Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Water Utility Operations and Vulnerability
Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Water Utility Operations and Vulnerability
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DOI：
10.1061/(asce)wr.1943-5452.0001560
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发表时间：
2022-06-01
影响因子：
3.1
通讯作者：
Yang, Y. C. Ethan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Berglund, Emily Zechman;Buchberger, Steven;Yang, Y. C. Ethan
COVID-19 大流行影响了世界各地自来水公司的运营。在公用事业方面，需要新的协议来确保员工可以安全工作，并且供水服务不会中断。本研究报告了全球 27 家自来水公司的运营如何受到 COVID-19 大流行的影响。访谈于2020年6月至10月期间进行；受访者代表的公用事业公司的人口规模、地点和客户构成（例如住宅、工业、商业、机构和大学客户）各不相同。调查问题集中在疫情对供水系统运行、需求、收入、系统漏洞以及应急响应计划 (ERP) 的使用和制定的影响。答复表明，供水系统运营发生了重大变化，以确保供水公司员工可以继续工作，同时保持安全的社交距离或在家工作。 27 家公用事业公司中共有 23 家报告了需求量和模式的微小变化，这可能导致水基础设施运营和水质发生一些变化。公用事业公司的财务受到了一系列影响，大多数公用事业公司都讨论了收入的小幅下降，少数公司报告了更严重的影响。这场大流行暴露了新的系统漏洞，包括供应链管理、员工远程执行某些职能的能力以及财务。一些公用事业公司应用了通过 ERP 制定的现有指南并稍加修改，其他公用事业公司开发了新的 ERP 来专门解决大流行引起的独特情况，还有一些公用事业公司没有使用或参考其现有的 ERP 来改变运营。许多公用事业公司表示，吸取的经验教训将用于未来的 ERP，例如流行病风险管理方面的人员培训或年度模拟演习，以帮助员工更好地应对紧急情况。 (C) 2022 年美国土木工程师学会。
The COVID-19 pandemic affected the operation of water utilities across the world. In the context of utilities, new protocols were needed to ensure that employees can work safely, and that water service is not interrupted. This study reports on how the operations of 27 water utilities worldwide were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Interviews were conducted between June and October 2020; respondents represent utilities that varied in population size, location, and customer composition (e.g., residential, industrial, commercial, institutional, and university customers). Survey questions focused on the effects of the pandemic on water system operation, demand, revenues, system vulnerabilities, and the use and development of emergency response plans (ERPs). Responses indicate that significant changes in water system operations were implemented to ensure that water utility employees could continue working while maintaining safe social distancing or alternatively working from home. A total of 23 of 27 utilities reported small changes in demand volumes and patterns, which can lead to some changes in water infrastructure operations and water quality. Utilities experienced a range of impacts on finances, where most utilities discussed small decreases in revenues, with a few reporting more drastic impacts. The pandemic revealed new system vulnerabilities, including supply chain management, capacity of staff to perform certain functions remotely, and finances. Some utilities applied existing guidance developed through ERPs with slight modifications, other utilities developed new ERPs to specifically address unique conditions induced by the pandemic, and a few utilities did not use or reference their existing ERPs to change operations. Many utilities suggested that lessons learned would be used in future ERPs, such as personnel training on pandemic risk management or annual mock exercises for preparing employees to better respond to emergencies. (C) 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.