COVID-19 and Water in Asia and the Pacific: Guidance Note
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COVID-19 AND WATER IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC GUIDANCE NOTE JULY 2021 ASIAN DEVEDEVELOPMENTLOPMENT BANK COVID-19 AND WATER IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC GUIDANCE NOTE JULY 2021 ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO) © 2021 Asian Development Bank 6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City, 1550 Metro Manila, Philippines Tel +63 2 8632 4444; Fax +63 2 8636 2444 www.adb.org Some rights reserved. Published in 2021. ISBN 978-92-9262-948-9 (print); 978-92-9262-949-6 (electronic); 978-92-9262-950-2 (ebook) Publication Stock No. TIM210265 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/TIM210265 The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) or its Board of Governors or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by ADB in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. By making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area, or by using the term “country” in this document, ADB does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area. This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/. By using the content of this publication, you agree to be bound by the terms of this license. For attribution, translations, adaptations, and permissions, please read the provisions and terms of use at https://www.adb.org/terms-use#openaccess. This CC license does not apply to non-ADB copyright materials in this publication. If the material is attributed to another source, please contact the copyright owner or publisher of that source for permission to reproduce it. ADB cannot be held liable for any claims that arise as a result of your use of the material. Please contact [email protected] if you have questions or comments with respect to content, or if you wish to obtain copyright permission for your intended use that does not fall within these terms, or for permission to use the ADB logo. Corrigenda to ADB publications may be found at http://www.adb.org/publications/corrigenda. Notes: In this publication, “$” refers to United States dollars. ADB recognizes “Hong Kong” as Hong Kong, China; and “China” as the People’s Republic of China. On the cover: Water is essential to all living things, and there is a critical need to support the sector in Asia and the Pacific. ADB is committed to supporting recovery from the coronavirus disease pandemic and realizing the “new normal” by taking immediate actions and financing projects and programs, capacity building, and technology and innovation in the region’s water sector (photos by Nasrur Rahman, Afriadi Hikmal, Veejay Villafranca, and Gerhard Joren/ADB). Cover design by Nonie Villanueva. Contents Tables, Figures, and Boxes v Acknowledgments viii Abbreviations ix Executive Summary xi 1 Introduction and Purpose of the Guidance Note 1 Background and Objectives 1 Water Service Providers 2 Service Provision Under the Three Pandemic Phases 3 2 Response Phase: How the Sector has Felt and Reacted to the Pandemic 6 High-Level Appreciation of COVID-19 and Water Security 6 Impacts to and Responses on Technical Operations 11 Impacts to and Responses on Commercial Operations 16 Financial Impacts 19 Socioeconomic Impacts 23 Impacts on and Responses in Water Resources, 27 Irrigation, and Drainage 3 Recovery Phase: Priorities for Pandemic Exit Strategy 30 Public Health and Staff Safety 30 Economic and Financial Recovery 32 Protection of Vulnerable Sectors 33 Enhancing Resilience 35 4 “New Normal” Phase: Building Back a Better Water Sector 37 Preventing and Responding to Future Health Crises 38 Accelerating Universal Access to Sustainable Water and Sanitation 44 Adopting Digital Technologies 49 Increasing the Resilience of Irrigation Systems 54 5 Potential ADB Support and Way Forward 56 Lessons for ADB Crisis Response Support 57 Financing and Capacity Building 58 Technology and Innovation 61 Appendixes Summary of Respondents to the ADB Survey 63 Technical Note on SARS-CoV-2 and Water 66 Tables Tables 1 Description of Water Service Providers 2 2 COVID-19 Water-Related Risk Factors 8 3 Highest and Lowest Ranking Countries in Terms of COVID-19 Water Security Risk 10 4 Changes in Wastewater Discharge Observed by ADB Survey Respondents 12 5 Staff Protection Actions Observed Globally 14 6 Changes in Billing Process or System by ADB Survey Respondents 17 7 Revenue Impacts for ADB Survey Respondents 20 8 Changes in Operating Expenditures Among ADB Survey Respondents 21 9 Vulnerability Assessments Conducted by ADB Survey Respondents—Water Supply, 25 Sanitation, and Wastewater 10 Examples of Progressive Actions Taken by Public Water Operators 26 11 Vulnerability Assessments Conducted by ADB Survey Respondents—Water Resources, 29 Irrigation, and Drainage 12 Safety Measures Implemented by ADB Survey Respondents 31 13 SDG-6 Accelerators 44 14 Proposed Interventions