Molasses Flood. “I’m using it in the course as an entry point to illustrate the environmental changes—in terms of the waterfront’s landscape, buildings, and overall use—that caused this disaster to happen, but also how the city recovered from that,” she says. 

Kane’s research traces the journey of Boston’s waterfront from its early days as a busy mercantile harbor, through its decades as an industrial center, to its present as a magnet for tourists, high-end housing, and biotech firms. She’s also surveying how the city made itself so vulnerable to sea level changes. Kane’s work was given a boost this spring when she won an Alice Ross Carey Fellowship , which comes with funding and access to the University of California, Berkeley’s Environmental Design Archives .

“I love Boston and, like many residents, I’m very worried about what’s going to happen as climate change continues to impact us—I want to know the roots of this,” says Kane. “I like to think of history as looking to the past for explanation for why we are the way we are. And that can help us better understand what we’re dealing with.”

How Paul Revere Sparked a Revolution—and a Dissertation

Kane grew up deep in rural New Hampshire, but she became fascinated by Boston Harbor’s starring role in the city’s history thanks to one man: Paul Revere.

In 1770, Revere moved his growing family into a two-story wooden house at the heart of Boston’s North End neighborhood. In just five years, the silversmith (and sometime dentist) would gallop from the home and into the history books: his midnight ride to warn his fellow patriots that the British were coming made him an icon of the American Revolution.

Today, Revere’s former home is a National Historic Landmark, with lively museum interpreters spinning historical tales to tourists eager to touch the past. Before starting graduate school, Kane was one of those guides, and she would often find herself answering the same questions: Why did Revere choose to live in the North End? Why was he picked to make that famous ride?

“I found that pretty much every question I was answering led back to the waterfront,” says Kane, who recently won a BU Center for the Humanities internship award that she’ll use to advise a Concord Museum exhibition on the revolution. “Paul Revere had a lot of different businesses and his silversmithing shop was located on Clark’s Wharf [at the tip of the North End]. That’s because the engine of Boston’s growth was the waterfront—anytime someone wanted to sell something, transport it, import any good, the waterfront is the way they would do it.” Even Revere’s dash to Concord relied on access to the water: the former artillery lieutenant rushed from his home “to the North part of the Town, Where I had kept a Boat,” so he could cross the Charles River.

The waterfront is a very clear way to see what drove Boston’s economic and political growth, but also what Boston has struggled with. The harbor is what defines Boston in a lot of ways. Genna Kane

Kane’s time as a museum guide—she also had stints at the Old North Church and John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site—inspired her to learn even more about Boston’s past. “Those jobs were really why I wanted to pursue graduate education and history,” she says. And all those questions that led back to the waterfront—plus her own interest in environmental issues—helped inspire her dissertation’s focus. “The waterfront is a very clear way to see what drove Boston’s economic and political growth, but also what Boston has struggled with. The harbor is what defines Boston in a lot of ways.”

From Industry to Tourism to Biotech

Kane’s doctoral research starts with a period about 80 years after Revere moved—and when Boston’s position as a maritime power was foundering and its city leaders were scrambling for new ways to spark growth.

“They were worried the infrastructure in Boston would not provide economic opportunities,” says Kane. “So, they built Atlantic Avenue to facilitate railroad access. All of a sudden, there was this massive road that segmented the waterfront from the rest of the city.” It still does: anyone wanting to make it from downtown to the water today needs to cross four lanes of Atlantic Avenue traffic.

Over the late 19th and early 20th centuries, rail links attracted disparate industries—cold storage facilities, power plants, a molasses distiller—to the newly dislocated waterfront. But almost all of them had one thing in common: they required coal. And that became a lynchpin in Boston’s economy, says Kane.

“When Boston was struggling to find a productive export and bring in a lot of maritime traffic, one thing that was very prolific and profitable was coal,” she says. “I’m arguing that the waterfront is a major part of our current dependence on fossil fuels. If we look at the spaces that are now most threatened by climate change, they were once the major infrastructure for facilitating fossil economies, which ultimately results in the current situation we have with global warming and climate change.”

