Indirect effects of Covid-19 on water quality

Taqi Raza, Muhammad Shehzad, Muhammad Farhan Qadir, Hafiz Abdul Kareem, Neal S. Eash, Mika Sillanpaa, Khalid Hakeem

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The provision of safe water and functioning waste management play key roles in preventing and combatting disease outbreaks such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Good water quality is needed for effective hygiene measures like washing hands as well as for lowering pathogen transmission. Almost all over the world, especially in developing countries, water is vulnerable and at high risk and surging insecurity with time. Effective water management, sanitation, and hygiene help to protect lives during the global COVID-19 pandemic. While sanitation and hygiene also disturb the quality and increase water consumption per capita to 40% comparatively and wastewater production in many developing countries. This rapid increase in water consumption puts direct pressure on water reservoirs and inadequate management of wastewater is also a serious threat to waterways, nowadays. Similarly, the quality of water bodies is significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the risk of transmission of COVID-19 through sewerage systems is recorded as low. Hence, the current review paper is planned to highlight the main concerns directly linked with the frequent usage of detergents/soaps and alcohol-based hand sanitizers on water quality and the post-pandemic handwashing habits to overcome the COVID-19 spread also threatening the water reserve by high consumption along with more wastewater production with less water reuse efficiency and collectively the pressure on drinking water facilities. This review also focuses on the indirect influence of COVID-19 on water quality through technical interventions among COVID-19, water pollution; soaps/detergents, and hand sanitizer and the complete water management plan for water security and safety from policymakers to end users after the viral revolution briefly.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)29-38
Number of pages10
JournalWater-Energy Nexus
Volume5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2022

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • Developing countries
  • Hand sanitizer
  • Pandemic
  • Soaps/detergents
  • WASH
  • Water pollution

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Environmental Engineering
  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Water Science and Technology
  • Waste Management and Disposal

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Indirect effects of Covid-19 on water quality'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this