and Indicative Outcomes to Enhance Agricultural Productivity 54 and Market Access in Central and West Asia 15 Actions to Support the Realization of the “New Normal” 57 A.1 Services Provided by WSSW Survey Respondents 63 A.2 Services Provided by WRID Survey Respondents 65 B.1 Guidelines for Protection of Workers Exposed to Raw Water and Wastewater 76 B.2 Summary of WASH-Related Guides Published Since the Beginning of the Pandemic 77 B.3 Operational Guidance for Water and Sanitation Service Providers 79 Figures Figures 1 Cycles of Pandemic Response and Recovery Phase 3 2 Global Status of Environmental Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 Virus, 5 December 2020 8 3 Anticipated Delay in Construction Completion Reported by ADB Survey Respondents 15 4 Investment in Digitization Technologies by Global Utilities 16 5 Pricing Schemes Implemented by ADB Survey Respondents 17 6 Water Service Provider Revenue Loss in the Q1 and Q2 of 2020 19 7 Growth in Utility Capex Estimates, 2017–2021 20 8 Anticipated Delay in Construction Completion Among ADB Survey Respondents 28 9 Estimated Duration Before Overall Financial Situation Returns to Prepandemic Levels 32 Among ADB Survey Respondents 10 Isle Survey Results on the Potential Changes in a Post-COVID-19 World 38 11 Graphical Representation of Wastewater-Based Epidemiology 42 12 Global Risk Maps for Antibiotic Ciprofloxacin, 1995 and 2015 43 13 Proportion of Household Water Insecurity Experiences 45 Survey Respondents Reporting Inability to Wash Hands in the Last 30 Days 14 Example of Purpose-Driven Coordinated Actions Using the Data 46 and Innovation Accelerators 15 Asia-Pacific’s Progress in Meeting SDG-6 Targets 47 16 Example Decentralization Strategies in the Typical Water Supply 48 and Wastewater Value Chain 17 Digital Transformation Pyramid in the Water Sector 50 18 Health Care for Well-Being and Infrastructure Clusters 59 A.1 Population Served by WSSW Survey Respondents 63 A.2 Legal Nature of WSSW Survey Respondents 64 A.3 Geographic Areas of WSSW Survey Respondents 64 A.4 Geographical Areas of WRID Survey Respondents 65 B.1 Overview of Potential SARS-CoV-2 Dissemination via Waterborne Pathways 67 in Industrialized Countries B.2 A Pictorial History of Coronavirus Research in Water and Wastewater Environments 68 B.3 Seven Virus Concentration Methods Evaluated to Recover CoV from Wastewater 72 B.4 Secondary Biological Treatment Supports Enzymatic Degradation of 73 Organic Material, Including Viruses Boxes Boxes 1 Accelerating Digital Solutions for COVID-19 Response in Hue, Viet Nam 18 2 Mapping the Vulnerable for Early Response 24 3 Handwashing Technology for Cambodian Schools 34 4 Mobilizing Microfinance for Water and Sanitation in the Philippines 34 5 Strengthening the Utility Supply Chain in Australia 36 6 Understanding Climate Impacts on Sanitation and Public Health in Africa 39 7 Expanding Water Services to the Urban Poor in Metro Manila, Philippines 40 8 Market-Based Sanitation Solutions for Rural Cambodia 40 9 Wuhan Water’s “Safe Mode” 41 10 Improving Water Security through Continuous Groundwater Monitoring in Bangladesh 51 11 Smart Pressure Management to Combat Intermittent Water Supply in the Philippines 51 12 Satellite Analytics for Holistic Water Resources and Catchment Management 52 in the Philippines 13 Using LIDAR for Irrigation Survey in Indonesia 53 14 Using Technology to Crowdsource Impact Investments for Small-Scale Filipino Farmers 55 15 Developing a Bespoke Innovation Framework for the Philippines and a Water Sector Roadmap 60 for Australia and New Zealand Acknowledgments COVID-19 and Water in Asia and the Pacific: Guidance Note was prepared by the Water Sector Group under the Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department (SDCC) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). This is part of a series of ADB guidance notes produced in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Geoffrey Wilson, senior water resources specialist, SDCC, led the preparation of this guidance note, with valuable technical and survey analysis by Victor Arroyo, team leader; Joanna Burgess, deputy team leader; Christian Yang Villa, project manager, of Isle Utilities Pty Ltd.; Thomas Panella, former chief of the Water Sector Group; and Robert Guild, chief sector officer of SDCC, supervised the preparation of this guidance note. The team is also grateful for perspectives provided by members of the Water Sector Group, notably Coral Fernandez Illescas, Jelle Beekma, Christian Walder, Jacob Veerman, and Pia Corrina Romero Reyes. The team also appreciates the support of ADB operations departments, especially the sector division focals for their valuable advice and support throughout the process, including Alan Baird, Alex Conroy, Akira Matsunaga, Eric Quincieu, Hisaka Kimura, Jie Bai, Kiyoshi Nakamitsu, Lu Shen, Momoko Nitta, Pedro De Almeida, Qi Ji, Suzanne Marsh, Vivian Castro-Wooldridge, Yaozhou Zhou, and Xueliang Cai.