06/24/2026
Essay
In this Essay, Qin Huang, Moyan Liu, and Upmanu Lall discuss the novel concept of 'Weather Jiu Jitsu', and consider new solutions to mitigate against the most destructive impacts of catastrophic weather extremes.
Image credit: Huang et al., CC BY 4.0
05/04/2026
Essay
In their narrative article, Luigi Piemontese and colleagues lay out a proposed foundation for co-creating a more suitable concept of the sociohydrological cycle, and in tackling the plurality of ways of understanding and relating to water.
Image credit: Crowd by Mario Purisic, Unsplash
07/15/2026
Water use and management
Julian Olden et. al. highlight the potential consequences of the Trump Administration's current attempts to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule of 2001, which limits new road construction and industrial logging on nearly 60 million acres of national forest.
Image credit: Mountain sound in Olympic National Park by Linhao Zhang, Unsplash
05/04/2026
equity and justice
In their paper, Christopher Sneddon and colleagues examine how different elements of environmental justice – procedural, distributive, and recognitional understandings of justice – are (or are not) being integrated into restoration efforts across several urban settings.
Image credit: Bronx River From Overhead by Shaueel Persadee, Unsplash
07/29/2026
water use and management
Abid Sarwar leads a study focused on agricultural water consumptive use, developing a method developed combining remote sensing and machine learning which can lead to improved efficiency and flexibility in approaches to water resources management.
Image credit: Santa Clara Valley, CA by Marnee Wohlfert , Unsplash
04/22/2026
health impacts and sanitation
A study by Olivia Harmon, Joe Brown et al. focuses on the impacts of limited sanitation infrastructure in rural communities in Alabama’s Black Belt region, degrading surface water quality and contributing to enteric pathogen hazards.
Image credit: DeSoto Falls, Alabama by Bruno Guerrero, Unsplash
06/12/2026
Environmental impacts and ecosystems management
Anthony Acciavatti et. al. analyse areas of extreme vulnerability at the nexus of river Ganga and urban landscapes as well as regions of low vulnerability potentially suitable for conservation efforts or sustainable development practices to prevent their degradation.
Image credit: Acciavatti et al., CC BY 4.0
08/04/2026
water use and management
Image credit: Man and Water by Adebayo Alabi, Unsplash
06/05/2026
water resources and hydrology
Image credit: Tshering et al., CC BY 4.0
04/29/2026
Water and wastewater treatment
Image credit: rural Indian woman and water by Belle Maluf, Unsplash
06/26/2026
Recycling, reuse, and resource recovery
Image credit: Whitefield, Bengaluru by Bernd Dittrich, Unsplash
A collection in partnership with the Gates Foundation across several PLOS journals on the topic of Wastewater & Environmental Surveillance in Low-Resource Settings.
Explore this Collection in partnership with the UNC Water Institute, of critical research in the WASH sector, across both PLOS Water and PLOS Sustainability and Transformation.
Explore this exciting collection of papers on watersheds and health.
Read the full set of articles in this exciting collection.
Learn about our forthcoming Collection in partnership with SUSE on the topic of ‘Urbanization and Waterway Ecology: Instream and Beyond’
PLOS Water Section Editor, M. Dinesh Kumar, discusses the importance of groundwater resource estimates in India, and recommendations to improve them in future.
We welcome Professor Sera Young professor of anthropology at Northwestern University, to PLOS Water as our new co-Editor-in-Chief.
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