The special issue of Nature on water, which was published to coincide with World Water Day 2008, includes a review [1] of "some of the science and technology being developed to improve the disinfection and decontamination of water, as well as efforts to increase water supplies through the safe re-use of wastewater (e.g. with membrane bioreactors) and efficient desalination of sea and brackish water". It looks at solutions being developed in the industrialised world, which also have potential for developing countries "where less chemical- and energy-intensive technologies are greatly needed".

[1] Shannon. M.A. … [et al.] (2008). Science and technology for water purification in the coming decades. Nature ; no. 452 ; p. 301-310. doi: 10.1038/nature06599

Web site: The WaterCAMPWS

Contact: Prof. Mark A. Shannon, US National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center, WaterCAMPWS, Center for Advanced Materials for the Purification of Water with Systems, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, mshannon@uiuc.edu

Tags: water quality, water resources management