The coronavirus pandemic and its impact on water consumption as recorded by the water industry

ABSTRACT

The coronavirus outbreak has been extremely difficult for water utilities. The COVID-19 epidemic has become a challenge for the water and sewage sectors due to changes in water consumption caused by disrupted business operations, services, and household activities. Higher operating costs followed by lower revenues from the sale of water as well as staff shortages have been the biggest problems of the water and sewage industry. The drop in revenues related to lower water consumption turned out to be considerable for some enterprises, while for others it was dramatic. Some operators con-tinued to supply more water, but large increases were out of the question in their case. The paper presents innovative research on the scale of fluctuations in water demand during the COVID-19 epi-demic on the example of the Krakow Water. At Krakow, the coronavirus epidemic resulted in lower water sales, which upset the last 4 y of company rewards. Water sales monthly volume was ana-lyzed in parts divided by groups of customers. The authors based on real data which came from the billing system, where each customer belongs to a specific group or kind of conducted service or activity. The significant drop in water use was reported in the group "other customers". The reduced sales in that whole group within specific months of the 2020 year, compared to the same month of the 2019 year (before the pandemic) varied from 4.75% to 42.37%. The water sales volume, like before the pandemic is expected to reach about 2025 year.