Effects of Covid-19 on the Availability of Clean Water and Sanitation Publisher



Ostadtaghizadeh A¹ ; Hamdanieh L¹ ; Nasseri S²
Source: COVID-19 and the Sustainable Development Goals Published:2022

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the availability and consumption of safe water reached alarming levels. Millions of people still lack access to basic water and sanitation services, and their number is expected to increase, thus increasing the risk of virus transmission. This chapter introduces the impact of COVID-19 on water and sanitation. It starts with discussing the importance of water for health, followed by the effect of COVID-19 on the water and sanitation sectors. It then explains about Sustainable Development Goal-6 (clean water and sanitation) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. By the end of the chapter, lessons learned regarding the water and COVID-19 pandemic were highlighted. It was concluded that shift in the water demand, overuse of water, detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater, contamination of water bodies, and inability to pay water bills were the major challenges that SARS-CoV-2 posed. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.