AQUA Editor-in-Chief: Shuming Liu
IWA Publishing spoke to Shuming to find out more about AQUA, see his responses below.
What makes AQUA a stand-out journal?
AQUA is closely joined with the idea of creating a sustainable world and a sustainable future focused around the key issue of water. To succeed with that, the journal has a binary focus - one eye looks to the creation of new knowledge in the scientific community and the other eye is deeply involved in finding out how this new knowledge can be applied in the water sector. By maintaining both focuses we facilitate and support the dialogue between academia and industry. That dialogue has been difficult for decades - but without it we will not succeed in moving into the field of sustainable operation. A good example is that we have two editors-in-chief now, Pernille is from industry and I am from academia, so we try to work together to solve the problem.
What sort of reach do you think AQUA has in the water supply field?
AQUA has existed for decades and carries a long tradition for scientific insight within the water supply and has a loyal base of readers and contributors. This base will be extended in the coming years in three different directions:
1) The scope will be expanded to contain the whole water cycle. Previously we focussed on water supply. We still keep focus on water supply but it is clear that we need to understand things in a larger more holistic perspective – so we will include water reuse and the wastewater side of it as well.
2) Implementation is key - AQUA will build bridges between researchers and implementers
3) We will make an honest attempt to include the social sciences field due to the understanding that water is much more than a technical discipline. As a foundation for human societies, the inclusion of the human perspective is urgent and pressing.
AQUA recently relaunched with updated Aims & Scope. What new areas of research are you excited to share in the journal?
I think there are two parts I would like to share here: the first one is that the new scope is now containing the whole water cycle- not only drinking water supply but also rainwater harvesting, grey water and wastewater reuse. Another one is the social water cycle. The core of the new model is a triangle formed by society, water infrastructure and ecology. This is also reflected by the new journal name. The focuses of AQUA now are not only the water utilisation processes but also its impact on ecology and society. We really will cover scientific findings and technical solutions about interactions around social activities, water infrastructure and ecology using the context of sustainable urban water cycle.
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