International Journal of Sustainable Engineering

The management of water and wastewater and efficient use of water in manufacturing industry, specifically within rural municipalities, requires support in the design and management of transformation pathways. This may include digital process control, participation process designs, and sustainable management strategies such as the reuse of treated wastewater. Managing digital transitions in the regional wastewater industry is a real challenge for many countries that need to be addressed to ensure that the countryside does not fall behind competing urban centres.

Transformation processes in all areas of wastewater management lead to new structures, technologies, processes and funding mechanisms. The digital and sustainable transformations have a wide-ranging impact on all aspects of wastewater, flood control and wetland system management. Creating smart regions is more than a vision for the rural municipality of the future – it is also a future-oriented approach to regional development. The planning and implementation of digital and sustainable transformation processes is a complex, dynamic and integrated process in which various dimensions must be tuned together.

Transformation of the wastewater industry is an opportunity for rural areas. Current technological developments like 5G are driving the next level of mobile and ubiquitous connectivity for society and industry. High-tech solutions such as multi-cloud alternatives, machine learning and artificial intelligence have already had a major impact on water and wastewater management, in particular within various manufacturing industries including food, chemical and healthcare. Such technological advancements provide promising solutions to tackle present and emerging challenges regarding the wastewater services, environmental management, wetland protection, flood control and resource recovery measures. On the road to digital and sustainable transformation, vulnerable regions must not fall behind: the use of digital information and communication technologies offers opportunities, especially for remote areas, to support thriving local wastewater system economies such as green hydrogen production and vibrant communities.

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo a full peer-review. Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is 30th April 2024.

Please contact Alex Johnson at [email protected] with any queries regarding this Article Collection.

Article Collection Guest Advisor

DProf. Prof. Miklas Scholz, cand ing, BEng (equiv), PgC, MSc, PhD, DSc, CWEM, CEnv, CSci, CEng, FHEA, FIEMA, FCIWEM, FICE, Fellow of IWA, Fellow of IETI is a Distinguished Professor at Johannesburg University, South Africa. Miklas holds the Chair in Civil Engineering as a Professor at The University of Salford, UK, and he is also a Senior Expert in Water Management for atene KOM and a Technical Specialist for Nexus by Sweden. He has published four books and 311 journal articles. Prof. Scholz has total citations of about 13160 (above 8020 citations since 2018), resulting in an h-index of 56 and an i10-Index of 222. He belongs to the top 2% academics regarding the i10-index in the past five years. Miklas also belongs to the World's Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University. A bibliometric analysis of all constructed wetland-related publications and corresponding authors with a minimum number of 20 publications and 100 citations indicates that Miklas is on place 5 in the world of about 70 authors (including those who have sadly passed away). In 2019, Prof. Scholz was awarded EURO 7M for the EU H2020 REA project Water Retention and Nutrient Recycling in Soils and Streams for Improved Agricultural Production (WATERAGRI). He received EURO 1.52M for the JPI Water 2018 project Research-based Assessment of Integrated approaches to Nature-based SOLUTIONS (RAINSOLUTIONS).

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