I’m arguing that the waterfront is a major part of our current dependence on fossil fuels. If we look at the spaces that are now most threatened by climate change, they were once the major infrastructure for facilitating fossil economies. Genna Kane

As those industries faded after World War II, Boston’s waterfront became a mixture of crumbling warehouses and sprawling parking lots. In the 1960s and ’70s, Boston’s leaders made another play at reinvention, turning their focus to the tourist industry—revamping Quincy Market, building the New England Aquarium. Today, hospitality is a major part of the city’s economy, but the waterfront is also going through another renewal, too, with neglected buildings and railroad lots being transformed into sleek offices for tech and biotech companies.

It’s a history Kane is compiling through archives and architectural plans, as well as by talking to city planners and other experts about how Boston and its people have shaped their waterfront—and how it has shaped them.

“Other folks have either looked at different parts of the harbor or certain areas—the made land or certain architectural projects—but very few have tried to look at the entire waterfront as a whole,” says Kane, who will spend part of the summer as a Charles River Watershed Association development intern, where she’ll help with climate resiliency education and outreach. “The waterfront answers many questions about what makes Boston tick.” She hopes her research shines a particular light on the Bostonians impacted by generations of changes to the waterfront—the laborers toiling in industry, the working-class residents affected by pollution.

Rising Tides

The water lapping serenely at Boston’s harbor walls shaped the city’s past—but could swamp its future.

According to figures shared by the state , by 2030 Massachusetts could face a sea level rise of up to 1.1 feet over 2000 levels; by 2070, the rise could be as high as 4.2 feet. At that point, a kayak rather than a car will be needed to negotiate Boston’s waterfront neighborhoods, particularly the burgeoning Seaport District , built on former industrial land.

“In the early 2000s, the Seaport District was mostly parking lots, and Boston was looking for a new industry, a new driving source of economic growth—and that was the tech industry, especially biotech by the 2010s,” says Kane. “If you needed to build in downtown Boston, wouldn’t you want to build in an area with relatively little development? It made sense at the time.”

It may make less sense in 2070, but if the future looks uncertain for Boston’s waterfront, perhaps the past can bring some hope. After all, says Kane, the infamous dirty water of the industrial-era harbor is mostly swimmable today. “The cleanup of the harbor in the 1980s and ’90s is a massive environmental success story,” she says.

Reinvention after reinvention, Boston’s waterfront persists. And though she’s in the early stages of her dissertation, Kane says her findings already highlight the tenacious spirit of Boston and its residents.

“The past doesn’t necessarily dictate the future,” she says, “but it’s a way to say, ‘We’ve done this before, we can do it again.’”

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Mesoscale Convective Systems Pump Local Evapotranspiration Moisture Upward to Boost Moisture Recycling

Research shows pumping mechanism mixes evapotranspiration vertically, highlighting its contributions to enhancing convective precipitation

Mesoscale convective systems are organized convections t ypically associated with strong upward motion. Such strong vertical motion can effectively pump moisture near the land surface to the upper atmosphere and generate precipitation.

(Photo by Mike Newbry | Unsplash )

The Science

Evapotranspiration (ET) is the movement of water from land to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration. Moisture recycling describes the contribution from local ET to local precipitation. It has been quantified using models that often assume that local ET is well mixed with background moisture in the atmosphere. It is a strong assumption and may contradict reality. To test this well-mixed atmosphere assumption, scientists use water vapor tracers incorporated in a climate model to tag moisture from local ET and trace their evolution through different processes. Focusing on May 2015, a month with more than 20 mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) occurring in the southern Great Plains, scientists found that 76 percent of local ET is transported away from the region and the remaining 24 percent is transported upward, contributing to moisture recycling. MCSs play a critical role in boosting moisture recycling due to their strong upward motion that effectively pumps local ET to the upper atmosphere.

