Water, Energy and Environmental Engineering Research Unit, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 4300, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland.
Water, Energy and Environmental Engineering Research Unit, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 4300, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jun 25;827:154429. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154429. Epub 2022 Mar 8.
Water is of central importance for reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. With predictions of dire global water scarcity, attention is turning to resources that are considered to be unconventional, and hence called Unconventional Water Resources (UWRs). These are considered as supplementary water resources that need specialized processes to be used as water supply. The literature encompasses a vast number of studies on various UWRs and their usefulness in certain environmental and/or socio-economic contexts. However, a recent, all-encompassing article that brings the collective knowledge on UWRs together is missing. Considering the increasing importance of UWRs in the global push for water security, the current study intends to offer a nuanced understanding of the existing research on UWRs by summarizing the key concepts in the literature. The number of articles published on UWRs have increased significantly over time, particularly in the past ten years. And while most publications were authored from researchers based in the USA or China, other countries such as India, Iran, Australia, and Spain have also featured prominently. Here, twelve general types of UWRs were used to assess their global distribution, showing that climatic conditions are the main driver for the application of certain UWRs. For example, the use of iceberg water obviously necessitates access to icebergs, which are taken largely from arctic regions. Overall, the literature review demonstrated that, even though UWRs provide promising possibilities for overcoming water scarcity, current knowledge is patchy and points towards UWRs being, for the most part, limited in scope and applicability due to geographic, climatic, economic, and political constraints. Future studies focusing on improved documentation and demonstration of the quantitative and socio-economic potential of various UWRs could help in strengthening the case for some, if not all, UWRs as avenues for the sustainable provision of water.
水对于实现联合国可持续发展目标（SDGs）至关重要。随着全球严重缺水的预测，人们开始关注被认为是非传统的水资源，即非常规水资源（UWRs）。这些被视为补充水资源，需要专门的处理工艺才能作为供水使用。文献中涵盖了大量关于各种 UWR 及其在某些环境和/或社会经济背景下的有用性的研究。然而，目前缺少一篇最近的、全面的文章，将 UWR 的集体知识汇集在一起。考虑到 UWR 在全球推动水安全方面的重要性日益增加，本研究旨在通过总结文献中的关键概念，对 UWR 的现有研究进行细致的理解。随着时间的推移，关于 UWR 的文章数量显著增加，尤其是在过去十年中。虽然大多数出版物都是由来自美国或中国的研究人员撰写的，但印度、伊朗、澳大利亚和西班牙等其他国家也占有重要地位。在这里，使用了 12 种一般类型的 UWR 来评估它们的全球分布，表明气候条件是应用某些 UWR 的主要驱动因素。例如，使用冰山水显然需要获得冰山，而冰山主要来自北极地区。总的来说，文献综述表明，尽管 UWR 为克服水资源短缺提供了有前途的可能性，但当前的知识仍然存在差距，并且表明由于地理、气候、经济和政治限制，UWR 在很大程度上是有限的。未来的研究侧重于更好地记录和展示各种 UWR 的定量和社会经济潜力，这有助于加强某些（如果不是全部）UWR 作为可持续供水途径的理由。
