Abstract:
The rapid spread of the COVID 19 virus made people wear personal protective
equipment (PPE) to protect themselves during the pandemic. As a result, significant
changes in PPE accumulation in water bodies were observed in Sri Lanka.
Therefore, this study intended to explore the immediate impacts of COVID-19 safety
processes on surface water bodies and water quality in Sri Lanka. An online cross sectional survey was accompanied from the 1st of April to 1st of May 2021 using
Google forms. The questionnaire with socio-demographics and surface water
quality changes related questions were circulated over social media platforms.
Purposive sampling was done and the analysis was done by descriptive statistics
using Minitab software. A total of 466 respondents were included in the analysis
(63.38% females). The majority of them was employed and resided in urbanized
areas (66.67%). According to the findings of the study, 44% of respondents has
been noticed water quality fluctuations and 50.32% of them mentioned that the
water pollution was increased due to PPE during pandemic. The amount of PPE in
water bodies increased more than usual as stated by 49% of respondents. The most
polluted water source due to accumulation of PPE were rivers (27%), reservoirs
(26%) culverts (26%) and streams (14%). The 79% of the respondents used face
masks daily for their protection. Preventing PPE release to the environment has the
potential of mitigating micro plastics and ecologically harmful substances into the
aquatic bodies to evade the deterioration of the water quality. Overall, significant
water pollution due to increase usage of PPE by general public (p<0.001) was
observed and proper disposal methods should be implemented while making public
community aware.
