Current Trends in Water Resources Research

Abstract

Research has largely been driven by the quest for innovation, new knowledge and improving the general wellbeing of the human race. Monumental challenges that plague humanity tend to, from time to time, shape research and take it to new heights, and one of such is the global water crisis [1,2]. To restate the obvious that water is the basis of life and the engine for social and economic growth, water resource engineering research attempts to address challenges related to: (i) how water of sufficient quantity and quality can be made available to meet various competing sectoral demands; (ii) how development and exploitation of the resource can be carried out in a sustainable manner so that its benefits extend to future generations; (iii) what adaptation and mitigating measures can be put in place to minimize the impacts of global climate change. This paper, therefore, presents trends in four areas of research in water resources engineering that focus on the paradigm shifts in water supply and sanitation, integrated modeling in order to give quantitative expression to integrated water resources management (IWRM), thereby achieving a more defined space for decision making, new and emerging cost-effective water treatment technologies, and research developments in adaptation measures to climate change.