Using the novel water vapor tracer tool allows researchers to examine detailed processes contributing to moisture recycling and test the well-mixed atmosphere assumption. It reveals how local ET is pumped upward by the strong updraft of MCSs, which in turn contributes to MCS precipitation, complementing our understanding of the interplay between local ET and MCS processes. It also allows scientists to understand the diurnal cycle of moisture recycling, which cannot be resolved by recycling models that assume a well-mixed atmosphere. More importantly, scientists found limited mixing of local ET with background moisture, challenging other methods that assume local ET is well-mixed vertically.

Moisture recycling, the contribution of local ET to local precipitation, has been studied using models assuming a well-mixed atmosphere. The latter may be a poor assumption that limits accurate estimation of moisture recycling in different regions. To test this assumption, scientists use a regional climate model enhanced with numerical water vapor tracers to tag moisture from local ET to physically trace ET’s moisture through various processes such as transport and mixing. Simulating May 2015, when more than 20 MCSs occurred over the southern Great Plains, scientists found 76 percent of local ET is transported away from the region, while the remaining 24 percent is pumped upward within this region, contributing to moisture recycling. Scientists also found that pumping local ET is closely associated with MCSs due to its strong upward motion that can effectively pump local ET to the upper atmosphere, particularly during early phases of their life cycle. In addition, the study using water vapor tracers indicates limited mixing of local ET with background moisture, challenging other methods that quantify moisture recycling based on the well-mixed atmosphere assumption.

PNNL Contact

L. Ruby Leung, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory,  [email protected]

The Department of Energy Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research supported this research as part of the Regional and Global Model Analysis program area.

Related Links

Moisture Recycling through Pumping by Mesoscale Convective Systems , Journal of Hydrometeorology.

Published: July 30, 2024

Hu, H., L. R. Leung, Z. Feng, and J. Marquis. “ Moisture Recycling through Pumping by Mesoscale Convective Systems ”, J Hydrometeorol ., 25 , 867–880 (2024). [DOI: 10.1175/JHM-D-23-0174.1 ]

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Oceans without sharks would be far less healthy, says new research

by Michael Heithaus, The Conversation

There are more than 500 species of sharks in the world's oceans, from the 7-inch dwarf lantern shark to whale sharks that can grow to over 35 feet long. They're found from polar waters to the equator, at the water's surface and miles deep, in the open ocean, along coasts and even in some coastal rivers.

With such diversity, it's no surprise that sharks serve many ecological functions. For example, the largest individuals of some big predatory species, such as tiger and white sharks, can have an oversized role in maintaining balances among species. They do this by feeding on prey and sometimes by just being present and scary enough that prey species change their habits and locations.

In a newly published study , colleagues and I surveyed decades of research on sharks' ecological roles and considered their future in oceans dominated by people. We found that because sharks play such diverse and sometimes important functions in maintaining healthy oceans, their current decline is an urgent problem. Since 1970, global populations of sharks and rays have decreased by more than 70% .

People are killing many types of sharks at unsustainable rates, mainly through overfishing. We see a need for nations to rethink where and how to conserve sharks for healthy oceans.

How sharks foster seagrasses

Along the remote coast of Western Australia, more than two decades of work shows that the mere presence of tiger sharks shapes the entire seagrass ecosystem by changing where and how big grazers, such as sea turtles and sea cows, feed.

Having tiger sharks nearby protects wide swaths of seagrass from being overgrazed, allowing it to grow into thick underwater meadows that provide habitat for juvenile fish and shellfish. These species are important food for other animals and for humans.

In places where tiger sharks have declined and turtle populations have expanded, seagrasses are being overgrazed. In Bermuda, for example, the exploding turtle population has led to an almost total collapse of seagrasses .

