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Water stress is a major concern in today’s world as many cities worldwide face fast depleting potable water supply. The prevailing water emergency warrants a conscious effort to reuse mitigated wastewater such that the use of residual natural reserves is limited to drinking purposes only. To accomplish adequate wastewater remediation, the greatest challenge, apart from policy and implementation fronts, lies in maximizing the overall efficiency of wastewater treatment (WWT) systems. In light of this, the current review makes a unique effort to help navigate the challenge by summarizing the present scenario of WWT technologies, focusing on the progress so far and the prospects in the next 30 years or so. The study comprehensively reviews various wastewater technologies and aims to help countries, like India, deal with the obstacles encountered while selecting and engineering suitable systems. It compares them based on their advantages and disadvantages, including budget allocation and timeframe for installing and commission of the treatment plants. Depending upon the wastewater characteristics and the expected end-use of treated wastewater, a comprehensive survey of prevalent aerobic, anaerobic, and biological treatment techniques has been done. Emerging WWT technologies, such as advanced oxidation processes, membrane filtration techniques, microbial electrolysis cell technologies, and in situ methods, which are currently in the development and deployment stages, have also been discussed. The study outlines the scope, limitations, and advancements of existing and prospective wastewater remediation approaches and suggests their decentralized implementation at the community scale as stop-gap solutions to poor wastewater management. Graphical abstract

Water scarcity poses a significant threat to water-poor basins, highlighting the urgent need for good governance strategies. This study investigates the complex factors influencing optimal water governance in two Iranian basins: Zayandeh-Rud and Karoon. Using a normative approach and fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), we analyze the configurations of good water governance dimensions (effectiveness, efficiency, trust, and engagement) and related principles, including resilience, empathy, and conflict resolution, to understand their impact on achieving optimal water governance. Our findings reveal that while both basins demonstrate potential for achieving different levels of water governance, including critical, fragile, and talented, none exhibit optimal water governance. Notably, both basins struggle to meet the trust and engagement dimensions, underscoring the importance of addressing these aspects for improved water management. This research contributes to the understanding of the complex interplay of factors influencing good water governance in water-scarce regions, providing valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders seeking to enhance water resource management practices.HighlightsA configurational approach applied to explore good water governance dimensions.A holistic list of principles was applied to specify good water governance.FsQCA is useful to classify basins on the basis of combinations of causal factors.FsQCA provides realistic results to portray different water governance regimes.Optimal water governance was not achieved in central basins of Iran.

Power dynamics are widely recognized as key contributors to poor outcomes of environmental governance broadly and specifically for adaptive water governance. Water governance processes are shifting, with increased emphasis on collaboration and learning. Understanding how power dynamics impact these processes in adaptive governance is hence critical to improve governance outcomes. Power dynamics in the context of adaptive water governance are complex and highly variable and so are power theories that offer potential explanations for poor governance outcomes. This study aimed to build an understanding of the use of power theory in water and environmental governance and establish a foundation for future research by identifying power foci and variables that are used by researchers in this regard. We conducted a systematic literature review using the Web of Science Core Collection and the ProQuest Political Science databases to understand how power is studied (foci, variables of interest, and methods) and which theories are being applied in the water governance field and in the environmental governance field more broadly. The resulting review can serve as a practical reference for (adaptive) water governance inquiries that seek to study power in depth or intend to integrate power considerations into their research. The identified power variables add to a much needed groundwork for research that investigates the role of power dynamics in collaboration and learning processes. Furthermore, they offer a substantive base for empirical research on power dynamics in adaptive water governance.

Values of individuals and organizations involved in decision‐making processes form the basis for prioritizing outcomes in water governance. The novelty of this study lies in applying values to a specific decision‐making context. It aims to assess the prioritized water governance outcomes and the underlying value systems shaping the actions of the primary water utility responsible for water governance in Delhi, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). The paper will critically examine the policies and acts of the DJB that drive water governance in Delhi at present, utilizing a values‐based framework in conjunction with secondary literature and expert interviews, to draw a picture of the values reflected. The study does not substantiate the notion of economic values dominating the water‐related decisions; rather, recent policy guidelines indicate prioritization of equitable and fair distribution of water. Findings of this paper show that making the values explicit is largely disregarded in formulating water acts and policies, and values are never elucidated in the public domain, doing which can encourage water policies and practices that are socially, economically, and ecologically viable in the long run. It is expected that this paper will generate a discussion on water values being an integral part of water governance discourses. Water values in water governance.

