RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WATER, SANITATION, CLIMATE CHANGE, AND COVID-19
COVID-19, a coronavirus, was generated from the China city Wuhan in 2019. It has drastically disrupted the economies of the countries. Around 80 million people had been infected, and more than 1.9 million died owing to the lethal virus. The COVID-19 pandemic is taking roots speedily across the countries. However, It has impacted the climatic environment in a very fascinating manner, but undoubtedly, the outbreak has proved very lethal for humans. On 11th March 2020, WHO officially declared COVID-19 as a pandemic and suggested some precautionary measures like, Hand washing, Use of Sanitizer and social distancing to mitigate the spread of Coronavirus.
Water plays a significant role to mitigate the spread of Coronavirus. COVIA-19 can be killed by water. According to the research published by the Russian Federal Service For Human well-being, “Resilience or strength of virus is directly proportional to the temperature of the water.” Research also elaborated that Room temperature water: 90% virus dies in 24 hours and 99.9% in 72 hours. Therefore, all Governments must ensure water availability, especially in far-flung areas, densely populated regions. Owing to the lack of basic resources like water, food, and shelter, they are the most vulnerable in this precarious situation.
When it comes to boiling water: Coronavirus dies instantly and completely. The COVID-19 cannot multiply in boiling water. Viruses can remain active for 72 hours. According to the WHO, “The disinfectants of households are one of the most effective ways to reduce the chance of being infected. There should be seminars on the importance of water. So, people can use it wisely for healthy purposes rather than wasting it.
Sanitation and COVID-19 have a very close relationship. It is obligatory for each and every person to clean its proximity to avoid the deadly virus. According to UNICEF, one of the most effective measures to reduce the spread of the virus is to regularly and thoroughly hand wash with soaps.
If we observe the people who are not adhering to safety precautions such as hand sanitizer, even when they sneeze at open places, it can also spread the virus. Similarly, the public toilets, if a COVID positive patient uses then, it will also affect the negative ones.
So, the proper sanitation and toilet cleaners must be there, and they should be cleaned after individual usage. The lack of awareness among the people is why they are not following S.O.P and do proper sanitation. Therefore, seminars should be arranged to create awareness among the people regarding sanitation and hygiene and emphasize them to adopt all recommended measures by WHO.
It is also important to note here that frequent hand washing with proper hygiene requires a continuous supply of water and sanitation that are operational. Under the challenges of water scarcity and sanitation, Installing the mechanism of proper sanitation and water supply is very hard. So, the first and foremost priority should be to resolve the scarcity of water and sanitation and provide adequate access to every individual to adopt proper handwashing by using sufficient amounts of water. Before the emergence of this pandemic, the world was heading towards industrialization and technology. Amid the industries, the emission of smoke and carbon was increasing with each passing day.
When the pandemic arrived, it compelled the global community to enforce strict lockdown policies that closed all factories that reduced carbon emissions. According to Randolph Bell, Director of the Global Energy Center, elaborated in the Atlantic council that economic recession is linked by the virus is probably to cause a drop in the carbon emission. He further stated that NASA’s satellite image has witnessed that pollution deduction in china followed by the carbon emission had dropped by 25% in four weeks of lockdown. This depicts that lockdown policy has a fascinating impact on climate change.
The major influences of COVID-19 on the environment have been changes in water and air quality. As per the study of research analysts, Barcelona and Spain saw a reduction of 50% of its regular air pollution during the lockdown. According to the United Nations World Meteorological organizations, esteemed scientists observed a hole over the Arctic Ocean that was three times bigger than the area of Greenland now covered completely by a peaceful atmosphere. But, there should be a separate mechanism developed for tackling the heinous issue of climate change in the future. So, we can sustain the reduction of carbon emission that is being detected during the COVID-19.
In my concluding sentences, It is evidently visible from the above discussion that the relationship of Coronavirus is directly associated with water, sanitation and climate change. The availability of water should be ensured in every corner of the world along with the facilities of proper sanitation to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Although, it has some positive impacts on climate change such as reducing carbon emission and air pollution. Once the world releases from the pandemic by introducing vaccines, human beings would have a better environment and air to live peacefully in this world.