COVID‐19 and the water sector: understanding impact, preparedness and resilience in the UK through a sector‐wide survey

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic led to drastically altered working practices. During the UK lockdown, a questionnaire was distributed to water professionals to understand their experiences and perceptions of organisational response. Findings were evaluated on the measures of mitigation, adaptation, coping and learning. Employees' perceived there were adequate procedures to mitigate a threat, partly due to preparations for Brexit. Participants quickly adapted, with eighty-four percent working from home. Coping was experienced at an individual and sector level. IT issues and care responsibilities made it harder for individuals to cope, but good communication and signposting of support helped. Eighty percent felt able to continue their usual role, implying coping mechanisms were effective. At the sector level, coping involved the ability to meet an increased water demand with a remote workforce. Lessons learned highlight the importance of communication and collaboration. Future crisis plans should prepare for prolonged crises of international magnitude and multiple threats.

Increase in Daily Household Water Demand during the First Wave of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Germany

“…One important driver for the persistence is the utilization of home office. The acceptance of teleworking (here: working from home) increased during the pandemic [33,34,39] and might be also utilized more often in industries with predominantly desk work in the future [40,41]. Even politics in Germany started to draft a bill that allows employees to be legally entitled to work mobile 24 days a year [42].…”

Water and Wastewater Systems and Utilities: Challenges and Opportunities during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Meetings with unions in situations of this type contribute to smoothing out some reluctance to accept some critical tasks during the pandemic. A survey of workers in the water sector in the UK found that communication and signposting of additional support were very important to employees to combat feelings of isolation (Cotterill et al 2020).…”

Impacts of COVID-19 social distancing policies on water demand: A population dynamics perspective

“…Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a gap in knowledge and practice regarding how SDPs may impact the water sector. As such, researchers are working to identify and understand the following issues: pandemic-related challenges to and responses of utilities ( AWWA, 2020 ; Spearing et al, 2020 ; World Bank, 2020 ) as well as other water-sector companies (e.g., engineering and consulting firms) ( Cotterill et al, 2020 ); water-demand changes and patterns ( Balacco et al, 2020 ; Cooley et al, 2020 ; Kalbusch et al, 2020 ; Li et al, 2021 ; Rizvi et al, 2020 ); infrastructures’ operational constraints ( Cooley et al, 2020 ) and water-service-related quality issues ( Cooley et al, 2020 ; Sivakumar, 2020 ) in response to water-demand changes; natural water resource quality ( Cooley et al, 2020 ; Lokhandwala and Gautam, 2020 ; Pant et al, 2021 ); water security ( Cooley et al, 2020 ; Kassem and Jaafar, 2020 ; Rafa et al, 2020 ); and sensitivity of the water-energy nexus to pandemic lockdowns ( Roidt et al, 2020 ).…”