09/25/2026
Essay
Gustavo Saltiel, Joel Kolker, and Clarissa Brocklehurst explore the challenges water service providers face and how improvements in governance result in more autonomy and less political interference, leading to clearer customer focus, better services, and the real possibility of reaching everyone.
Image credit: Water bottles by Thilina Alagiyawanna, Unsplash
09/03/2026
Review
In this Review, Abhirup Dikshit and colleagues aim to understand flash droughts in the Southern Hemisphere more comprehensively, to better inform adaptive strategies for agriculture and ecosystem management in Australia.
Image credit: Dikshit et al., CC BY 4.0
10/07/2026
Health impacts & Sanitation
In this systematic review, James Wallace and team analysed the literature linking sanitation system attributes or adaptation actions to resilient outcomes under climate hazards, identifying major gaps to guide future research efforts.
Image credit: Waste collection in heavy urban rain by Pham Trung Kien, Pixabay
08/06/2026
Essay
This narrative Essay by Nidhi Nagabhatla and Neeraj Singh Manhas explores the Indus Waters Treaty, a source of geopolitical bargaining power, national identity, and rhetorical securitisation as well as being the cornerstone of water cooperation between India and Pakistan.
Image credit: Lake view by Shreya Kollipara, Unsplash
10/07/2026
special Collection
Wastewater and environmental surveillance (WES) can provide key insights into the emergence and spread of infectious diseases. In partnership with the Gates Foundation, this collection showcases research on WES methods, implementation, and data standards, highlighting its growing role in supporting public health decision-making in diverse settings.
Image credit: Supriya Kumar, CC BY 4.0
08/14/2026
Opinion
Joshua Miller and Judith Borja argue the importance of centering adolescents in the global water, sanitation, and hygiene research and policy agenda, especially as adolescent health is typically less funded and less researched than other life stages, and appeal for more deliberate investments.
Image credit: Student exam by MUSIC_AND_WALLPAPER, Pixabay
10/05/2026
health impacts & sanitation
Mmeli Dube et al. use participatory qualitative research methods, through group and individual interviews, to investigate how people in a Cape Town informal settlement experience sanitation.
Image credit: unstable pota-pota at the back of my sister’s shack, John, CC BY 4.0
09/02/2026
Water resources & hydrology
by Donald John Robertson et al.
Image credit: Makala, Malawi by Omar Hakeem, Unsplash
09/30/2026
water quality & pollution
by Cameron Smith et al.
Image credit: Smith et al., CC BY 4.0
08/19/2026
water quality & pollution
by Julia E. Rager et al.
09/11/2026
Economics
by Rahel Deribe Bekele et al.
Image credit: Bekele et al., CC BY 4.0
Find out more information and how to submit your work to the UNC Water and Health Conference 2026 Special Collection in partnership with PLOS.
Explore this Collection in partnership with the UNC Chapel Hill's Water Institute, of critical research in the WASH sector, across several PLOS journals.
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 exciting collection of papers on watersheds and health.
Learn about our forthcoming Collection in partnership with SUSE on the topic of ‘Urbanization and Aquatic Ecosystems'
We speak to Joshua Viers about their recent research paper in PLOS Water
We speak with Matt Stellbauer about their recent research on household water insecurity, published in PLOS Water
We speak to Donald John MacAllister, lead author of a recent PLOS Water paper about their work.
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