Air and water health: industrial footprints of COVID-19 imposed lockdown

ABSTRACT

Overall lockdown limitations toward the start of the year 2020 are credited to the annihilation and fatalities worldwide because of COVID-19. Most of the nations revealed rapid growth of COVID-19 cases and subsequently declared lockdown in several stages. Because of these lockdowns, industries had to stop producing goods other than the actual merchandise needed to survive. The air quality and natural water quality witnessed a noticeable improvement from limited human activity. This paper presents an investigation demonstrating this improvement under various lockdown periods, specifically for the Indian subcontinent. The rivers and atmosphere of Indian settings have been utilized here as a contextual analysis associated with industrial pollution. This work aims to study the associations and interrelationships between lockdowns during COVID-19 and their effect on air and water quality. The paper presents then and now an analysis of the Indian atmosphere based on various particulate matters and river health based on the biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, and dissolved oxygen. The study indicated a significant dip in air and water pollution levels and a significant improvement in the atmosphere and rivers’ quality during this period. Significant water bodies witnessed the pH level of 7.5 amidst lockdown, which is a good indicator of improved water health since the pH level of drinkable water is 7. The analysis carried out in this paper can also be mapped to other countries and landscapes of the world.