Water consumption changes during and after COVID-19 in Ghana

Abstract

Maintenance of good hygiene practices are encouraged in the outbreak of infectious diseases like COVID-19 and therefore, water consumption is expected to increase. There is evidence that across the globe, water consumption increased as a result of hygiene practices as people stayed at home during the pandemic, blending work, study and other daily activities. To adequately tackle the infection rate, the government of Ghana announced “free water” for all policy. This study seeks to investigate whether the pandemic and subsequent policy in 2020 has influenced water consumption over the last 2 years. The study employed descriptive statistics and Interrupted Time Series Analysis (ITSA) on monthly water consumption data from 2018 to 2022. 60 data points consisting of 27 pre and 33 post-interruption data points were used to allow the model to measure the trend before the intervention (policy) and the immediate impact of the intervention. On the average, consumption in terms of volumes increased by about 30%, and ITSA showed a significant immediate impact and increasing trend on monthly water use. The findings of the study have implications on further research, engineering practice, policy and its implementation to help in preparation for future pandemics.