Effects of COVID-19 on Water and Wastewater Resources and its Environmental Consequences (Case Study of Mashhad)

The prevalence of COVID-19 causes many environmental problems, including increased medical waste and household waste, increased detergent consumption, reduced waste recycling and pollution of surface and groundwater resources through the entry of contaminated wastewater and leachate transfer, as well as increasing demand and water consumption in the household sector. COVID-19 virus RNA is found in feces, urine and sewage in different parts of the world, and in fact, hospital sewage, especially infectious disease units, contains the pandemic COVID-19 virus. Therefore, the study of this virus in wastewater is necessary to protect the quality of water resources. This study is based on a review of more than 200 published scientific literatures (articles, books, reports, valid scientific sites, etc.) in relation to the coronavirus. For this purpose, keywords such as "coronavirus contamination of water and wastewater resources", "environmental effects of coronavirus", "effects of physico-chemical indicators of wastewater on coronavirus survival" and "number of infected and deaths due to Coronavirus" have been used and downloaded through electronic tools from Springer, PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge and Google Scholar databases. In addition, data on the amount of water consumption in different parts (residential and non-residential) of Mashhad city, and the concentration of physicochemical parameters (such as temperature (T), pH, suspended solids, total solids (Ammonia, etc.) of wastewater, related to Khin Arab and Parkandabad treatment plants in Mashhad, has been obtained from Mashhad water and sewerage company. The required diagrams were drawn in Excel software, and the environmental impact and the contamination of water resources with COVID-19 and variations in physico-chemical parameters of wastewater affecting the survival of COVID-19 in wastewater were examined and analyzed. The global prevalence of Coronavirus has many negative impacts on the environment and on water and wastewater resources and caused increased water consumption (in residential sector) and wastewater production. By January 2022, worldwide, Iran and Khorasan Razavi province levels, more than 312 million, 6 million and 75 thousand people, respectively, were suffering from coronavirus outbreak, and more than 5.5 million, 133 thousand and 11 thousand people died. In general, the effect of concentration of wastewater’s physico-chemical indicators on the concentration and survival of COVID-19 has been proven in the world (especially in the South African coazolonatal treatment plant). The results of this study show that the parameters of each wastewater and survival and concentration of COVID-19 depends on the characteristics of the wastewater source, which should be given special attention in research on the epidemiology of wastewater. The variations in the concentration of physico-chemical indicators of Mashhad treatment plants’ (Parkandabad and Khin Arab) wastewater shows increase in concentration of some wastewater indicators. This can be due to the high input of organic and chemical substances and of solids (suspended, soluble and volatile) such as: detergents and disinfectants and pharmaceuticals, hospital and medical waste were attributed to wastewater after the outbreak of COVID-19. The outbreak of Coronavirus in the world has not only caused the death and infection of many people, but it has also caused increasing and decreasing in water consumption in the residential and non-residential sectors. The concentrations of some wastewater’s physico-chemical indicators (such as pH, TS and ammonia) effects on the concentration, survival and shelf life of Coronavirus in wastewater. Therefore, by determining the concentrations of these indicators in wastewater at different times and monitoring its variations, it is possible to determine the survival of COVID-19 virus in wastewater, the rate of infection and the contaminated areas from the virus, and also to be able to control COVID-19 and to manage the pollution and infection.