White sharks produce some of the same effects. Along the California coast, where white shark numbers are increasing , otters are spending more time in the safety of protected inland waters and less time in the open waters of Monterey Bay. The otters prey on crabs, which in turn feed on grazing invertebrates such as sea slugs that clean algae from seagrasses. More otters means fewer crabs, more grazers and healthier seagrasses .

Kelp forests and reefs

Kelp forests are dense stands of large brown algae that grow in shallow zones near coasts. Along the U.S. West Coast, overhunting drove local populations of sea otters to extinction by the early 1900s . This caused huge kelp forest losses by allowing sea urchins—a favorite food of otters—to spread and consume kelp .

Over the past 50 years, otter populations have rebounded with federal protection . But as white sharks expand their ranges northward, they are preventing otters from expanding their range because there aren't kelp forests for the otters to hide in.

The otters will likely expand their ranges only once kelp forests become established. This complicates restoration efforts, since otters won't be removing enough urchins for kelp to become established.

When sharks are present near coral reefs , fish avoid the sharks by sticking close to the safety of the reef. This reduces grazing on seagrasses and algae across wide areas . There is still much to learn, however, about when, where and how sharks might be important for coral reef health.

Food and nutrient sources

Sharks can also be prey. Some, including large species like white sharks , are important food sources for some killer whale populations around the world . Smaller sharks, including blacktip sharks, can be key menu items for larger sharks, such as great hammerheads.

As sharks consume prey in one place and excrete waste elsewhere, they move nutrients throughout the ocean. In the Pacific, for example, gray reef sharks move nitrogen from the offshore waters where they feed to the coral reefs where they spend their days, providing important fertilizer for ocean food webs.

In Florida's coastal waters , young bull sharks feed during brief visits to the ocean, then return to safer, nearly freshwater rivers, where they spend most of their time and release nutrients in their waste.

Sometimes sharks' presence helps other fish. In the open ocean , sharks' rough scales make perfect scratching posts for fish to remove parasites.

Protecting sharks' roles

Our review makes clear that sharks play diverse roles in maintaining healthy oceans. We see important implications for shark conservation.

Step 1 would be to set goals beyond simply ensuring that there are sharks in the oceans and to target species that have key ecological roles.

Within populations, it is important to protect certain types of individual sharks. For example, the largest tiger sharks are the ones that shape the behavior of turtles and sea cows, benefiting seagrass ecosystems. Intensive fishing worldwide makes it extremely challenging for large sharks that can live for decades or even centuries to survive and grow to ecologically important sizes.

Working with local communities in coastal areas could build support for protecting these large ocean predators, much as conservationists are working on land to protect iconic predators such as wolves . Nations could build networks of large protected areas that forbid shark fishing, focusing on key areas where individual sharks may roam.

Research shows that sharks benefit from creating protected areas, limiting shark catch outside these zones and restricting use of fishing gear that does the most harm to sharks , such as gill nets and longlines . With a clearer understanding of sharks' ecological value, my colleagues and I hope to see focused action at all levels to protect these essential animals.

Provided by The Conversation

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61 Water Issues Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best water issues topic ideas & essay examples, ⭐ most interesting water issues topics to write about, 📌 good essay topics on water issues.

