Integrated Water Resources Research Advancements in Understanding to Improve Future Sustainability

• Other Authors: Hubbart, Jason A. (Editor)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Basel, Switzerland MDPI - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2021
• Subjects: Research & information: general; physical habitat; aquatic ecology; stream health; environmental flows; land use; hydrology; hydroecology; ecohydrology; climate change; Appalachia; reforestation; land use-land cover; land-atmosphere coupling; water quality; environmental perceptions; human dimensions; spatial models; socioeconomics; urban watershed management; municipal watershed; water quality impairment; collaborative adaptive management; water resources; urban watersheds; endocrine disrupting chemical; opioid; pathway analysis; ontology; metabolomics; decision-making; logit regression; farmer perceptions; social networks; public funds; water conservation adoption; good governance; sanitation; sustainability; water supply; water-saving agriculture; Chinese provincial input efficiency; three-stage DEA model; environmental variables; Boufakrane river watershed; remote sensing; LULCC; water balances; vulnerability; total dissolved solids; drinking water; Appalachian Mountains; streamflow sensitivity; water security; water balance partitioning; Budyko; Escherichia coli; Suspended particulate matter; Water quality; Land use practices; Watershed management; basin; hydrologic model; reaeration rates; stream metabolism; watershed; physicochemistry; land use practices; experimental watershed; suspended particulate matter; stream water temperature; watershed management; bacteria; land-use practices; environmental persistence; saturated hydraulic conductivity; pedotransfer function; model validation; Chesapeake Bay Watershed; experimental watershed study; human dimensions of water; watershed modeling; hydrological modeling; water pollutants
• Online Access: DOAB: download the publication; DOAB: description of the publication

Anthropogenic and natural disturbances to freshwater quantity and quality are a greater issue for society than ever before. To successfully restore water resources requires understanding the interactions between hydrology, climate, land use, water quality, ecology, and social and economic pressures. This Special Issue of Water includes cutting edge research broadly addressing investigative areas related to experimental study designs and modeling, freshwater pollutants of concern, and human dimensions of water use and management. Results demonstrate the immense, globally transferable value of the experimental watershed approach, the relevance and critical importance of current integrated studies of pollutants of concern, and the imperative to include human sociological and economic processes in water resources investigations. In spite of the latest progress, as demonstrated in this Special Issue, managers remain insufficiently informed to make the best water resource decisions amidst combined influences of land use change, rapid ongoing human population growth, and changing environmental conditions. There is, thus, a persistent need for further advancements in integrated and interdisciplinary research to improve the scientific understanding, management, and future sustainability of water resources.