Population growth, increasing demands for food, ever-growing competition for water, reduced supply reliability, climate change and climate uncertainty and droughts, decline in critical ecosystems services, competition for land use, changing regulatory environments, and less participatory water resources governance are contributing to increasing difficulties and challenges in water resource management for agriculture and food. The need for sustainable food security for our global population and the need for preserving the environment, namely natural and man-made ecosystems and landscapes, have created an increased need for integrated, participative and scalable solutions focusing the various levels of irrigation and nature water management, from the field crop to the catchment and basin scales. Meanwhile, challenges and issues relative to water management for agriculture and food have evolved enormously in the last 30 years and the role of active management of the components of the water cycle is assuming an increased importance since their dynamics are key to assure water use sustainability, mainly agriculture and natural ecosystems sustainability. However, different regions face context-specific challenges associated with water scarcity, climate, governance, and population requirements. The main and first challenge is producing enough food for a growing population, which is intimately related with challenges placed to agricultural water management, mainly irrigation management. This paper revises challenges and progress achieved in the last 30 years focusing on irrigated agriculture, mainly water management, and its contribution to food security and the welfare of rural communities.

Global water shortages force the world to explore every possible way to reduce water consumption and reduction of exploitation of freshwater resources. In 2025, some estimates predict that 60% of the world's population will live in water-deficient regions. Nanofiltration (NF) membranes have been used in many fields, including water treatment, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. NF stands out for its ability to effectively eliminate impurities, sediments, chemical effluents, and even hazardous substances like arsenic. This makes it a versatile approach for enhancing water quality. Nanofiltration membranes are a cutting-edge type of membrane technology that can be classified into two categories: organic (polymeric) and inorganic. The selection of membranes with appropriate selectivity based on applications of interest are vital to achieving the highest separation efficiency. During the first section of this review, the discussion will follow the background of membrane-based filters with solutes separation from the solution in the range of molecular weight from 500 to 10,000 g/mol, their characteristics, the benefits, and drawbacks of nanofiltration, and their cost-effectiveness of them. In the next part, various types of NF membranes, and their excellent properties, including high permeation to monovalent ions and low permeation to divalent ions, as well as higher flux, reliability, and integrity with longer cycle times and thereby lower costs, are examined. This article aims to discuss some of the most significant and pioneering applications of nanotechnologies in different water sources, including surface water, groundwater, and industrial wastewater streams. Although nanofilters have shown great promise, there are still some outstanding challenges that hinder their widespread adoption. We also provide a comprehensive overview of challenges and opportunities related to using nanotechnology in the future. The next decade is predicted to bring a lot of progress in NF. Graphical abstract

Water has been the source of life since it was found. In recent years, the false assurance of the permanence of water services in Iran has led to the creation of institutional structures related to water in an inappropriate and incompatible manner with environmental changes, and when water crises occur, such as droughts, floods, and, on a larger scale, climate changes, they do not have the flexibility and resilience to these changes. To this end, recognizing the current water governance system in the country is considered an essential need. The present study examines the regime of water governance and its structural characteristics in the Kor River basin, which is one of the areas facing water shortage challenges. In order to analyze these characteristics and determine the regime of the water governance system, the method of social network analysis (SNA) was used in the network of formal and informal institutions of Kherameh county downstream of the Kor River basin. This research has been done in a period of 9 months and includes designing questionnaires, field visits, completing questionnaires and analyzing the results. The results showed that the water governance network in this region has an unstable and weak structure and as a result, the level of cooperation and coordination between the institutions is low and the level of power centralization is high. As a result, the governing regime is centralized, and therefore, the establishment of a polycentric governance system requires the improvement of horizontal relations between formal and informal institutions and protection and development institutions.