• Water Scarcity as a Global Issue: Causes and Solutions Common causes of water scarcity include overpopulation e in regions that have limited water resources, global warming, destruction of water catchment areas by human activities, and pollution of water sources.
• Water Conservation and Drought Issues in Resorts The idea of the conservation of natural resources and water, in particular, became popular in the previous century. The understanding of the need for nature protection commenced in the 1960s.
• The Issue of Bottled Water Consumption The steady rise in the demand for bottled water is causing hips of unnecessary garbage and resulting in the consumption of vast quantities of energy according to the report by Earth Policy Institute.
• Water Quality Issues in Developing Countries According to WHO, the quality of drinking water is a foundation for the prevention and control of waterborne ailments, thus water quality is a critical environmental determinant of health for populations using the water.
• Water Contamination Issue in Medical Anthropology The role of water is so important that any economic or political disturbance can result in the worsening health problems of the population. The most recent and evident example of the failure in disease management […]
• Water Quality Issues: Case Study Analysis The quality of water is an essential part of the infrastructure of a city or state, which affects the health of the population and the level of well-being.
• Waterborne Infections: Policy issues and Individual Input The government should ensure that there is no further ingestion of contaminated water or food in the event of an outbreak of water-borne infections.
• Thames Water Company’s Pollution Issue and Ecocentrism Fines can be treated as a strong solution to this issue even though it is not presupposed by the ethical theory discussed, as they ensure that some funds can be spent on protecting the environment.
• Modern Global Issues: Drinking Water Shortage The situation is closely linked with the lack of water, and the offered technology to cope with this problem. This is the only way to use naturally filtered and sprang water.
• Water and Soil Resources Issues in the Middle East The political and communal discontent of the individuals in the Middle East has taken the attention away from the continuing trials facing the Middle East.
• Water & Air Pollution and Health Issues in Brazil The main environmental effects of pollution include the destruction of marine habitats, water scarcity, and anoxia. The conclusion is informative because the writer includes strategies to alleviate the problem of air and water pollution in […]
• The Jordan River Water Issues and Hydropolitics As a result, the Dead Sea does not receive the amount of water required for sustaining it, which leads to major alterations in the local environment.
• Water Control Issue in the United Arab Emirates The second considerable consumer of the water supplies in the United Arab Emirates is the domain of the private household. The fundamental problem, which brings some serious problems to the household management of water, is […]
• The Nile River: Water Issues and Hydropolitics As of recent times, the tensions still thrive in the region because of Egypt’s dominance over the water and some treaties the country holds purporting to control the river.
• Water Crisis, Oceans and Sea Turtles Issues In the case of Mexico, it appears that the past regimes have never put a lot of focus on the utilization of water resources.
• Water Resources Ecology: Current Issues and Strategies The article hence tries to find out the factors underlying the shortage of fresh water in Alaska, even as it is a region with fewer water problems compared to other states, and also identifying the […]
• Jordan River’ Water Issues and Hydropolitics The importance of the Jordan has led to cooperation between Israel, Palestine and Jordan to promote the protection of the river.
• Trend Analysis: Water Scarcity Issue This is a worrying aspect for the scarcity of water will lead to greater conflict for water. As agriculture is the sector that uses maximum water resources, with increase in population will face a dual […]
• Environmental Justice Issues Affecting African Americans: Water Pollution Water pollution in the 1960s occurred due to poor sewage systems in the urban and rural areas. Unlike in the 1960s, there are reduced cases of water pollution today.
• Virginia and Michigan’s Air and Water Pollutant Issues
• Water and Air Pollution Issues in Dayton, Ohio
• Global Issues Water Shortage and Child Mortality
• Economic Issues With Water Distribution
• Charging for Irrigation Water: Issues and Options, Case of Iran
• Cooperative Game Theory Application to Natural, Environmental, and Water Resource Issues
• Water Issues Between Urbanization and Agriculture
• Current and Emerging Water Issues in Agriculture
• Desalination Plants and Renewables Combined to Solve Power and Water Issues
• Economic Efficiency and Property Rights Issues in the Rural Water Management
• Efficiency and Regulatory Issues in the Brazilian Water and Sewage Sector
• Water Pollution and the Biggest Environmental Issues Today
• Estimating Water Quality Benefits: Theoretical and Methodological Issues
• Water Pricing: Conceptual and Theoretical Issues
• Ethical Issues Over Contaminated Ground Water
• European Union Water Policy: Key Issues and Challenges
• Exploring the Institutional Impediments to Conservation and Water Reuse
• Water and the Issues Surrounding the Natural Resource
• Global Issues: Obesity, Inactivity, and Water Crisis
• Hydrological and Environmental Issues of Interbasin Water Transfers in India
• India’s Water Futures: Drivers of Change, Scenarios, and Issues
• Water Quality Issues and Its Negative Effects
• Information and Modeling Issues in Designing Water and Sanitation Subsidy Schemes
• Integrated Water Management: Emerging Issues and Challenges
• Water Resources and Irrigation Policy Issues in Asia
• International Policy Issues Regarding Solar Water Heating
• Issues Surrounding Water Resources in England
• Key Issues for Thames Water Over the Next Five Years
• The Importance Of Water Scarcity In China
• Policy Issues Confronting Australian Urban Water Reuse
• Water Scarcity: Causes and How to Overcome it
• Emerging Issues Facing the Water-Energy-Food Nexus in the Middle East and Asia
• Simulating Residential Water Demand and Water Pricing Issues
• Some Enforcement Issues for Water Pollution Control in India
• Sustainable Water Pricing and Demand Management Issues in Romania
• Agriculture and Water Quality in the Cornbelt: Issues and Approaches Overview
• The World’s Water: Emerging Issues in an Era of Growing Scarcity
• Water Rights and Markets in the U.S.: Efficiency and Equity Issues
• Issues of Water Management in Albania in Light of Climate Change
• How to Tackle With the Problem of Water Scarcity
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IvyPanda . 2023. "61 Water Issues Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." September 21, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/water-issues-essay-topics/.

