Volume 4 Issue 4, April 2026

Water treatment technologies frequently fail to achieve lasting adoption when design processes overlook Indigenous and local knowledge systems and cultural context. Converging Indigenous and scientific knowledge systems can create pathways toward more adaptive and inclusive water innovation.

Solar-driven interfacial evaporation offers a sustainable path for freshwater production, yet its integration into a truly circular agricultural economy has remained elusive. A study now demonstrates a ‘closed-loop’ system using amyloid fibril-based bioevaporators to desalinate water for irrigation, subsequently recycling agricultural waste back into the desalination process.

A multifunctional magnetic adsorbent rapidly captures nano- and microplastics and signals their presence through a visible colour change, offering a promising tool for decentralized water quality monitoring.

Nitrate electroreduction loses selectivity as accumulated hydrogen recombines to form H₂. Nanoconfinement in carbon nanotubes reorganizes interfacial water, accelerates proton transfer, reduces hydrogen accumulation and enhances ammonia production.

Microbial life depends on the exchange of metabolites. Extracellular vesicles are shown to provide protected delivery for nutrients and enzymes, reshaping metabolic interactions and biogeochemical cycling in aquatic ecosystems.

Often viewed solely as an environmental concern, radioactive tracers such as anthropogenic tritium can also provide powerful insights into groundwater flow. High-frequency monitoring of tritium enables detailed reconstruction of water transit times in managed aquifer recharge facilities.

Economic growth is associated with an increase in natural resource extraction, energy production and waste accumulation, and a growing demand for commodities and services, enhancing human pressure on global water resources. This Perspective addresses the hydrologic impacts of economic growth and critically analyses decoupling mechanisms associated with spatial and temporal displacement, the adoption of technology and the moderation of consumption.

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 degradation on scales from genes to ecosystems, as well as current management strategies, constructed wetlands as nature-based solutions, and future research priorities.

Groundwater, enhanced through managed aquifer recharge, is crucial for alleviating water stress. This study demonstrates that isotopic tracers, including tritium from nuclear power plant effluents, can be used to map groundwater flow in Swiss alluvial systems, revealing insights into groundwater travel time distributions and informing sustainable groundwater management globally.

Vesicle-associated viruses are an emerging viral form with implications for infectivity and environmental transmission. Wastewater sampling and selective vesicle isolation show that a substantial share of noroviruses and many other human, animal, plant and bacterial viruses occur in vesicles, underscoring their relevance for wastewater treatment and public health.

Microorganisms release extracellular vesicles, but their ecological roles in natural environments remain unclear. A year-long multi-omics study reveals that environmental extracellular vesicles mediate metabolite exchange central to carbon and nitrogen cycling while stabilizing microbial communities.

Electrochemical nitrate reduction can simultaneously remove pollutants and produce ammonia but is often limited by hydrogen side reactions. This study shows that nanoconfined CuCo catalysts enable a proton-coupled electron transfer pathway that delivers highly selective, efficient and stable ammonia synthesis.

A multifunctional adsorbent, composed of copper-doped polydopamine-functionalized magnetic silica, enables the simultaneous removal and on-site detection of label-free nano- and microplastics.

This study presents an electrolyte-free electrochemical system that leverages dual electrocatalytic zones to effectively remove a wide range of recalcitrant pollutants across various water matrices, including low-conductivity organic wastewater.

A fluorochromic metal–organic framework sensor enables real-time visualization of thorium adsorption and exhibits a higher selectivity than other tetravalent cations.

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 regions facing freshwater constraints.