Nature water最新文献

{"title":"Keystone taxa mediate the trade-off between microbial community stability and performance in activated sludges","authors":"Xiaonan Liu, Miaoxiao Wang, Bingwen Liu, Xiaoli Chen, Liyun An, Yong Nie, Xiao-Lei Wu","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00451-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00451-6","url":null,"abstract":"Microbial communities form complex interaction networks where species cooperation is crucial for maintaining stability and performance. However, the key species and their specific roles in maintaining these properties remain poorly understood. Here, to address this, we conducted a large-scale network analysis of microbial communities in 1,186 activated sludge samples worldwide. The resulting activated sludge co-occurrence network exhibited a typical scale-free structure, with most taxa having few connections and a select few being highly interconnected. A group of keystone taxa, distinguished by high connectivity and a critical role in network stability, was identified. Microbial communities harbouring keystone taxa were more stable but exhibited lower pollutant removal rates. Comparative analysis showed that, in response to industrial wastewater inflow, communities with keystone taxa maintained more stable composition and species abundance while achieving similar pollutant removal rates. These results demonstrate that, while keystone taxa are critical for microbial community stability, this stability comes at the cost of reduced function in activated sludge systems. This study provides deeper insights into the link between community composition, stability and function, highlighting the potential to optimize microbial performance by manipulating keystone taxa. A large-scale network analysis of the microbial communities residing in nearly 1,186 activated sludge samples demonstrates an interplay between network stability and pollutant degradation, leveraged mainly by a group of keystone taxa.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 6","pages":"723-733"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Harmony with water","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00448-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00448-1","url":null,"abstract":"Much like the United Nations’ concept of Harmony with Nature, which calls for a holistic, respectful approach to living within the Earth’s ecological limits, we must now begin to see water not merely as a utility but a shared partner to live with in harmony.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 5","pages":"509-509"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s44221-025-00448-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122829","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A roadmap to understanding key knowledge gaps in natural source zone depletion","authors":"Kaveh Sookhak Lari, Greg B. Davis, John L. Rayner","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00436-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00436-5","url":null,"abstract":"There are a number of key aspects and challenges to the adoption of natural source zone depletion (NSZD) of oil-contaminated soil and groundwater. NSZD involves the interplay of multiple natural partitioning, transport and biodegradation processes that collectively lead to contaminant mass and risk reductions. Here we build an expanded conceptual site model of the NSZD processes that drive and influence NSZD rates, and emphasize the least-understood aspects and major challenges. By elaborating on these least-known topics and remaining challenges, we underscore the need for multidisciplinary research efforts to better address these challenges and to deliver improved management and environmental outcomes. Furthermore, we explore emerging issues and complexities surrounding NSZD, such as additives and emerging contaminants co-mingled with petroleum compounds in source zones, the potential to automate the measurement and quantification of NSZD to gain management efficiencies, and the capability of simulation platforms to capture and predict all key NSZD features. We discuss challenges to its adoption and uptake and how advancements in science can address many of the challenges. Ultimately, our study serves as a roadmap to guide future research endeavours aimed at unravelling the complexities of NSZD, and ensuring its reliable measurement. This will benefit efforts to effectively mitigate environmental risks and enable the broader use of NSZD as a management option for petroleum-impacted sites. This Review explores key aspects and challenges to adoption of the natural source zone depletion (NSZD) of subsurface petroleum hydrocarbons.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 5","pages":"537-549"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122802","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Intensive irrigation buffers groundwater declines in key European breadbasket","authors":"Grace Carlson, Christian Massari, Marco Rotiroti, Tullia Bonomi, Elisabetta Preziosi, Andrew Wilder, Destinee Whitaker, Manuela Girotto","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00445-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00445-4","url":null,"abstract":"The Po Plain in northern Italy is a critical agricultural region and one of the largest water users in the European Union. Recent dry conditions have put future water resource availability into question. This study examines spatio-temporal variations in groundwater storage observed by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites and more than 1,000 groundwater wells from 2002 to 2022. We find that the rate of groundwater storage decline more than doubled from 2015 to 2022 as compared to the 2002–2022 rate. We also show that seasonal and long-term groundwater availability is strongly influenced by irrigation activities. Groundwater storage in irrigated areas is highly correlated to snow accumulation in the Alps and shows more stability as compared to non-irrigated areas, which experience dramatic declines during drought years. This indicates that inefficient irrigation practice, using water largely supplied by snowmelt, recharges underground aquifers and helps maintain high water tables, making aquifers underlying irrigated farmland resilient to the negative consequences of drought. These findings can help guide climate-driven adaptations to irrigation systems that account for the impact on groundwater recharge. This study provides evidence that agricultural irrigation artificially recharges the groundwater in the Po Plain, highlighting the importance of irrigation inefficiencies for groundwater recharge.