Manganese contamination in groundwater poses considerable health risks. Global hazard maps generated with machine learning reveal that 180–220 million individuals are at risk, emphasizing the need for...

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) enhances water-supply resilience by storing surplus water in aquifers as a buffer against dry periods. This global assessment identifies where MAR spreading, which relie...

Despite increasing emphasis on distributional equity in transboundary water negotiations, most water resource models include it only indirectly through embedded assumptions or constraints, if at all. ...

This Review synthesizes the transformative role of satellite remote sensing in reshaping global river science. It offers a strategic roadmap to overcome current challenges and update our fundamental u...

The narrow-bandgap organic photovoltaic catalysts can use sunlight to simultaneously break down toxic hydrazine and generate hydrogen efficiently, achieving wastewater purification without external en...

This study introduces a scalable, hierarchically structured living mycelium–cellulose material that passively harvests atmospheric water and dissipates heat to regulate soil moisture and temperature, ...

Wastewater-based epidemiology has been proposed as a faster, near real-time window into community substance use, but national-scale implementation in the United States has been elusive. A National Ins...

Coastal urban areas are increasingly threatened by sea-level rise and extreme weather, necessitating hard-engineering solutions such as storm-surge barriers. Here the authors examine the Mo.S.E. barri...

This Perspective synthesizes ten key insights from drought research for policy and practice, and identifies priority research gaps to strengthen drought governance and resilience.

Brazil’s national mangrove conservation policy and Santos’s plan to formalize historic mangrove settlements may seem incompatible. With thoughtful integration, however, environmental protection and ho...

A portable atmospheric water-harvesting device empowered by solar energy has been developed using adaptive sorbent materials and delivers reliable and climate-resilient drinking water across diverse e...

This study demonstrates a low-cost, self-powered capsule that integrates sensing and disinfection, achieving rapid water quality assessment and microbial removal without external power or chemicals.

Antibiotic transformation products (TPs) are common in aquatic environments but are largely ignored in antimicrobial resistance risk assessments. This study demonstrates that many TPs select for resis...

Low temperature limits anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) activity. Now a low-crystallinity covalent organic framework-based photoelectron injection strategy restores intracellular ATP and cold sh...

Safe drinking water is vital for reducing childhood diarrhoea, but evidence on which service elements matter most has been unclear. Data from 24 low- and middle-income countries show that safely manag...

This study introduces a sunlight-activated copper-based catalyst that can rapidly break down a wide range of pollutants and microorganisms, offering a durable, practical way to clean contaminated lake...

Wetland conservation is an undervalued strategy for managing flood risk exacerbated by climate change. This study quantifies the impact of wetland loss on flood insurance claims across the USA, reveal...

The interaction between plastic and aquatic environments fosters a distinct microbial community on plastic surfaces known as the plastisphere. In near natural freshwater systems, microbial community c...

Ecuador’s reliance on hydropower led to an energy crisis following two failed rainy seasons, highlighting the need for alternative solutions. Here the authors demonstrate that integrating solar and wi...

Water treatment technologies frequently fail to achieve lasting adoption when design processes overlook Indigenous and local knowledge systems and cultural context. Converging Indigenous and scientifi...

Microcystins are cyanobacterial toxins that remain a global threat to freshwater health and function despite decades of study. This Review summarizes controls of toxin production, persistence and degr...

Microorganisms release extracellular vesicles, but their ecological roles in natural environments remain unclear. A year-long multi-omics study reveals that environmental extracellular vesicles mediat...

A solar-powered strategy enables sustainable agriculture by integrating solar desalination, crop irrigation and food waste upcycling into an interconnected system, creating a circular economy for regi...

Microcystin risk cannot be inferred from cyanobacterial biomass alone. Understanding toxin production, persistence and degradation across scales is essential if freshwater management is to move from b...

Participation is widely recognized as essential for effective water governance, with growing interest in the meaningful inclusion of Indigenous peoples in decision-making. A global systematic review r...

This Perspective explores the multiscale transport mechanisms of water and solutes in desalination and ion selective membranes, offering mechanistic insights to guide the design of next-generation mem...

This study reports an ultrathin kanamycin-based composite membrane that overcomes permeability–selectivity trade-offs while delivering strong fouling resistance and broad-spectrum antibacterial activi...

Estimating parameters for distributed hydrological models is challenging, especially in regions with limited data. Here the authors employ variational autoencoders to generate optimal parameter transf...

Quantifying water sustainability relies on limited and non-uniform metrics that risk greenwashing and hinder effective investment decisions. To address this, the proposed water sustainability index (W...

A photochemical regeneration strategy achieves repeated capture and release of diverse precious metals by integrating a phenol–quinone redox cycle into a nanocarbon aerogel scaffold, offering a practi...

Minerals in drinking water can influence gut health, especially during infection. This study finds that magnesium in drinking water worsens Salmonella-driven gut inflammation by boosting the pathogen’...

A macromolecule-regulated interfacial polymerization strategy enables control over polymer network architectures and micropore sizes, leading to membranes breaking the intrinsic permeability–selectivi...

Urban water hazards like flooding and contamination are worsening due to climate change, and their risks are deeply influenced by historical oppression and inequitable infrastructure decisions. This P...

Sewer systems have long been assumed to be negligible sources of methane, yet emerging evidence suggests that they represent a previously overlooked contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. This study...

A sustainable approach to wastewater treatment is achieved through pollutant polymerization, polymer recovery and catalyst reuse, enabled by the design of a Ni–Zn layered double hydroxide catalyst.

Freshwater ecosystems are crucial for biodiversity and climate resilience, yet they are often neglected in global climate policies. Here the authors present a global map of high-value freshwater ecosy...

Lakes fed by melting and retreating glaciers are becoming important freshwater reservoirs, and their value depends on their storage capacity and sedimentation-dependent lifespan. This study estimates ...

Microbial consortia offer a promising route for sustainable wastewater treatment but are often constrained by inefficient interspecies metabolic interactions. This study shows that hydrogel-defined me...

Escalating phosphorus pollution and depleting reserves necessitate sustainable control and recovery strategies. Here the authors develop a microbially enhanced La–Zr-loaded basalt system that achieves...

Three years after the launch of Nature Water, we assess our development as a journal and provide clearer guidance on the boundaries of our scope.

Wastewater treatment plants harbour extensive but poorly characterized microbial genetic diversity. Using 828 metagenomes from wastewater treatement plants globally, this study reconstructs >24,000...

A membrane system operating without electricity and inspired by natural fractal transport patterns achieves exceptional nanofiltration performance, offering a simple and reliable source of potable wat...

Single-atom catalysts are promising for water treatment but remain difficult to produce at scale. This work presents a cascade fixation strategy that delivers kilogram-scale, high-loading single-atom ...

Antibiotic resistance is a growing global threat, yet the role of extracellular defence mechanisms remains underexplored. This study reveals that evolved extracellular polymeric substances act as a fr...