Collaborative approaches to complex water quality problems can facilitate collective action across large watersheds with multiple, overlapping political jurisdictions, including Indigenous territories. Indigenous nations are increasingly engaging in collaborative water governance, in part, as a response to colonial legacies that have excluded Indigenous peoples from watershed management. This study uses social network analysis to explore emerging Klamath water governance networks. We seek to understand ongoing system transformation in contemporary water governance through tribal engagement in multi-jurisdictional water governance networks, from a system of Indigenous dispossession and exclusion (late 1800s-1980s) toward a yet unrealized system that centers Indigenous peoples. To envision the meaningful inclusion of Indigenous peoples in adaptive water governance, we first draw on criteria established by Indigenous water governance scholars. Then, we examine a snapshot of Indigenous participation in water quality governance in the Klamath Basin that focuses on the Karuk Tribe from 2018-2019. Specifically, Karuk tribal managers identified 21 different science-policy coalitions that they worked with on a range of water quality issues. We then used social network analysis methods to generate a network in which 210 different organizations were linked through co-membership in one or more coalitions. Our findings indicated that the Karuk and other Klamath Basin tribes play a central role in Klamath water quality governance and were not relegated to \"stakeholder status.\" Using a community detection algorithm, we found that tribes were key players in the central technical working group that emerged through network connections. Applying a log-linear statistical model, we also observed a high level of mixing in the network across all types of organizations, including tribes. Finally, through a multi-membership model, we found that tribes were more strongly connected to influential network actors than NGOs, despite environmental NGOs being more numerous. These analyses demonstrate how tribal engagement can activate key mechanisms for water quality governance transformation, e.g., shifting information flows and changing system structures to more effectively center Indigenous nations. In addition to insights from social network analysis, we also highlight the limitations of technical water management in supporting the deep connections held between Indigenous peoples and their waters that are central to Indigenous water governance.

Despite now widespread scholarly scientific acknowledgement of the ecological importance of groundwater, progress on protecting groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs) in practice has been slow. Extending the legal concept of environmental water rights from the surface water context to groundwater may help to accelerate protections and to promote adaptive water governance, particularly when combined with regulatory rules. Although some groundwater law frameworks have developed regulatory rules to protect GDEs that mirror those for surface water, they have yet to develop frameworks to support environmental groundwater rights that mirror environmental surface water rights, i.e., in-ground flow rights equivalent to in-stream flow rights. These rights are generally quantified, transferable, allow in situ use or withdrawal, and are held and enforced by an identified public or private entity. Here, I first conceptualize environmental groundwater rights and then evaluate the conceptual and practical advantages and challenges for adaptive water governance of a legal framework to support them, in a way that is intended to be relevant to diverse jurisdictional contexts. To do so, I use two existing theoretical frameworks: one for evaluating alternative approaches to providing environmental water, and the second for considering the roles of law in adaptive water governance. I find that water markets and some environmental crises may present windows of opportunity for establishing environmental groundwater rights and, thereby, local-scale thresholds of minimum protection. These rights may circumvent barriers to adaptive governance that often characterize water law. They may also facilitate adaptive governance by allowing learning, revision, flexibility, and experimentation about the environmental water requirements of GDEs to fill critical knowledge gaps. A legal framework for environmental groundwater rights can also harness and legitimize local environmental and Indigenous voices and increase access to resources. When combined with larger scale regulatory rules, such a legal framework can also help to facilitate multiscalar governance.

The twenty-first century is witnessing an explosion in global population, environmental changes, agricultural land disintegration, hunger, and geopolitical instabilities. It is difficult to manage these conditions or standardize improvement systems without thinking of the three main elements or subsystems that are necessary for any meaningful development—namely water (W), energy (E), and food (F). These key elements form what is globally agreed upon as the “WEF Nexus.” While considering them, one should think about the other key factors that influence WEF Nexus, including population’s growth, impacts of environmental changes (including climate change), moderation and adaptation regimes to climate change and climate resilience, loss of biodiversity, and sustainable nature. Together, the WEF Nexus subsystems represent a framework to ensure environmental protection that should be seen as an ethical and socioeconomic obligation. Issues, such as protection of water resources, and strategies and management tools or mechanisms for the use of water assets and agricultural innovations under the obligations of sustainable use, are investigated in this paper. Attention is paid to the relationship between water and food (WF Nexus) or water for food security in various world regions, including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Central Asia countries and the Caucasus, China, Africa, and Canada. This paper also presents analyses of a great number of up-to-date publications regarding the “Nexus” perspective and its applications and limitations. This paper suggests that the Nexus’ approach, in its different concepts (WEF, WE, WF and EF), can promote sustainable development and improve the quality of life of communities, while preserving natural, human, and social capital, addressing sustainability challenges, and protecting natural resources and the environment for long-term use.