Water Reuse Editors-In-Chief, Stephen Gray and Hong-Ying Hu share valuable insight into Water Reuse in the Q&A below. They touch on the new scopes and objectives of the journal, as well as, how the journal is unique and the impact it will have within the water community,

What makes Water Reuse a stand-out journal?

S: Water Reuse is focused on challenges in the sourcing, treatment, delivery, economics and regulation of non-traditional water sources, and so is directly addressing water security challenges of communities.  Being Open Access enables the research to reach all communities without paywalls, so work published in Water Reuse has the opportunity to have a greater impact by directly reaching communities beyond academia alone.  Additionally, it has the IWA trusted brand of quality, identifying it as a quality journal with peer reviews from both academia and water industry practitioners, so papers are reviewed for both academic rigor and industry relevance.  It is a journal for those wanting to publish impactful, quality papers.

H: Nowadays, water-related issues such as water scarcity and water contamination have become prominent around the world. These call for the exploitation of new water resources and the development of sustainable technologies and management approaches. Water reuse is a new and fast-growing direction but also faces multifaceted challenges and opportunities.

Water Reuse journal is a milestone in advancing knowledge and practices for water reuse. It focuses on all aspects of the treatment and use of non-conventional water resources, to promoting research and innovative development on water reuse theories, technologies, engineering practices and management initiatives and creating a communication platform for presenting and exchanging knowledge and experience among water academics, engineers, practitioners and all members of the water community.

What sort of impact will Water Reuse have in the water industry?

S: The reach of Water Reuse is very broad with it being well known to IWA members across the globe, so it has a specialist pool of readers that covers academia and practitioners.  This encourages discussion of technical details and practical significance of research, and produces papers of technical rigor and practical significance delivered to water specialists across the globe.  Water Reuse is an outlet for impactful research. 

H: Water Reuse carries a long tradition for scientific insight in the field of water reuse and desalination. The impact of this journal has been growing rapidly in recent years and has a loyal base of readers and contributors. The impact of Water Reuse in the water industry will be extended in the coming years in the following directions:

1) The scope will be expanded to contain all the aspects of non-conventional water use, including all the categories of non-conventional water, different usages of non-conventional water, as well as technologies, standards, policies and other societal aspects related to non-conventional water use.                

2) Water Reuse will build bridges among researchers, implementers and managers of water industry.

3) Water reuse is one of the most important developing directions of the water industry. With “water reuse” as the new name of this journal, the contribution of this journal to this field will be highlighted.

Water Reuse Relaunch relaunched with updated Aims & Scope. What new areas of research are you excited to share in the journal?

S: The scope of Water Reuse now covers the sourcing, treatment, management and regulation of non-traditional water sources, so its scope aligns with all aspects of the use of non-traditional water sources.  This aligns with its objective to be a source of trusted information to enable the safe and reliable delivery of water to communities across the globe.

H: It now contains all treatment technologies of non-conventional water resources, including biological, chemical, physical, natural treatment, etc. Desalination and disinfection are also included. The storage and distribution, simulation and control of the system, risk assessment, regulation, policy and standard are also emphasized in the new scope. We will cover scientific findings, technical solutions and management strategies about various applications of different non-conventional water resources.