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 6","pages":"683-692"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122987","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Resonant energy transfer for membrane-free, off-grid solar thermal humidification–dehumidification desalination","authors":"William Schmid, Aleida Machorro-Ortiz, Qian Ye, Peter Nordlander, Pratiksha D. Dongare, Naomi J. Halas, Alessandro Alabastri","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00438-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00438-3","url":null,"abstract":"Fresh water scarcity is a pressing global issue exacerbated by climate change and growing populations. Current desalination technologies face limitations: reverse osmosis requires grid electrical power and specialized membranes, thermal desalination is inefficient and membrane systems are prone to fouling. Here we introduce Solar Thermal Resonant Energy Exchange Desalination (STREED)—a robust, membrane-free and efficient solar thermal desalination approach. STREED couples the basic mechanisms of humidification–dehumidification distillation to Resonant Energy Transfer, a dynamic energy recovery scheme described in the language of oscillators. Resonant Energy Transfer achieves optimized and controllable thermal gradients for passive evaporation and condensation. Dynamic tuning of system flow rates in response to varying solar intensities substantially increases efficiency, extending fresh water production over 24 hours per day. We predict week-long fresh water productivity increases of 77% with an average gained output ratio near ~1.9 at seawater salinity, depending on available solar irradiation. STREED adapts to fluctuating solar inputs, offering a scalable solution for decentralized, off-grid water treatment crucial for remote communities facing water scarcity. Although promising as a way to produce fresh water, all desalination technologies have limitations due to costs and inefficiencies. The realization of a membrane-free and solar thermal desalination approach combining humidification–dehumidification distillation and resonant energy transfer shows potential for a more efficient and robust off-grid desalination technology.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 5","pages":"605-616"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122801","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Insights into respiratory illness at the population level through parallel analysis of pharmaceutical and viral markers in wastewater","authors":"Stephan Baumgartner, Michelle Salvisberg, Patrick Schmidhalter, Timothy R. Julian, Christoph Ort, Heinz Singer","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00437-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00437-4","url":null,"abstract":"Wastewater as a medium contains information on both circulating pathogens and drug consumption at the population level. This study combines tracking of respiratory viruses and quantification of pharmaceuticals as untargeted indicators of symptoms related to acute respiratory infections and influenza-like illnesses such as coughing, fever and pain. From January 2021 to June 2024, raw wastewater samples from ten locations covering 23% of the Swiss population were analysed. This encompassed 15 pharmaceuticals and four priority respiratory viruses including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza A and influenza B viruses. The pharmaceutical compounds dextromethorphan, pheniramine, clarithromycin, acetaminophen and codeine showed a strong correlation with respiratory virus loads in wastewater. This enabled the estimation of pathogen-specific and cumulative symptom treatment in the population. In 2021 and 2024, notable increases in pharmaceutical loads without corresponding increases in viral loads signalled high community symptoms linked to unsurveilled pathogens. This study demonstrates that pharmaceutical surveillance can inform respiratory disease burden and highlights the value of integrated surveillance for assessing emerging public health threats beyond those routinely monitored. Wastewater surveillance is used to monitor pharmaceuticals related to respiratory diseases in parallel with four respiratory viruses. The results demonstrate the potential of pharmaceutical surveillance to assess emerging public health threats.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 5","pages":"580-589"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12098119/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144144731","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessment of permeance and selectivity of thin-film composite polyamide membranes for diverse applications","authors":"Li Long, Chenyue Wu, Senlin Shao, Zhe Yang, Pulak Sarkar, Chuyang Y. Tang","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00431-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00431-w","url":null,"abstract":"Thin-film composite polyamide membranes present a diverse range of aqueous-based applications such as the removal of harmful contaminants and the fractionation of precious resources from water and wastewater. However, their separation performance is typically limited by the permeance–selectivity trade-off. Although the trade-offs related to desalination have been well established, other important membrane-based applications have not been adequately studied. Here we establish various performance plots in terms of permeance–water/solute selectivity and permeance–solute/solute selectivity with respect to the removal or fractionation for diverse separation applications. This will help to bridge the gap between material-level membrane performance and system-level demands for potential applications. We also establish a convenient framework for assessing and benchmarking high-performance membranes in various fields and suggest potential strategies for optimizing membrane properties and/or system performance, which could increase the separation efficiency for membrane applications. This Review provides insightful knowledge and information for researchers and engineers involved in membrane technology. This Review establishes a comprehensive set of permeance–selectivity relationships for thin-film composite membranes on the removal and fractionation of different solutes and provides valuable strategies for enhancing the performance of membrane systems through both material-level and system-level optimizations.