A Study on the Impact of the COVID-19 Virus Epidemic and Countermeasures on the Inflow of Wastewater Treatment Plants in Small and Medium-sized Cities

Abstract

Objectives The objective of this research is to evaluate how the COVID-19 pandemic spread and prevention actions are affecting the inflow patterns of wastewater treatment plants(WWTP) in the domestic small-medium sized city. Also, the main contribution is the assessment of water consumption during a pandemic, proving information for management of wastewater collection and treatment system in order to be resilient in challenging situation for the community. Methods In this study, data on the inflow rates of 6 WWTPs (5 in J_City, 1 in J_Myeon) from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2023 water consumption data during the same period was investigated. Results and Discussion As a result of investigating the inflow of WWTPs in J_City and J_Myeon, the subject of this study (data from January 2018 to December 2023), the amounts of flowing into the WWTPs during the 5th and 6th pandemic showed a relative decrease compared to the 2018 data. The reason for the decrease in flow into WWTP was analyzed to be the relatively small amount of precipitation compared to the base year, rather than the change in water consumption. Conclusion As a result of correlation analysis between the annual precipitation and the WWTP inflow in J_City and J_Myeon, the correlation coefficients were 0.58 and 0.59, respectively, showing a clear positive linear correlation. Accordingly, in these area using combined sewer pipe system, the inflow into WWTP was found to be more dependent on changes in annual precipitation than on changes in water consumption pattern.

Keywords

• covid-19 pandemic
• small-medium sized cities
• inflow into wwtps
• water consumption pattern
• precipitation