Role of water under the covid-19 pandemic: beneficial or/and detrimental?
Role of water under the covid-19 pandemic: beneficial or/and detrimental?
PDFAuthors: Jasna Grabić, Ksenija Mačkić
Volume/Issue: Volume 24: Issue 1
Published online: 21 May 2021
Pages: 77-79
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic represented a global phenomenon during 2020. It has spread over most of the countries in the world, leading to the infection of millions of people with a death rate of 2-3% simultaneously causing a serious economic crisis. It resulted in significant pollution reduction, but effects to combat COVID-19 led to an increase of some special pollutants. In such circumstances water can be considered as a cleaning and diluting agent for pollutants, providing hygienic conditions, as well as valuable raw material for the production of a variety of goods necessary for combating COVID-19. On the contrary, water can be viewed as a potential threat in relation to the virus spreading. Within the context of the human water cycle, we have identified possible hotspots related to risks of infection spreading. It may occur when contaminated water is reused (grey and black water), or insufficiently purified water enters the environment, which might interfere with drinking water.
Keywords: coronavirus, water resources, public health, waste, waterwater reuse
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