COVID-19 Pandemic/Lockdown and its Impact on Sustainable Access to Safe Water in the Developing World: A Case Study

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on the global socio-economic spectrum, including water accessibility especially in developing countries. The global achievement in water access subsector at the end of MDGS could be jeopardized with the unabated prevalence of a novel and contagious disease which knows no bound. With the pandemic and its spreading mode through close contact which brought about the total lockdown of the global community, accessibility to improved water could have been restricted. To assess the impact of the disease/lockdown on water access, a survey was conducted during the lockdown-free days across randomly selected inhabitants of Iwo, Osun State, Nigeria. Data analysis was descriptive. The results revealed that the disease/lockdown restricted the movement of the respondents to search for potable water. Respondents adopted various strategies to ensure water availability in their homes including night fetching (12.2%), rotation (16.2%), purchase (1.4%), surface sources (8.8%) among others. About 78.3% either agreed or strongly agreed that the pandemic had pronounced impacts on domestic water supply and subjected them to untold hardship searching for water while trying to avoid physical contact. This work, therefore recommends review of global target on water access to ensure each house is connected to safe and sustainable water sources.