Water consumption surges during lockdown — ministry

AMMAN — Water consumption has risen 10 per cent during the nationwide comprehensive lockdown, according to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation.

The higher use of water during the four-day nationwide lockdown is related to the continued sanitation practices and the surge of the daily indoor water consumption for household purposes as people spend more time at home, the ministry’s Spokesperson Omar Salamah told The Jordan Times on Thursday.

“The surge of demand started with the beginning of the pandemic. The first months of total lockdown witnessed an unprecedented increase in water usage when compared with the same periods of previous years,” Salamah said.

The ministry’s outlook is based on comparative studies, in addition to analysing the reasons behind the spike in water use during the months of comprehensive lockdown when the pandemic first started, according to Salamah.

Umm Ahmad, a mother of two, told The Jordan Times over the phone on Thursday that “besides the comprehensive lockdown in Jordan, the increase in home-working, as well as, the closure of schools and colleges were also the reasons behind the surge in water consumption at homes”.

As citizens spend more time at their homes, people’s patterns of energy and water consumption has changed, according to Mai Badr, a Jordanian citizen in her 20s.

The Kingdom entered the days-long total lockdown on November 10, after polling concluded for the 19th parliamentary elections, in attempts to combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.