Analyzing the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the water consumption of households, workplaces, and public institutions in Kocaeli, Turkey

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has frightening effects on the health systems all over the world, has forced the governments to take strict measures to fight the terrible consequences of the virus. Both this disease and restrictive measures have caused people to change their consumption habits in this period. In this study, the changes in the water consumption amounts of households, workplaces, and public institutions before and after the pandemic were examined. Kocaeli, a socially and economically essential city of Turkey, was chosen as the study area. Temperature and population changes, which are other parameter that may affect water consumption, were also evaluated. In addition, the month when the full lockdown was applied and the period when all bans were abolished and life returned to normal were also evaluated comparatively. The Wilcoxon test was used to determine whether there was a statistically significant difference in the amount of water consumption between the pre-pandemic, during the pandemic, and post-pandemic period. The results showed that although there was no considerable change in temperature, household water consumption increased markedly 3 months after the first case was announced in Turkey. After the implementation of the pandemic measures, the amount of workplace water usage decreased in April and in May 2020. Additionally, the amount of public water consumption in 2020 was found significantly lower than in 2019. In the full lockdown month, an increase was observed in household and workplace water consumption, in contrast to a significant decrease in the water consumption of public institutions. Among the changes experienced in the last period of 2021, when life was relatively normal, only a significant change was observed in the household water consumption value.