Influence of COVID-19 Spread on Water Drinking Demand: The Case of Puglia Region (Southern Italy)

Gabriella Balacco, Vincenzo Totaro, Vito Iacobellis, Alessandro Manni, Mauro Spagnoletta and Alberto Ferruccio Piccinni
Additional contact information
Gabriella Balacco: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale, del Territorio, Edile e di Chimica, Politecnico di Bari, 70125 Bari, Italy
Vincenzo Totaro: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale, del Territorio, Edile e di Chimica, Politecnico di Bari, 70125 Bari, Italy
Vito Iacobellis: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale, del Territorio, Edile e di Chimica, Politecnico di Bari, 70125 Bari, Italy
Alessandro Manni: Acquedotto Pugliese S.p.A., 70100 Bari, Italy
Mauro Spagnoletta: Acquedotto Pugliese S.p.A., 70100 Bari, Italy
Alberto Ferruccio Piccinni: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale, del Territorio, Edile e di Chimica, Politecnico di Bari, 70125 Bari, Italy

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 15, 1-16

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic affected the lives of millions of people, radically changing their habits in just a few days. In many countries, containment measures prescribed by national governments restricted the movements of entire communities, with the impossibility of attending schools, universities, workplaces, and no longer allowing for traveling or leading a normal social life. People were then compelled to revise their habits and lifestyles. In such a situation, the availability of drinking water plays a crucial role in ensuring adequate health conditions for people and tackling the spread of the pandemic. Lifestyle of the population, climate, water scarcity and water price are influent factors on water drinking demand and its daily pattern. To analyze the effect of restriction measures on water demand, the instantaneous flow data of five Apulian towns (Italy) during the lockdown have been analyzed highlighting the important role of users’ habits and the not negligible effect of commuters on the water demand pattern besides daily volume requested.

Keywords: COVID-19; water drinking demand; users’ habit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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