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 6","pages":"668-682"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145123158","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Similarities and divergent patterns in hydrologic fluxes and storages simulated by global water models","authors":"Amar Deep Tiwari, Yadu Pokhrel, Julien Boulange, Peter Burek, Luca Guillaumot, Simon N. Gosling, Manolis Grillakis, Naota Hanasaki, Aristeidis Koutroulis, Sebastian Ostberg, Kedar Otta, Hannes Müller Schmied, Yusuke Satoh, Bridget Scanlon, Tobias Stacke, Tokuta Yokohata","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00435-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00435-6","url":null,"abstract":"Global water models (GWMs) are critical tools for understanding the Earth’s water cycle and water resource management under a changing climate and accelerating human interventions. Although GWMs have been evaluated for hydrologic fluxes (for example, river discharge) and the role of representing human activities, there is a persistent gap in understanding models’ ability to simultaneously reproduce fluxes and storages (for example, terrestrial water storage (TWS)). Here we show that eight state-of-the-art GWMs do not consistently reproduce discharge and TWS with the same efficacy across varied geographic and climatic regions. Furthermore, model performance for discharge deteriorates as human impacts intensify. While a general agreement between simulated and observed TWS trends is found in two-thirds of major global river basins, models tend to underestimate the trends in both directions. Likewise, no single model simulates TWS trends and seasonality accurately and uniformly across major global river basins. Although improvements in capturing basin-averaged TWS trends, spatial distributions and seasonal fluctuations have been achieved compared with previous reports, challenges remain in accurately reproducing both fluxes and storages, owing primarily to inadequate representation of human activities in heavily managed regions. This study underscores critical disparities in GWM performance, emphasizing the need for further model enhancements, which is crucial for improved and more robust hydrologic assessments and predictions under climate change. This study evaluates global water models in capturing both water fluxes and storage, identifying well-performing regions and areas of discrepancy, ultimately emphasizing the need for further model refinements to better represent human activities.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 5","pages":"550-560"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122830","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Aligning floating photovoltaic solar energy expansion with waterbird conservation","authors":"Rebecca R. Hernandez, Emma Forester, Alexander E. Cagle, Jocelyn T. Rodriguez, Tara J. Conkling, Sandor L. Kelly, Giles Exley, Alona Armstrong, Todd E. Katzner, Giulia Pasquale, Miriam Lucia Vincenza Di Blasi, Elliott P. Steele","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00429-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00429-4","url":null,"abstract":"Floating photovoltaic solar energy presents an opportunity to mitigate climate change and spare land for other uses, including conservation. However, understanding of the effects of floating photovoltaics (FPVs) on aquatic ecosystems is currently limited. In fact, so far, only a few studies have empirically tested how wildlife responds to FPV deployment and operation. Here we present five key considerations spanning both the direct and indirect effects that FPVs can have on waterbirds and the possible ways waterbirds can interact with and directly affect FPV sites. We examine several aspects of FPVs and their deployment and operation, providing insight into FPV–waterbird dynamics, potential mitigation strategies, and viable concessions for conservation as water surfaces become a more widespread recipient environment for renewable energy. This Perspective leverages waterbirds to establish a conceptual foundation for studying wildlife interactions with floating photovoltaics (FPVs), highlighting five key considerations to guide future research on FPV–wildlife interactions.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 5","pages":"525-536"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Nanofiltration membranes with ultra-high negative charge density for enhanced anion sieving and removal of organic micropollutants","authors":"Xiaoming Xu, Yuxuan Chen, Zhiwei Wang, Guoyan Hua, Zepeng Zhang, Shengnan Liu, Pengrui Jin, Fuqiang Liu, Huanting Wang","doi":"10.1038/s44221-025-00440-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-025-00440-9","url":null,"abstract":"Nanofiltration membranes with high charge density are highly attractive for selectively removing organic micropollutants and divalent anions from water environments. Here we constructed polyamide (PA) membranes with ultra-high negative charge density via a sea-squirt nanofibrillated cellulose restricted interfacial polymerization process. Sea-squirt nanofibrillated cellulose, which contains a high content of 7.0% carboxyl groups and 29.8% hydroxyl groups, effectively fettered piperazine and regulated the interfacial polymerization reaction kinetics. As a result, the optimized membrane had an ultra-high zeta potential of −148 mV at pH 7 and a charge density of −32.6 mC m−2. This membrane achieved outstanding performance metrics, including a water permeance of 41.5 l m−2 h−1 bar−1, exceptional SO42−/Cl− selectivity of 144.5 and greatly increased water/organic micropollutant selectivity. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed a 73.1% reduction in the diffusion rate of piperazine due to competitive forces, leading to a PA surface enriched with -COOH groups. This work provides an effective strategy for tuning the PA membrane charge density to increase water purification and wastewater treatment efficiency. Polyamide membranes with ultra-high negative charge density demonstrate exceptional removal of divalent ions and organic pollutants without compromising water permeance.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"3 6","pages":"704-713"},"PeriodicalIF":24.1,"publicationDate":"2025-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s44221-025-00440-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122988","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}