Discover the Editor's Choice: From each issue of the leading journal, Water Science & Technology the core team of editors will select one outstanding paper to make Open Access and share across IWA Publishing platforms. 

IWA Publishing is pleased to announce that the 14th Editor's Choice paper, selected by Wolfgang Rauch, is now Open Access: 

Socio-economic factors of high trash generation in the city of Los Angeles

Xiaoyu Liang, Mi-Hyun Park, Michael K. Stenstrom                                      

Water Science & Technology, August 2019; Vol.80 (3): 408-417

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2019.264

Why was this paper selected as the Editor's Choice? 

Trash from surfaces has been identified as a significant pollution source of urban runoff and subsequently of the surface water body. While the general cause-effect relation is empirically known, a clear understanding about contributing factors is missing. The paper of Liang et al. addresses these issues by statistical analysis of data from the city of Los Angeles.  The data reflects the area-related trash volume and was collected during catch basin cleaning for stormwater runoff mitigation. Using different regression models considering spatial regimes, the authors have been able to identify the main socio-economic factor that contributes to trash generation. While the results are not directly applicable to other urban areas worldwide, the methodology certainly is. Key results of this study are that economic factors (poverty related) definitely contribute to trash generation as well as the occupation of the inhabitants. Similar places far from rivers and commercial areas tend to generate more trash than residential areas closer to a river or shoreline.  

Wolfgang Rauch, Editor-in-Chief.