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.
Highlights
The global achievement in water access subsector at the end of MDGS could be jeopardized with unabated prevalence of a novel and highly contagious disease which knows no boundary
United Nations [1,2] had reported that a remarkable improvement had been recorded in the global pursuit of water access, including developing nations, at the end of 2015 deadline of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), with 91% access higher than 76% in 1990
A measure of progress in water access was attained in Nigeria in 2015, clinching to about 69%, the country still lag behind other countries in sub-Saharan region [6,7,8]
Summary
The global achievement in water access subsector at the end of MDGS could be jeopardized with unabated prevalence of a novel and highly contagious disease which knows no boundary. United Nations [1,2] had reported that a remarkable improvement had been recorded in the global pursuit of water access, including developing nations, at the end of 2015 deadline of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), with 91% access higher than 76% in 1990. With the prevalence of the disease which has claimed millions of life and other millions having being tested positive globally, the movement of people in search of potable water has become a serious challenge, as water points are mostly shared in the underdeveloped world [3,4]. In order to curtail poor access to water during the COVID-19 crisis, some African countries like Ghana, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had to announce various forms of free water in the affected areas [9]
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