Impact of COVID-19 on Water Consumption Habits in Kocaeli, Turkey

Abstract

Water is essential for living things and cannot be substituted. The rapidly growing world population causes people to change their needs and habits. The need for water is increasing day by day. In order to maintain water distribution continuously, water must be used economically. Considering that Turkey's per capita water amount is below the world average in terms of geographical location, we cannot say that the Turkey is rich in water resources. It is inevitable that we ensure the efficiency and sustainability of existing water supplies, by making use of existing hardware and software technologies. Climate changes affect water resources. The affects of Covid-19 were significiantly high during the lockdown. Throughout history, disease outbreaks have affected people's lifestyles and habits. As a result, it is important to forecast water demand during such periods. According to the hourly data collected from 33 households, water consumption during the pandemic increased by 27.93% compared to the pre-pandemic period. However, based on the monthly water consumption data, it was observed that the water consumption per household in 2022 increased by 1.04% compared to the pre-pandemic period in 2019 in Kocaeli.