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

IWA Publishing is pleased to announce that the 39th Editor's Choice Paper, chosen by Professor Wolfgang Rauch is now Open Access: 

Steady air flow model for large sewer networks: a theoretical framework

Qi Zhang, Weiyun Shao, David Z. Zhu and Weilin Xu

https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2020.353

Why was this paper selected for Editor's Choice? 

Sewer corrosion and odour problems in sewers have been known since the advent of drainage systems and both are attributed to the lack of proper oxygen transfer in sewer systems. Despite the severity of the nuisance and the associated problems of concrete corrosion we are still struggling with precise modeling of air flow in large sewer networks. Existing ventilation models are applicable to trunk lines or small networks only. My Editor Choice paper for this issue "Steady air flow model for large sewer networks: a theoretical frameworks" addresses this issue for application in a practical context. Their model framework uses available GIS data of the sewer system and applies a set of nonlinear equations to the network. The model concept is successfully applied to a case study in Edmonton, Canada. While the approach is still to be refined and researched further, the reason I chose this paper is based on the it delivering an innovative solution to a relevant problem. 

Professor Wolfgang Rauch, Editor-in-Chief.