From Biogeochemical Nexus to Static Conduit: Large-Scale Water Diversion Reshapes Dissolved Organic Matter Molecular Networks
Available online 1 November 2026
Large-scale hydraulic infrastructure has profoundly affected global aquatic ecosystems. However, its influence on the molecular-level transformations of dissolved organic matter (DOM) is not well understood....
Dynamic Diagnosis and Integrated Intelligent Management of Urban Drainage Ecological Risks
Available online 1 November 2026
Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and high-throughput environmental sensing technologies are transforming conventional approaches to urban drainage ecological risk management. Urban drainage...
Enhancement Pathways for Urban Water Ecological Resilience
Available online 1 November 2026
Enhancing urban water ecological resilience (UWER) is increasingly essential as climate change, rapid urbanization, and ecological degradation intensify pressures on urban aquatic systems. However,...
Nitrogen Pollution in the Water Source Region of the Middle Route of China’s South-to-North Water Diversion Project: A Review of Research Progress and Challenges
Available online 1 November 2026
The Danjiangkou Reservoir and the upper reaches of the Han River constitute the primary water source region of the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, which supplies freshwater...
Evolution of Trophic Status and Its Driving Factors in Danjiangkou Reservoir
Available online 1 November 2026
Understanding the changes in trophic status within the Danjiangkou Reservoir, the primary water source for the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, is essential for effective...
Distribution, Host Association, and Dissemination of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in the Water-Receiving Area of the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project
Available online 1 November 2026
Rapid urbanization has created heterogeneous aquatic niches in megacities; however, how functionally distinct water bodies shape the environmental resistome remains poorly understood. To elucidate this,...
Monitoring and Assessment of Aquatic Ecosystems in the Yangtze River Basin
Available online 7 October 2026
Monitoring and assessing aquatic ecosystems are essential for diagnosing ecological conditions and supporting ecosystem management at the basin scale. In response to the strategic transition from a...
Beyond the Boundary: Bridging Earth Science and Environmental Engineering for Waterborne Pathogen Mitigation
Available online 11 July 2026
Waterborne pathogens represent a persistent threat to human health with recalcitrant transmission dynamics shaped by the intricate interplay between the natural environment and anthropogenic disturbances....
Distribution, host association, and spread of antibiotic resistance genes in the water-receiving area of the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project
Available online 11 July 2026
Rapid urbanization has created heterogeneous aquatic niches in megacities, yet how functionally distinct water bodies shape the environmental resistome remains poorly understood. We analyzed 30 surface-water...
Challenges and future perspectives on watershed aquatic ecosystem health study
Available online 10 July 2026
In the context of accelerating climate change, intensifying human activities, and expanding watershed development, degradation of aquatic ecosystem functions and the limitations of conventional management...
Panning for Gold: Finding Representative Water Quality Dynamic Data for Data-Efficient Machine Learning through Koopman Analysis
Available online 9 July 2026
Perception and prediction of water quality dynamics is crucial for optimizing water system management in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Various machine and deep learning methods are employed in...
Priorities and Future Outlook for Cross-country Collaboration in Surface Water Quality Modeling: Collective Insights from China, Australia, and New Zealand
Available online 8 July 2026
Water quality modeling is a powerful tool for analyzing the spatiotemporal dynamics of water quality and its key drivers. It is determined by the different development stages, management priorities,...
Toward Cross-Scale and Intelligent Assessment of Aquatic Ecosystem Health: A Paradigm Shift from Description to Prediction
Available online 11 June 2026
Freshwater ecosystems are undergoing unprecedented degradation driven by accelerating global change and intensive human activities, exposing fundamental limitations of conventional, indicator-based...
The Overlooked “Toxic Trap” in No-take Marine Reserves
April 2026
Driven by the ambitious global “30×30” biodiversity target, the unprecedented expansion of no-take marine reserves (NTRs) has yielded significant ecological dividends, notably the remarkable recovery...
Reframing Dams as Basin Governance Platforms: Engineering Safety, System Operations, and Digital-Intelligent Governance in China
April 2026
Dams are central to securing flood protection, water supply, irrigation, hydropower, navigation, and ecological functions. However, their global record reveals persistent dilemmas, including reservoir...
6∶2 Chlorinated Polyfluorinated Ether Sulfonic Acid (6∶2 Cl-PFESA) Exposure Exacerbates the Dissemination of Antibiotic Resistance Genes during Anaerobic Digestion
April 2026
Perfluoroalkyl sulfonate alternatives, such as 6∶2 chlorinated polyfluorinated ether sulfonic acid (6∶2 Cl-PFESA), are increasingly detected in wastewater treatment systems, yet their ecological risks...
Toward Integrated Ecological Operation of River Basins in Arid Regions: Challenges and Emerging Solutions
April 2026
River ecosystems in arid regions are undergoing rapid ecological degradation due to intensive water withdrawal and hydropower development. Ecological operation has emerged globally as a critical approach...
Integrated Framework for Lake Ecological Risk Assessment: Prioritizing Areas and Uncovering Mechanisms across Aquatic–Terrestrial Boundaries
April 2026
Lake ecosystems are increasingly threatened by climate change and human activities. However, conventional ecological risk assessments are often limited to a single perspective and frequently overlook...
Precision Accounting and Targeted Allocation of High-Quality Water in Protected Areas: A Source–Flow–Use Framework Applied to Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park
February 2026
High-quality water resources (HQWRs) generated in ecological conservation areas, such as national parks, constitute critical ecosystem products. However, conventional water allocation frameworks often...
Three Waters Synthesis and Evolution with Sustainable Development Goals in the Yellow River Basin from 2015–2022
February 2026
China’s “Three Waters” system (water environment, resource, and ecology) forms a critical foundation for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, conventional management tools often...
A 10-year investigation of the impact of a wastewater treatment plant upgrade on nitrogen-cycling microorganisms and DNA viruses in receiving river
February 2026
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are upgraded to improve the quality of river water downstream, but the effects of such upgrades on aquatic microbial and viral communities remain poorly understood....
Prospects for Using Multi-omics to Advance the Bioremediation of Organic Micropollutants in Aquatic Environments: A Review
February 2026
The continued rise in concentrations of organic micropollutants (OMPs) in aquatic ecosystems and the significant risks posed by OMPs to environmental and human health emphasize the dire need for effective,...
Integrating Native and Functional Plants in Constructed Wetlands: A Self-sustaining Approach to Rural Sewage Treatment
February 2026
The management of rural sewage faces significant challenges due to the dispersed settlements and inadequate infrastructure characteristics of rural areas. One sustainable management solution is to use...
SPECIAL ISSUE
February 2026
Assessment of heavy metal pollution in an urbanized waterway of the Pearl River Delta, China
December 2025
To combat environmental pollution, a viable option is to adjust industrial structures to reduce the emissions of pollutants. One means to gauge the effects of such change is assessing the potential...