1. IvyPanda . "61 Water Issues Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." September 21, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/water-issues-essay-topics/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "61 Water Issues Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." September 21, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/water-issues-essay-topics/.

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Physicist Rosemary Fowler honoured 75 years after discovering the kaon particle

The physicist Rosemary Fowler has had to wait three quarters of a century to be honoured for her role in discovering a subatomic particle.

Fowler was doing a PhD at the University of Bristol in 1948 under the supervision of physicist Cecil Powell when she stumbled upon the particle.

The then 22-year-old physicist spotted unusual particle tracks in photographic emulsions that had been exposed to cosmic rays at high altitude in Switzerland.

She discovered a particle that decayed into three pions and labelled the track ‘k’, with the particle now known as the K-meson or “kaon”.

“I knew at once that it was new and would be very important,” Fowler noted . “We were seeing things that hadn’t been seen before – that’s what research in particle physics was. It was very exciting.”

The results were published in two papers in Nature with Fowler (née Brown) as first author. She then decided to leave university and married fellow Bristol physicist Peter Fowler – the grandson of Ernest Rutherford – in 1949. They had three children, all of whom went on to study science. Peter died in 1996.

This week Fowler, who is 98, was finally honoured for her work. She received an honorary doctorate from Bristol University in a private graduation ceremony held near her Cambridge home.

Fowler said she felt “very honoured” by the doctorate, but added humbly that she hadn’t “done anything since to deserve special respect”.

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Join us at FRI and attend our Diversity Breakfast

• August 5, 2024

If you were asked to picture “the face of the fire service,” what would you see? More importantly, who would you see? For many, that answer is far different now than it might have been twenty years ago.

Our society often debates the meaning of the word “progress,” but for the vast majority of us, inclusion and understanding are part and parcel of truly positive social change. A diverse department is a strong one – the more perspectives, experiences, and conversations an organization has, the more effective and resilient it can become.

This theme is central to the IAFC’s overall mission, and we hope you’ll join us at an upcoming event designed to “lead the leaders” of the fire & emergency service into a promising new future.

Join us at FRI and attend our Diversity Breakfast, scheduled to take place on Friday, August 16 at 7 AM in Ballroom A1 of the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center (Dallas, TX). Sponsored by Grainger, Motorola Solutions, and Verizon Frontline, this event will feature roundtable discussions with fellow leaders, dedicated resource-sharing, and open dialogue with some of the world’s foremost experts on diversity in the fire service.

Seats are limited and tickets are required to attend this one-of-a-kind event. You may secure your ticket during FRI registration or add it to your existing registration package. We hope to see you there!

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