The United Nations Food Systems Summit aimed to chart a path toward transforming food systems toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Despite the essentiality of water for food systems, however, the Summit has not sufficiently considered the role of water for food systems transformation. This focus is even more important due to rapidly worsening climate change and its pervasive impacts on food systems that are mediated through water. To avoid that water “breaks” food systems, key food systems actors should 1) Strengthen efforts to retain water-dependent ecosystems, their functions and services; 2) Improve agricultural water management; 3) Reduce water and food losses beyond the farmgate; 4) Coordinate water with nutrition and health interventions; 5) Increase the environmental sustainability of food systems; 6) Explicitly address social inequities; and 7) Improve data quality and monitoring for water-food system linkages.

Climate change and population growth are contributing to a growing global freshwater crisis that is exacerbating agricultural water scarcity and compromising food security and public health. In light of these challenges, the increased reliance on nontraditional irrigation water sources, such as reclaimed or recycled water, is emerging as a potentially viable strategy to address water and food insecurity worldwide. This editorial provides an overview of the global need for agricultural water reuse and outlines the environmental and public health impacts associated with this practice. Policy implications, including an emphasis on “One Water” approaches, are discussed. Finally, the editorial leads off a Special Issue that includes a collection of articles reporting on the initial research and extension/outreach findings of CONSERVE: A Center of Excellence at the Nexus of Sustainable Water Reuse, Food and Health, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Taken together, this compilation of articles addresses the overarching theme that transdisciplinary teams are key with regard to moving the science of agricultural water reuse forward to achieve water and food security and advance public health in a changing climate.

Current patterns of agricultural expansion and intensification are bringing unprecedented environmental externalities, including impacts on water quality. While water pollution is slowly starting to receive the attention it deserves, the contribution of agriculture to this problem has not yet received sufficient consideration.We need a much better understanding of the causes and effects of agricultural water pollution as well as effective means to prevent and remedy the problem. In the existing literature, information on water pollution from agriculture is highly dispersed. This repost is a comprehensive review and covers different agricultural sectors (including crops, livestock and aquaculture), and examines the drivers of water pollution in these sectors as well as the resulting pressures and changes in water bodies, the associated impacts on human health and the environment, and the responses needed to prevent pollution and mitigate its risks.

Current patterns of agricultural expansion and intensification are bringing unprecedented environmental externalities, including impacts on water quality. While water pollution is slowly starting to receive the attention it deserves, the contribution of agriculture to this problem has not yet received sufficient consideration. We need a much better understanding of the causes and effects of agricultural water pollution as well as effective means to prevent and remedy the problem. In the existing literature, information on water pollution from agriculture is highly dispersed. This repost is a comprehensive review and covers different agricultural sectors (including crops, livestock and aquaculture), and examines the drivers of water pollution in these sectors as well as the resulting pressures and changes in water bodies, the associated impacts on human health and the environment, and the responses needed to prevent pollution and mitigate its risks.

Papers on mycobacteria in food, feed and water, published between 1945 and 2010 and indexed in the database Web of Science® (Thomson Reuters) were ranked according to authors, institutions, countries and source titles. The total number of papers on mycobacteria and food and mycobacteria and water were 1486 and 1419, respectively. More than 40% of papers have been published in the last five years. In addition to publications in peer reviewed journals the archives of ProMED-mail and the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed of the European Union were also searched. It is evident that much attention is being paid to mycobacteria in food, feed and water as they likely pose a public health risk.

Papers on mycobacteria in food, feed and water, published between 1945 and 2010 and indexed in the database Web of Science (Thomson Reuters), were ranked according to authors, institutions, countries and source titles. The total number of papers on mycobacteria and food, and mycobacteria and water were 1,486 and 1,419, respectively. More than 40% of papers have been published in the last five years. In addition to publications in peer reviewed journals the archives of ProMED-mail and the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed of the European Union were also searched. It is evident that much attention is being paid to mycobacteria in food, feed and water as they likely pose a public health risk.

Acinetobacter spp. has emerged as a pathogen of major public health concern due to their increased resistance to antibiotics and their association with a wide range of nosocomial infections, community-acquired infections and war and natural disaster-related infections. It is recognized as a ubiquitous organism however, information about the prevalence of different pathogenic species of this genus in food sources and drinking water is scarce. Since the implementation of molecular techniques, the role of foods as a source of several species, including the Acinetobacter baumannii group, has been elucidated. Multidrug resistance was also detected among Acinetobacter spp. isolated from food products. This highlights the importance of foods as potential sources of dissemination of Acinetobacter spp. between the community and clinical environments and reinforces the need for further investigations on the potential health risks of Acinetobacter spp. as foodborne pathogens. The aim of this review was to summarize the published data on the occurrence of Acinetobacter spp. in different food sources and drinking water. This information should be taken into consideration by those responsible for infection control in hospitals and other healthcare facilities.