Spatio-temporal changes in urban water consumption during 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic in southern Brazil

Abstract

This study investigated the changes that occurred during the pandemic of COVID-19 in urban water consumption in residential, commercial, industrial, and public agencies in the city of São Leopoldo, southern Brazil, which has about 55,000 consumers and over 200,000 inhabitants. Overall, the city increased water consumption by 5.6% during the 2-year pandemic, with 5.9% in 2020 and 5.5% in 2021. Residential and industrial consumption increased by 6.77 and 9.92% in the first year, and by 5.47 and 14.45% in the second year, respectively. On the other hand, commercial and public sector consumption decreased, respectively, 5.48 and 46.26%, in the first year, and also 1.83 and 40.99% in the second year. In the first months of the pandemic, there was a sharp increase in residential water consumption at the same time as a reduction in consumption in the other categories. In contrast, there was a slight return to previous water consumption patterns in the following months. Overall, we can affirm that the more central neighborhoods presented higher changes in water consumption than the peripheral neighborhoods. In addition, the water consumption during the pandemic and pre-pandemic periods was statistically different for residential, industrial, and public consumers.